ObjectiveTo measure the total factor productivity and its component changes of public secondary general hospitals in China from 2012 to 2018.MethodsFrom February to September in 2019, stratified systematic sampling method was used to collect the panel data of input and output indicators from 2012 to 2018 of 511 public secondary general hospitals in 5 provinces of China (Shandong, Hubei, Hainan, Anhui, and Shanxi), and Bootstrap-Malmquist-data envelopment analysis was used to calculate the total factor productivity and its component changes of the hospitals.ResultsFrom 2012 to 2018, the total factor productivity of the 511 public secondary general hospitals decreased by 0.22%, technical efficiency decreased by 5.24%, technical changes increased by 5.29%, pure technical efficiency decreased by 1.40%, and scale efficiency decreased by 3.89%, respectively.ConclusionsIn the past 7 years, the total factor productivity of public secondary general hospitals in China has declined slightly, mainly due to the decline of scale efficiency and pure technical efficiency, and the technological progress is the main reason for its improvement. The implications for the public secondary general hospitals are three folds: avoiding blind expansion and exploring optimum scale of beds, strengthening the internal fine management to improve the management practice and technical efficiency, and promoting technological progress by healthcare cooperating organizations.