Using mathematical programming to assess the relative performance of the health care industry.

Unlike conventional methods for evaluating program efficiency, a recently developed mathematical programming technique, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), is able to handle multiple inputs and outputs simultaneously without assigning arbitrary weights and does not require the use of homogeneous measurement units nor a prespecified functional relationship between inputs and outputs. Despite of its unfamiliarity to health care researchers and administrators, this technique is becoming increasingly popular as a means of evaluating relative performance in not-for-profit entities.