earticle

영어

Given the dearth of studies on Healthcare Information Systems in public hospitals, the present study proposes a conceptual framework for measuring Information Technology (IT)-enabled production capability by factoring relative efficiencies of IT and firm-specific resources. We employed cross-sectional data analysis using an output- oriented, variable return-to-scale model, viz., Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The study empirically tested the conceptual model based on the secondary data obtained from 31 Tamil Nadu district headquarters public hospitals in India. The results identified only two hospitals that are technically efficient in terms of IT-enabled production capability. The study findings have implications for strengthening health management information systems (HMIS) in public hospitals by deploying optimum IT infrastructure elements. Further, hospital administrators can utilize the study to measure the IT-enabled production capability of a public hospital to undertake benchmarking exercises. The conceptual framework with the DEA model is the earliest attempt to measure IT capability objectively in the health services industry.