IMPROVING SERVICE QUALITY IN TURKISH HEALTHCARE SYSTEM: THE ROLE OF MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

This study aims to examine the role of medical technology for improving service quality. For this purpose we empirically analyze the relationship between the efficiency of medical technology  and perceived service quality in Turkish healthcare services.  Accordingly, inefficiency causes of medical technology are also  discussed in this study. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is  applied to analyze the medical technology-based efficiencies of  teaching hospitals in Turkey for the study years from 2008 to  2010. Data concerning 40 teaching hospitals are obtained from Annual Statistical Health Report and Turkish Ministry of Health  (TMoH). This explanatory study provides the evidence that teaching hospitals might be able to improve both quality and efficiency of their services by effective utilization of existing  medical technology. We find that efficient hospitals also provide high quality services compared to their inefficient counterparts.  According to these results, hospital administrators could improve perceived service quality by increasing the efficiencies of their  existing medical technology. This study also suggests practical  implications for the reallocation of medical devices in order to  meet patient demand. Policy makers should focus on monitoring the effective utilization of existing medical capacity. This study contributes to the field of healthcare management research by applying the DEA model to the relationship between medical technology and service quality. Furthermore, this study provides several significant findings regarding inefficiency causes of medical technology and suggestions for quality improvements.