Health system organizational reform in governing Iranian public hospitals: A content analysis to comprehend the barriers in Board of Trustees' hospitals.

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, Iran has initiated structural and decentralization reforms in the hospital system. This policy led to the formation of a Board of Trustees (BOTs) for the governing of public educational hospitals and making important modifications in hospitals' financing. This study was conducted to identify the barriers in implementing this policy. All the Iranian Medical Sciences Universities and hospitals involved in the policy implementation were included in this qualitative study. The data were analyzed by using content analysis. In total, 403 problems were divided into 9 classes including problems related to implementing regulation, financial problems in policy implementation, problems related to faculty members, ambiguity in executive regulation, problems related to the BOTs, authority level, hospital structure, the quality and quantity of hospital human resources, and fee for services. It appears that "implementing regulation" and "financial problems" embrace over 50% of the barriers. Apparently, the new approach to hospitals' autonomy has not achieved the desired goals. Considering the contextual factor, the evidence and identification of the clear role of various stakeholders should be essential determinants. Partial implementation of this policy without paying attention to the other aspects would end in failure. The results showed insufficient budget to be the most influential factor that posed a dilemma in implementing the BOTs' policy. However, BOTs in Iranian health system need to strive toward a higher level of performance that will improve effectiveness and efficiency now more than ever.