title: Investigating the Financial Performance of Universities of Medical Science and Health Services in Iran, Using Data Envelopment Analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Universities of Medical Science and Health Services (UMSHSs) are among the main organizations in Iran's health-care section. Improving their efficiency in financial resource management through creating an appropri-ate coordination between consumption and resources is strategically vital. Investigating the financial performance as well as ranking the Iranian UMSHSs is the research objective.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study is of descriptive and applied type. The study population includes the UMSHSs of Iran (n=42) among which 24 UMSHSs are selected. DEA is used with the aim to model and assess the financial performance in-cluding 4 inputs and 3 outputs. Also, linear regression is applied to determine the effectiveness of the applied indices as well as the level of the financial performance. Data are obtained from the Budgeting Center in the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, during 2010 mainly through forms designed based on the available balance sheets.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average score of financial performance assessment for UMSHSs based on the DEA of input-oriented data is 0.74, assuming a constant scale of DEA-CRS. Thus, approximately 25% of the studied UMSHSs have maxi-mum relative performance and totally, there is about a 30% capacity to increase the financial performance in these UMSHSs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most Iranian UMSHSs do not have high financial performance. This can be due to problems in financial resource management especially in asset combining. Therefore, compilation and execution of a comprehensive pro-gram for organizational change and agility with the aim to create a kind of optimized combination of resources and assets is strongly recommended.
authors.affiliation: 1. Dept. of Health Services management, School of Management and Economic, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad univer-sity (IAU) , Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Amir Ashkan
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Nasiripour
authors.affiliation: 2. Dept. of Industrial Management, School of Management and Economic, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad university (IAU) , Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Toloie-Ashlaghy
authors.affiliation: 3. Dept. of Health Services Management, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Tehran University of Medical Sciences , Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Jamaleddin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Ta-Bibi
authors.affiliation: 3. Dept. of Health Services Management, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Tehran University of Medical Sciences , Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Maleki
authors.affiliation: 1. Dept. of Health Services management, School of Management and Economic, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad univer-sity (IAU) , Tehran, Iran ; 4. Research Center for Health Services Management, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences , Kerman, Iran.
authors.forename: Hassan Abolghasem
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Gorji
keywords: Financial performance; Iran; Managerial efficiency; Scale efficiency; Technical efficiency