The effect of health reform to the performance of teaching hospitals

At the beginnings of the 2000s, Ministry of Health initiated program known as ?Health Transformation Project? Purpose of this program is to desing organization and functions of health system. Health Transformation Programme? launched by the Turkish Government in 2003, seeks to tackle all structural deficiencies, namely: universal health insurance, improve access and quality of healthcare services, Key elements of the HTP include: i) establishing the MoH as a planning and supervising authority; ii) implementing Universal Health Insurance (UHI) uniting all citizens of Turkey under a single Social Security Institute (SSI); iii) expanding the delivery of health care and making it more easily accessible and friendly; iv) improving the motivation of health personnel and equipping them with enhanced knowledge and skills v) setting up educational and scientific institutions to support the system; vi) securing quality and accreditation systems to encourage effective and quality health-care services; vii) implementing rational drug use and management of medical materials and devices, and viii) providing access to effective information for decision making, through the establishment of an effective Health Information SystemAssuring and improving economic performance of healthcare organization is vital in today's world of reducing profit margins and strong competition. To survive in the competitive environment, Turkish health care managers need to develop new strategies that enable them to quickly respond to changing and challenging situations.To assess results of the health reforms, efficiency analysis has been widely used instrument. To measure efficiency, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), mathematical programming technique for measuring the performance of similar units, such as a set of hospitals, a set of schools, were applied. To evaluate efficiency improvement over time (before-and-after reform) Malmquist index, a method which provides an opportunity to compare the health care facility performance from one period to another, was computed.This study showed that, Health Transformation Project initiated in 2003, has increased the performances of training hospitals. In the period of 2002-2004, total factor productivity improvement computed was almost equal to % 20. Furthermore, excess input and output slacks were reduced significiantly.