Productivity Analysis of Medical Record Department in Hospitals Affiliated with Urmia University of Medical Sciences

Background: The importance of paying attention to improving productivity in different health system departments  has become increasingly evident. This is due to increased costs of health care goods and services, limited resources and production facilities. This study aims to measure the productivity of hospitals' Medical Records Departments (MRD) affiliated with Urmia University of Medical Sciences to provide a comprehensive analysis of their performance. Methods: In this study, total productivity and total factor productivity changes of medical record departments in hospitals affiliated with Urmia University of Medical Sciences were calculated. This was conducted through Kendrick-Creamer and Malmquist indexes in 2016-2020, and has examined the trend of each one of them. Input variables included the number of personnel and equipment. Output variables encompassed the number of outpatient and inpatient medical records prepared for patients, responses to letters, and patients referred to the studied MRD. After estimating the production function, the elasticity of production factors and the return to the scale of medical record departments were calculated.Total productivity changes and production function were estimated via Deap2,1 and Frontier4,1 softwares by applying input minimization and variable returns to scale assumptions. Results: The results of the Malmquist index indicated that the average total productivity changes of medical records departments of hospitals during the study period were equal to 1,096. This is greater than one; therefore, it can be concluded that productivity has decreased by about 9.600 % during the study period. Changes in technological efficiency have had the greatest impact on reducing productivity, to other factors. In addition, the results of Kendrick-Creamer index during the years under review demonstrated that the average total productivity of production factors obtained, was equal to 18725.530 services. Conclusion: There is decreased productivity due to technological changes in the studied departments. This is because of the lack of sufficient knowledge of the medical records department staff in the use of technology and equipment for providing efficient services . Holding training courses for the appropriate use of technology by personnel can be useful in this regard.