THE ROLE OF HEALTHCARE BUDGETING ON PERFORMANCE OF HEALTH FACILITIES IN ISIOLO COUNTY, KENYA
Abstract
Health facilities in Isiolo County face severe operational challenges due to insufficient resources, including limited financing, inadequate human resources, and insufficient facilities. The problems are exacerbated by inadequate fund allocation from the treasury and poor management within the county. This study aimed to explore how healthcare budgeting influences the performance of health facilities in Isiolo County, utilizing Resource Dependency Theory to guide the investigation. Adopting a descriptive research design, the study targeted a population of 293 professionals, including doctors, clinical officers, nurses, laboratory technicians, and accountants from Isiolo County Referral Hospital, Merti Sub County Hospital, and Garbatulla Sub County Hospital. Stratified random sampling was employed to select the sample, and primary data were gathered through semi-structured questionnaires. The data, both qualitative and quantitative, were analyzed using thematic analysis for qualitative data and descriptive and inferential statistics with SPSS (version 28) for quantitative data. The analysis revealed a positive and significant impact of healthcare budgeting on the performance of health facilities (?1=0.516, p-value=0.000). Based on these findings, it is recommended that health facility management implement a comprehensive budget tracking system to ensure real-time expenditure monitoring, regular audits, and variance analysis to enhance financial accuracy and accountability.
Keywords: Healthcare Budgeting, Performance, Health Facilities
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