. Hesam Seyedin; . Mahnaz Afshari; . Parvaneh Isfahani; . Ebrahim Hasanzadeh; . Maryam Radinmanesh; . Rasoul Corani Bahador
Volume 11, Issue 2 , February 2021, , Pages 1-8
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Induced demand is a major challenge for financing health promotion, wherebyproviders exploit patients’ information gap to manipulate their demand for health care. ...
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BACKGROUND: Induced demand is a major challenge for financing health promotion, wherebyproviders exploit patients’ information gap to manipulate their demand for health care. The purposeof this study was to identify the factors associated with induced demand for health‑care services inhospitals affiliated with Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS) in 2018.MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this qualitative study, semi‑structured interviews were conductedwith 20 participants from IUMS hospitals, including faculty members, physicians, public hospitalmanagers, patients, and researchers with academic and practical experience. Inductive contentanalysis was used to analyze the data.RESULTS: Overall, 24 subthemes or factors were identified and classified into the health system,the insurer, health‑care provider, and health‑care recipient themes. Poor monitoring and control,the fee‑for‑service payment system, limited role of insurance companies, insufficient monitoring ofinsurance companies, the educational nature of our health centers, health‑care providers’ interests,and patients’ information gap were some important factors in induced demand for health‑care services.CONCLUSION: Our results showed that there are many factors that contribute to induced demand forhealth care. Given the four levels of factors identified in this study, health policymakers and managersmust develop strategies at each level to reduce induced demand for health care.