Importance of Statistical Evidence in Estimating Valid DEA Scores.

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) allows healthcare scholars to measure productivity in a holistic manner. It combines a production unit's multiple outputs and multiple inputs into a single measure of its overall performance relative to other units in the sample being analyzed. It accomplishes this task by aggregating a unit's weighted outputs and dividing the output sum by the unit's aggregated weighted inputs, choosing output and input weights that maximize its output/input ratio when the same weights are applied to other units in the sample.