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1.
BMC Public Health ; 24(1): 893, 2024 Mar 25.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38528498

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Individuals with a migrant background often underutilize physical rehabilitation services (PRS) compared to the host population. This disparity is attributed to various barriers, including limited access to information, language barriers, illiteracy, and cultural factors. To improve PRS utilization by Afghan immigrants and refugees in Iran, it is crucial to identify these barriers and enabling factors. In response, this study explored the barriers and enabling factors for utilizing PRS among Afghan immigrants and refugees with disabilities in Iran. METHODS: This qualitative study was conducted in Iran between January and March 2023. Participants were selected through convenient and snowball sampling. Individual, semi-structured interviews were carried out both in face-to-face and online formats. Data analysis occurred concurrently with data collection, using the directed content analysis approach. RESULTS: Findings from our research indicate that common barriers to PRS utilization among Afghan immigrants and refugees include insufficient insurance coverage, high service costs, expensive transportation and accommodation, limited knowledge about Iran's health system, inadequate awareness of available supports, restricted access to PRS in remote areas, impatience among PRS providers, fear of arrest and deportation, a lack of trust in modern treatments, stringent immigration rules, high inflation rates limiting the ability to pay for PRS, and limited social support. On the other hand, several enabling factors were identified, such as strengthening insurance coverage, utilizing the capacities of charities and NGOs, providing information about available services, promoting respectful behavior by healthcare providers towards patients, facilitating cultural integration, and increasing immigrants' awareness of available services and eligibility criteria. CONCLUSION: The barriers and enabling factors uncovered in this study offer valuable insights into the complexities surrounding PRS utilization by Afghan immigrants and refugees with disabilities in Iran. Understanding and addressing these factors is essential for developing targeted interventions and policies that can improve access and utilization, ultimately leading to enhanced health outcomes for this vulnerable population.


Subject(s)
Disabled Persons , Emigrants and Immigrants , Refugees , Humans , Iran , Health Services Accessibility , Qualitative Research
3.
J Prev Med Hyg ; 64(3): E358-E366, 2023 Sep.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38126000

ABSTRACT

Background: Rational drug prescription (RDP) is one of the main components of the healthcare systems. Irrational prescribing can bring about numerous negative consequences for the patients and governmental agencies. This study aims to analyze the involvement of stakeholders in rational drug prescribing, their position (opponent or proponent), and the rationale behind it. Methods: This was a qualitative study conducted in 2019. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with 40 stakeholders. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques with maximum heterogeneity were adopted to select the interviewees. Data was analyzed by MAXQDA software using thematic approach. Results: Iranian Food and Drug Administration employs the highest authority on the rational prescribing policy. Although the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, the Social Security Organization as one of the main health insurance organizations, pharmaceutical companies, and the Medical Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran, are among agencies that have great authority to improve rational prescribing, they fail to act professionally as they have conflicting interests. Remarkably, the Iran Food and Drug Administration, insurance organizations, family physicians, and patients, highly support the rational prescribing policy while the pharmaceutical companies display the least support for it. Conclusions: To make the prescription and using drugs more rational, policy makers should focus on different sources of conflicts of interest that different actors have. They should devise legal, behavior and financial policies accordingly to lessen or at least neutralize these conflicting interests, otherwise achieving RDP would be impossible in short and long terms.


Subject(s)
Conflict of Interest , Developing Countries , Drug Prescriptions , Humans , Delivery of Health Care , Iran , Pharmaceutical Preparations , Public Health
4.
Disaster Med Public Health Prep ; 17: e537, 2023 Nov 23.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37994107

ABSTRACT

Forcibly displaced populations are among the most vulnerable groups in disasters. They experience poorer health conditions compared with nondisplaced individuals. However, a clear picture is lacking regarding the overall health problems encountered by disaster-induced mid- to long-term displaced people. This study investigated these disorders prevalence and identified their correlates among long-settled displaced populations worldwide. The current scoping review follows the PRISMA-ScR guidelines; a systematic search was conducted on PubMed, Web of Science, and CINAHL and included original peer-reviewed studies, commentary, reviews, and grey literature published in English between January 1990 to June 2022. In the thematic and content analysis, the authors applied the narrative review approach to identify themes and sub-themes. Forty-eight documents were identified as fully relevant to this study. The largest number of published papers were from Asia, followed by the Middle East, the United States, and Europe. IDPs in developed countries were the most researched populations. Human-made disasters were addressed by 89% of the included studies. The four main thematic categories included were "physical health," "mental health," "inadequate facilities," and "lack of healthy behaviour." The worsening of noncommunicable diseases had the highest prevalence, followed by communicable diseases. Due to their condition, forcibly displaced migrants face a triple burden of communicable diseases and noncommunicable diseases such as mental health issues. Health-related research and policy need to consider the links among disasters, health problems, and forced migration as a determinant of health in the new era of climate change-driven displacements.


Subject(s)
Communicable Diseases , Disasters , Noncommunicable Diseases , Humans , Mental Health , Communicable Diseases/epidemiology , Middle East
5.
Heliyon ; 9(10): e20736, 2023 Oct.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37860510

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This scoping review investigated the barriers and facilitators to integrating physiotherapy into primary health care (PHC). Materials and methods: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, ProQuest, and REHABDATA were searched. Two independent reviewers were involved in screening, selecting, and extracting data. Data were synthesized using thematic analysis. Results: Of the 483 screened documents, 44 qualitative studies, primarily from high-income countries, were included. All of the studies had good methodological quality. Barriers and facilitators of integrating physiotherapy into PHC were extracted within the WHO six building blocks framework. In total, 41 items were identified as barriers to the integration process. The studies included 49 recommendations to facilitate integrating physiotherapy services into PHC. Conclusion: Integrating physiotherapy services into PHC faces many barriers. The most commonly suggested potential barriers are poor knowledge of physicians about physiotherapy, ineffective teamwork, physiotherapists' time constraints/workload, a lack of clarity over the role and knowledge of physiotherapists, unawareness of physiotherapy users about these services, and lack of intra- and inter-professional collaborations. The most commonly suggested recommendations to facilitate the integration process include: Clarifying the role of involved professionals, strengthening teamwork, improving intra- and inter-professional collaborations, and providing comprehensive training programs for physiotherapists.

6.
Health Res Policy Syst ; 21(1): 94, 2023 Sep 11.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37697351

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Iran is host to one of the world's largest and longest-standing refugee populations. Although Iran has initiated a basic health insurance scheme for refugees throughout the country since September 2015, the population coverage of this scheme is very low, and various factors have caused a significant percentage of refugees to still lack insurance coverage and often face financial hardships when receiving health services. In response, this study aimed to understand barriers to insurance coverage among refugees in Iran and propose effective policies that can address persistent gaps in financial protection. METHODS: This qualitative study was conducted in two phases. First, a review of policy documents and interviews with participants were conducted to investigate the common barriers and facilitators of effective insurance coverage for refugees in Iran. Then, a systems thinking approach was applied to visualize the common variables and interactions on the path to achieving financial protection for refugees. RESULTS: Findings showed that various factors, such as (1) household-based premium for refugees, (2) considering a waiting time to be eligible for insurance benefits, (3) determining high premiums for non-vulnerable groups and (4) a deep difference between the health services tariffs of the public and private service delivery sectors in Iran, have caused the coverage of health insurance for non-vulnerable refugees to be challenging. Furthermore, some policy solutions were found to improve the health insurance coverage of refugees in Iran. These included removing household size from premium calculations, lowering current premium rates and getting monthly premiums from non-vulnerable refugees. CONCLUSIONS: A number of factors have caused health insurance coverage to be inaccessible for refugees, especially non-vulnerable refugees in Iran. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt effective policies to improve the health financing for the refugee with the aim of ensuring financial protection, taking into account the different actors and the interactions between them.


Subject(s)
Concept Formation , Refugees , Humans , Iran , Policy , Systems Analysis
7.
Global Health ; 19(1): 26, 2023 04 18.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37072839

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Iran is host to one of the largest urban refugee populations worldwide, about two million of whom are undocumented immigrants (UIs). UIs are not eligible to enroll in the Iranian health insurance scheme and have to pay out-of-pocket to access most health services. This increases the likelihood that they will delay or defer seeking care, or incur substantial costs if they do seek care, resulting in worse health outcomes. This study aims to improve understanding of the financial barriers that UIs face in utilizing health services and provide policy options to ensure financial protection to enhance progress towards UHC in Iran. METHODS: This qualitative study was conducted in 2022. A triangulation approach, including interviews with key informants and comparing them with other informative sources to find out the complementary findings, was applied to increase data confirmability. Both purposive and snowball sampling approaches were used to select seventeen participants. The data analysis process was done based on the thematic content analysis approach. RESULTS: The findings were explained under two main themes: the financial challenges in accessing health services and the policy solutions to remove these financial barriers, with 12 subthemes. High out-of-pocket payments, high service prices for UIs, fragmented financial support, limited funding capacity, not freeing all PHC services, fear of deportation, and delayed referral are some of the barriers that UIs face in accessing health care. UIs can get insurance coverage by using innovative ways to get money, like peer financing and regional health insurance, and by using tools that make it easier, like monthly premiums without policies that cover the whole family. CONCLUSION: The formation of a health insurance program for UIs in the current Iranian health insurance mechanism can significantly reduce management costs and, at the same time, facilitate risk pooling. Strengthening the governance of health care financing for UIs in the form of network governance may accelerate the inclusion of UIs in the UHC agenda in Iran. Specifically, it is necessary to enhance the role of developed and rich regional and international countries in financing health services for UIs.


Subject(s)
Undocumented Immigrants , Humans , Iran , Health Services , Insurance, Health , Health Services Accessibility , Healthcare Financing
8.
Heliyon ; 8(11): e11557, 2022 Nov.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36406671

ABSTRACT

Background: Irrational prescribing is highly prevalent in Iran, and it is under the impact of different factors. Objective: This research aims to recognize the reasons for Irrational prescribing in Iran. Methods: A qualitative approach and a conventional content analysis were employed to perform this research. The research community includes some experts and key specialists in medication prescribing. Semi-structured interviews were used for data collection. The intentional sampling method was applied, and theoretical saturation was reached by conducting 40 interviews with experts. The data analysis process was done following the steps suggested by Graneheim and Lundman. Results: Four main categories and 12 subcategories appeared after analyzing the data. The main categories are organizational and management factors, legal factors, cultural factors, and economic factors. Conclusion: Irrational prescribing can be prevented by reforming the referral system, overseeing pharmacies and physicians, raising public awareness and correcting their misconceptions about the medications, and creating an appropriate mechanism for pricing and selling medicines.

9.
BMC Health Serv Res ; 22(1): 1317, 2022 Nov 03.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36329506

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Providing rehabilitation services in primary health care (PHC) is associated with numerous health, social, and economic benefits. Therefore, low and middle-income countries, such as Iran, should benefit from the advantages of integrating rehabilitation services into PHC. We conducted a qualitative study to determine policy solutions that could facilitate the integration of rehabilitation services into Iran's PHC network. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 38 participants, including health policymakers, rehabilitation managers, faculty members, and rehabilitation practitioners. Purposive and snowball sampling strategies were adopted to recruit participants. The WHO Health System building blocks framework analysis was applied to analyze the collected data. RESULTS: Participants' perspectives and experiences outlined potential policy options including: (1) stewardship: increasing political support, strengthening the leadership of the rehabilitation sector, and promoting inter-sectoral collaborations; (2) service delivery: increasing the knowledge of healthcare professionals, using local volunteers, deploying mobile rehabilitation teams, using telerehabilitation, and improving referral pathways; (3) financing: increasing government funding, preparing a package of rehabilitation services, and using appropriate payment mechanisms; (4) human resources: expanding rehabilitation workforce, training rehabilitation assistants, and enhancing employment and social opportunities; (5) information systems: establishing a comprehensive information system and an effective surveillance system; and (6) technologies: facilitating access to a range of rehabilitation equipment and raw materials, especially for prosthetics and orthotics services. CONCLUSION: Based on the WHO six building blocks framework, this study identified several policy options for integrating rehabilitation services into the Iranian PHC Network. Some of the policy options include increasing political support, promoting inter-sectoral collaborations, increasing the skills and knowledge of healthcare workers, establishing effective referral pathways, strengthening team-working, and increasing government funding.


Subject(s)
Delivery of Health Care , Primary Health Care , Humans , Iran , Qualitative Research , Policy , Health Policy
10.
BMC Health Serv Res ; 22(1): 250, 2022 Feb 24.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-35209902

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Removal of user fee for vulnerable people reduces the financial barriers associated with healthcare payments, which, in turn, improves health outcomes and promotes health equity. This study sought to provide policy strategies to reduce user fee at the point of service delivery for the poor in Iran. METHODS: This is a qualitative study carried out in 2018. The purposive sampling method was applied, and 33 experts with relevant and valuable experiences and maximum variation to obtain representativeness and rich data were interviewed. Trustworthiness criteria were used to assure the quality of the results. The data were analyzed based on thematic analysis using the MAXQDA10 software. RESULTS: The most important issue regarding financial protection against user fee for the poor in Iran is policy integration and cohesion. Differences in access to financial support for user fee coverage among different groups of the poor have led to inequalities in access and financial protection among the poor. The suggested protection policies against the user fee at the point of service delivery in Iran can be categorized into three main categories: 1) basic health social insurance instruments, 2) free health services to the poor outside of the health insurance system, and 3) complementary insurance mechanisms. CONCLUSION: Implementing a cohesive social assistance policy for all disadvantaged groups is needed to address inequalities in financial protection against user fee payment among the poor in Iran. Reducing user fee through mechanisms such as deductible cap, stop-loss, variable user fee and sliding fee scale can improve financial protection and enhance healthcare utilization among the poor. A user fee exemption is not enough to remove barriers to access to service for the poor, as other costs such as transportation expenditures and informal payments also put financial pressure on them. Therefore, financial support for the poor should be designed in a comprehensive protection package to reduce out-of-pocket payments for healthcare services, and indirect costs associated with healthcare utilization.


Subject(s)
Health Expenditures , Health Services Accessibility , Humans , Insurance, Health , Iran , Policy
11.
Prim Care Diabetes ; 15(6): 918-922, 2021 12.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34393092

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The world is facing the current COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic response is affecting routine health care provision all over the world. We aimed to review the relevant literature and highlight challenges in the provision of routine care for patients with diabetes during the COVID-19 outbreak. METHODS: We systematically searched PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Embase databases up till August 13, 2020 and retrieved relevant articles published on difficulties on routine diabetes management during the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: Through our reading of the recent literature discussing the difficulties of routine healthcare provision for patients with diabetes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, we have identified nine themes as follows: lockdown of standard outpatient clinics, decreased inpatient capacity, staff shortage, medicine shortage, unaffordable medicine, delayed care seeking, limited self-care practice, transport difficulties, and undiagnosed cases/events. CONCLUSION: Diabetes management during lockdown is particularly challenging. This review specified a summary of difficulties of diabetes care during COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare policy makers as well as healthcare providers could take advantage of the results of this review to mitigate the adverse effect of the crisis on provision of routine care for diabetes as well as other chronic conditions.


Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Diabetes Mellitus , Ambulatory Care Facilities , Communicable Disease Control , Diabetes Mellitus/diagnosis , Diabetes Mellitus/epidemiology , Diabetes Mellitus/therapy , Humans , Pandemics , SARS-CoV-2
12.
BMC Health Serv Res ; 21(1): 556, 2021 Jun 07.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34092230

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The share of out-of-pocket payments in Iranian families has the greatest burden on the poor and lead to an impoverishment caused by catastrophic health expenditures. In order to improve access of the poor to public resources, it is necessary to create a better governance system and effective policy-making. The purpose of this study is to improve network effectiveness of the Iranian health system and to design a financial protection network for the poor, based on the network governance theory. METHODS: We are using a quantitative method framework in conjunction with a Social network analysis (SNA) strategy. To draw an optimal network, we conducted interviews with experts by focusing on the arrangement and relationship among different institutions. The research sample was purposefully selected. We used UCINET software for data analysis and NetDraw software to draw networks. RESULTS: In this article, an optimal network was proposed with the following characteristics: First, the problem of the density of relationships among several central institutions and the isolation of the other institutions have been solved. Second, in our model, the relationships have been distributed in a balanced manner among all institutions in the network. Third, the number of participants has been reduced and consensus on poor people support policies has been achieved in this optimal network. Forth, executive organizations keep their central positions and upper institutions are not at the central position, so that the power is distributed in favor of more balanced governance. However, in order to increase efficiency and to have coherent decision-making, it is necessary to establish a "core" for this optimal network. The "core" has to include the organizations with the most relationship with others. CONCLUSION: The result revealed that the usefulness of network analysis as a tool for proposing the effectiveness of governance. By strengthening the relationship among the main actors, an organized system of network management can be achieved. The network has to include all actors from different levels, from policy-making to implementation. The network also has to clarify the tasks from identifying the poor to covering costs. From an academic perspective, this study showed the adequacy of network analysis as a tool for policy sciences. Governance in our optimal health financial protection model follows the shared-governance pattern due to its high density, low centralization and low distance. The model of network governance can be the source of changes in the health governance system. It is a necessary structural condition to provide access to universal health coverage.


Subject(s)
Health Policy , Policy Making , Financial Support , Humans , Iran , Social Networking
13.
Int J Health Plann Manage ; 34(2): e1074-e1086, 2019 Apr.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-30793401

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Considering the challenges of health services utilization of the poor in Iran, it is necessary to examine the supportive policy documents about the poor in order to identify such challenges. METHODS: This study is a policy documents analysis that has evaluated the legal documents in the health financial support to the poor. The researchers looked in the websites for documents and referred to related organizations. Social network analysis approach and UCINET software were chosen for data analysis. RESULTS: Twenty-seven different disadvantaged groups were identified for financial support in the legal documents. The main focus was on "poor people," "unsupported women and children," and "disabled and elderly poor people." There is a bundle of confusion about the number of supporting institutions for different groups and the amount of support in the network. CONCLUSION: The coverage of the poor in Iran has been impaired by a lack of clear boundary in their support. Because of the interorganizational partnership challenges, much more promising results would have been achieved if there was only one administrative institution for the Iranian poor. Given the inconsistencies seen in the support types and levels for the poor to access health services, it is inevitable to amend the laws.


Subject(s)
Health Policy/legislation & jurisprudence , Health Services Accessibility/legislation & jurisprudence , Poverty , Social Networking , Financing, Personal , Humans , Iran , Policy Making
14.
J Educ Health Promot ; 8: 243, 2019.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-32002415

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Protection against financial risks is one of the important goals of the health system. The present study aims to determine the rate of exposure to catastrophic expenditures in the insured inpatients. METHODS: The present study was cross-sectional one which is conducted in 2016. The statistical population comprised all the insured patients presenting to a private hospital in Qom who presented to the hospital within 4 months from December 2015 to March 2016. Random convenience sampling method was used, and the sample size was estimated at 267 people using Cochran formula. A questionnaire was employed for data gathering. Data were analyzed using Chi-square test and logistic regression using SPSS software version 20. RESULS: Patients exposed to catastrophic expenditures of treatment accounted for the 54.8% of the cases. The highest rate of being exposed to the catastrophic expenditures was related to the insured patients of the Universal Health Insurance Fund (UHIF). People with rural insurance, on average, paid the highest cost of treatment in the hospital. The surgical ward and critical care unit accounted for the biggest percentage of the patients who incurred catastrophic expenditures. Being rural, longer length of stay, lower education of the head of the household, lack of supplementary insurance coverage, and being in UHIF coverage have a substantial relationship with being exposed to catastrophic expenditures. DISCUSSION: The socioeconomic status of the insured people in the UHIF and the Rural Insurance Fund was worse than other funds in terms of less utilization and higher rate of exposure to catastrophic expenditures, and this issue requires the adoption of specific targeted policies for these groups in respect with reducing out-of-pocket payments through mechanism such as stepwise copayments, maximum out-of-pocket limit, fee exemptions or waiver and providing supplementary insurance to reduce the exposure to catastrophic expenditures.

15.
J Educ Health Promot ; 7: 126, 2018.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-30505854

ABSTRACT

CONTEXT: Health system reform plan refers to conducting some fundamental, systematic, and sustainable changes. AIMS: The aim of the present study was to evaluate different required inputs of Iran Health Transformation Plan from experts' viewpoints. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: The data of this qualitative study were collected using semi-structured interviews. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The purposive sampling method led to 18 participant selection and then they were interviewed. Interviewees were assured about confidentiality of information. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: The thematic analysis method and MAXQDA software were employed for analyzing the data. RESULTS: There were 4 main themes and 35 subthemes extracted including management requirements for health development plan, human resources, information resources, and financial resources. Each theme had subthemes such as "resource allocation," "development of required standards for human resources," "human resources' motivation," "failures in IT infrastructures," "hospital information management software," "guidelines and instructions," "costs controlling," and "financing the plan". CONCLUSIONS: Results of the present study put significant emphasis on the path of improving the effectiveness and efficacy of applying the discussed inputs, which can be a light for revising past policies and taking better future steps, it also can be a resource guide for policy-makers and managers of the health-care system.

17.
Iran J Public Health ; 47(2): 166-177, 2018 Feb.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-29445626

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: One of the main challenges of healthcare systems is to protect people from consequences of health expenditures. Such expenditures may lead to catastrophic financial loss in families so that many people deny demanding necessary healthcare services, which results in harms to their health status. The aim of this systematic review was to investigate the catastrophic health expenditures trend and its related factors in Iran. METHODS: This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted on studies conducted between 1984 and 2014. Data were collected through searching electronic databases and searching engines of PubMed, Scopus, EconLit, Google Scholar, Science Direct, MagIran, and Scientific Information Database (SID). The random effects were used with 95% confidence interval for the meta-analysis. RESULTS: Out of 561 initially retrieved articles, finally 42 were included in the final analysis. The studies were conducted between 1984 and 2014. The overall proportion of exposure to catastrophic health expenditure in Iran was 7.5% (95% CI, 6.2 - 9.1). In the urban and rural areas, the proportion was 2.3% (95% CI, 1.8 - 2.9) and 3.4% (95% CI, 2.8 - 4.1) respectively. The overall proportion of exposure to the catastrophic health expenditure in hospitals was 35.9% (95% CI, 23.5 - 54.3). CONCLUSION: The catastrophic expenditures proportion of healthcare is relatively high in Iran and the government is expected to adopt effective measures in this regard, especially for the inpatient care. There are needs for special supporting policies for the financial protection of specific patients, the poor and villagers.

18.
Soc Sci Med ; 195: 1-11, 2017 12.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-29096148

ABSTRACT

The extent of universal health coverage in terms of financial protection is worrisome in Iran. There are challenges in health policies to guarantee financial accessibility to health services, especially for poor people. Various institutions offer support to ensure that the poor have financial access to health services. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship network among the institutions active in this field. This study is a policy document analysis. It evaluates the country's legal documents in the field of financial support to the poor for healthcare after the Islamic Revolution in Iran. The researchers looked for the documents on the related websites and referred to the related organizations. The social network analysis approach was chosen for the analysis of the documents. Block-modelling and multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) was used to determine the network structures. The UCINET software was employed to analyse the data. Most the main actors of this network are chosen from the government budget. There is no legal communication and cooperation among some of the actors because of their improper position in the network. Seven blocks have been clustered by CONCOR in terms of the actor's degree of similarity. The social distance among the actors of the seven blocks is very short. Power distribution in the field of financial support to the poor has a fragmented structure; however, it is mainly run by a dominant block consisting of The Supreme Council of Welfare and Social Security, Health Insurance Organization, and the Ministry of Health and Medical Education. The financial support for the poor network involves multiple actors. This variety has created a series of confusions in terms of the type, level, and scope of responsibilities among the actors. The weak presence legislative and regulatory institutions and also non-governmental institutions are the main weak points of this network.


Subject(s)
Financial Support , Health Services Accessibility , Poverty , Social Support , Health Policy , Humans , Iran , Policy Making , Universal Health Insurance
19.
Electron Physician ; 8(8): 2713-2718, 2016 Aug.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-27757179

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: The successful implementation of health information technologies requires investigating the factors affecting the acceptance and use of them. The aim of this study was to determine the most important factors affecting the adoption of health information technologies by doing a systematic review on the factors affecting the acceptance of health information technology. METHODS: This systematic review was conducted by searching the major databases, such as Google Scholar, Emerald, Science Direct, Web of Science, Pubmed, and Scopus. We used various keywords, such as adoption, use, acceptance of IT in medicine, hospitals, and IT theories in health services, and we also searched on the basis of several important technologies, such as Electronic Health Records (HER), Electronic Patient Records (EPR), Electronic Medical Records (EMR), Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE), Hospital Information System (HIS), Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), and others in the 2004-2014 period. RESULTS: The technology acceptance model (TAM) is the most important model used to identify the factors influencing the adoption of information technologies in the health system; also, the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model has had a lot of applications in recent years in the health system. Ease of use, usefulness, social impact, facilitating conditions, attitudes and behavior of users are effective in the adoption of health information technologies. CONCLUSION: By considering various factors, including ease of use, usefulness, and social impact, the rate of the adoption of health information technology can be increased.

20.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-28050242

ABSTRACT

Moral hazards are the result of an expansive range of factors mostly originating in the patients' roles. The objective of the present study was to investigate patient incentives for moral hazards using the experiences of experts of basic Iranian insurance organizations. This was a qualitative research. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The study population included all experts of basic healthcare insurance agencies in the City of Isfahan, Iran, who were familiar with the topic of moral hazards. A total of 18 individuals were selected through purposive sampling and interviewed and some criteria such as data reliability and stability were considered. The anonymity of the interviewees was preserved. The data were transcribed, categorized, and then, analyzed through thematic analysis method. Through thematic analysis, 2 main themes and 11 subthemes were extracted. The main themes included economic causes and moral-cultural causes affecting the phenomenon of moral hazards resulted from patients' roles. Each of these themes has some sub-themes. False expectations from insurance companies are rooted in the moral and cultural values of individuals. People with the insurance coverage make no sense if using another person insurance identification or requesting physicians for prescribing the medicines. These expectations will lead them to moral hazards. Individuals with any insurance coverage should consider the rights of insurance agencies as third party payers and supportive organizations which disburden them from economical loads in the time of sickness.

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