A new evaluation model for service quality of health care systems based on AHP and information axiom

Healthcare performance management using integrated FUCOM-MARCOS approach: The case of India

AIMS

The goal of this research is to propose a simpler and more efficient model for evaluating healthcare establishments (HCEs). With this motivation, this study aims to discover key performance indicators (KPIs) that affect HCE performance, present a ranking model for KPIs in Indian HCEs, and evaluate Indian HCEs using the identified and prioritised KPIs.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Through extensive literature review and expert opinions, this research identifies the various KPIs in HCEs, classifies them into six main categories, and prioritises them using the full consistency method (FUCOM). Further, well-known HCEs across northern India were evaluated and ranked using Measurement Alternatives and Ranking according to Compromise Solution.

RESULTS

The 'technology adoption related indicators' is found as the most important main KPIs, whereas 'adequate number of hospital beds and bathrooms (IE5)' as the most dominating sub-category KPIs. Also, amongst the 20 evaluated Indian HCEs 'healthcare establishment-1 (HCE1)' was found to be the best performing HCE while 'healthcare establishment-12 (HCE12)' was found to be the worst-performing HCE. The stability and consistency of the results are ascertained by performing sensitivity analysis and comparing the results with other existing methodologies.

CONCLUSION

The findings of this study are quite important for HCEs management to fully comprehend the key areas to improve upon so that managers can improve medical standards in a targeted manner. The developed prioritisation model and methodology shown in this paper will help and motivate managers and intellectuals of HCEs to evaluate and improve the HCE's performance.

A SBM-DEA based performance evaluation and optimization for social organizations participating in community and home-based elderly care services

The community and home-based elderly care service system has been proved an effective pattern to mitigate the elderly care dilemma under the background of accelerating aging in China. In particular, the participation of social organizations in community and home-based elderly care service has powerfully fueled the multi-supply of elderly care. As the industry of the elderly care service is in the ascendant, the management lags behind, resulting in the waste of significant social resources. Therefore, performance evaluation is proposed to resolve this problem. However, a systematic framework for evaluating performance of community and home-based elderly care service centers (CECSCs) is absent. To overcome this limitation, the SBM-DEA model is introduced in this paper to evaluate the performance of CECSCs. 186 social organizations in Nanjing were employed as an empirical study to develop the systematic framework for performance evaluation. Through holistic analysis of previous studies and interviews with experts, a systematic framework with 33 indicators of six dimensions (i.e., financial management, hardware facilities, team building, service management, service object and organization construction) was developed. Then, Sensitivity Analysis is used to screen the direction of performance optimization and specific suggestions were put forward for government, industrial associations and CECSCs to implement. The empirical study shows the proposed framework using SBM-DEA and sensitivity analysis is viable for conducting performance evaluation and improvement of CECSCs, which is conducive to the sustainable development of CECSCs.

A new weighted fuzzy information axiom method in production research

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel weighting algorithm for fuzzy information axiom (IA) and to apply it to the evaluation process of 3D printers.

Design/methodology/approach

As a decision-making tool, IA method is presented to evaluate the performance of any design. Then, weighted IA methods are investigated and a new weighting procedure is introduced to the literature. Then, the existing axiomatic design methods and the proposed new method are classified into two groups: weighting based on information content and weighting based on design ranges. The weighting based on information content approach consists of four methods including pessimistic and optimistic approaches. The philosophy of the weighting based on design ranges is to narrow design ranges in order to decrease fuzziness in the model. To prove the robustness and the performance of the proposed weighting method, the results are compared with the existing methods in the literature. Then, the new approach is applied to evaluate 3D printers.

Findings

The results of the proposed study show that the proposed weighting algorithm has better performance than the old ones for IA. Therefore, the proposed weighting algorithm should be used for the weighting tool of IA thereafter.

Originality/value

An effective weighting method compatible with the philosophy of IA method has been proposed. Furthermore, the performances of 3D printers are compared by using the proposed method.