title: Using data envelopment analysis to analyse the efficiency of primary care units.
abstract: In this paper we analyse the efficiency of primary care centres (PCCs) adopting Information and Communication Technology (ICT) devices, using a new database on primary care centres in the Basque Region in Spain. Using a four-stage Data Envelopment Analysis methodology, we are able to explicitly take into account the role of ICT in affecting the efficiency of primary care centres. We understand that this is the first time that ICT enters into the determination of efficiency of the health sector. The role of exogenous factors is explicitly considered in this analysis and shows that including these variables is not neutral to the efficiency evaluation, but leads to an efficiency indicator that only encompasses the effect of managerial skills. The paper provides some useful policy implications regarding the role of ICT in improving the efficiency of primary care units.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze economiche e Aziendali, Università di Cagliari, Viale S. Ignazio 17, 09123, Cagliari, Italy, manuela.deidda@unica.it.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Deidda
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lupiáñez-Villanueva
authors.forename: Cristiano
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Codagnone
authors.forename: Ioannis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Maghiros
mesh_terms: D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003195:Computer Communication Networks; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011361:Professional Competence; D013030:Spain; D013223:Statistics as Topic / Q000379:methods