Journal of Education and Health Promotion

The challenge of outsourcing of hospital services in Iran: A qualitative study

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

. Noureddin Niknam
. Hasan Abolghasem Gorji
. Mostafa Langarizadeh

Health Management and Economics Research Center, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Outsourcing, as one of the important managerial strategies to improve performance,
has become one of the main areas of research in hospital management studies. The aim of this
study was to identify the challenges of outsourcing hospital services in Iran.
METHODS: This research was conducted in a qualitative manner with the aim of determining the
challenges of outsourcing hospital services in Iran. The research community consisted of managers
and experts in the field of outsourcing. 21 managers and staff experts of the Ministry of Health,
universities, and hospitals affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, and Shahid
Beheshti, were selected as the target for the interview. Finally, the data were analyzed using content
analysis method.
RESULTS: Outsourcing challenges were extracted and reported in the form of 6 theme topics and
40 subthemes. The main issues included legal and political challenges, finance, human resources,
organizational, managerial, and private sector.
CONCLUSION: Outsourcing hospital services in all six areas faced serious challenges. To this
end, partnership between the private and government sectors through outsourcing requires the
continuous development of effective political, organizational, and managerial capacity in order to
guide and manage this process properly and efficiently to ensure that the goals and policies in the
field of health. It is clearly understood and not forgotten or neglected.

Keywords

Hospital administration
hospital shared services
outsourced service
qualitative research
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 10, Issue 10
October 2020
Pages 1-12

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