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Introduction: The financial stability of hospitals directly impacts their ability to fulfill their primary mission of enhancing healthcare. This study identifies and prioritizes cost reduction and revenue enhancement strategies for Iranian hospitals., Method: This investigation employed a mixed-methods design, incorporating both qualitative and quantitative approaches. A systematic review of scholarly articles was initially conducted to identify key strategies for cost reduction and revenue enhancement in hospitals. Insights from hospital administrators regarding successful practices and recommended financial improvement measures were subsequently collected through surveys. The combined strategies from these phases were then assessed and ranked using the TOPSIS technique., Findings: This study identified 12 primary strategies and 71 sub-strategies across four dimensions. Notably, strategies aimed at enhancing the quality of care (0.9030), refining process quality (0.7926), and bolstering care provision infrastructure (0.7910) were deemed the most critical. Among the sub-strategies, priority was given to implementing a comprehensive health information system (HIS) (0.7926), identifying and reducing the causes of cancelled surgeries and visit appointments (0.7919), and developing strategies to decrease hospital infection rates (0.7854)., Conclusion: Enhancing the quality of care and upgrading service delivery processes are crucial for improving hospitals' economic performance. Elevating service quality not only improves the economic performance of hospitals but also enhances their financial metrics., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The ethics committee of the Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences (BUMS) approved this study (Approval ID: IR.BMSU.REC.1399.205). Informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to their involvement in the study. All participants were provided with detailed information regarding the study's purpose, procedures, and potential risks, and they were assured of their right to withdraw at any time without any negative consequences. Their consent was documented through signed consent forms. All experiments were performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

The outbreak of COVID-19 has led to substantial out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditures for households during treatment. This study aimed to investigate the OOP expenditures among hospitalized patients with COVID-19 through a systematic review and meta-analysis. A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted following the PRISMA guidelines. Articles were retrieved from the PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar in the period of 2019-2022 and evaluated for quality using the STROBE guidelines. Homogeneity was assessed using the I2 index, and publication bias was examined using a funnel plot. Meta-analysis was performed using Stata 16. Results of the study have shown that a total of nine articles were included in the meta-analysis. The average OOP expenditure for hospitalized COVID-19 patients was found to be US $308.25 (95% CI: 4.17-620.67). The highest OOP expenditure was reported by CHAU (2021) (US $3171.28), followed by GRAG (2022) (US $1582.38), and the lowest by KOTWANI (2021) (US $56.35). According to the results obtained Significant inequality was observed in the OOP expenditures across different countries. Consistent policy recommendations should be made in international forums to reduce these costs in future pandemics for patients in both developed and developing nations., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2024 Journal of Education and Health Promotion.)

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the latest evidence of an epidemic disease resulting in an extraordinary number of infections and claimed several lives, along with extensive economic and social consequences. In response to the emergency situation, countries introduced different policies to address the situation, with different levels of efficacy. This paper outlines the protocol for developing a model to analyze the burden of COVID-19 in Iran and the effect of policies on the incidence and cumulative death of the disease. The importance of the model lies in the fact that no study, according to the authors' best knowledge, tried to quantify the impact of the disease on Iran society and the impact of various implemented interventions on disease control. Based on a systematic review of COVID-19 prediction models and expert interviews, we developed a system dynamics model that not only includes an epidemic part but also considers the impact of various policies implemented by the Ministry of Health. The epidemic model estimates the incidence and mortality of COVID-19 in Iran. The model also intends to evaluate the effect of implemented policies on these outcomes. The model reflects the continuum of COVID-19 infection and care in Iran (of which some of its elements are unique) and key activities and decisions in delivering care. The model is calibrated and validated using data published by the Ministry of Health of Iran. Finally, the study aims to provide evidence of the impact of interventions intended to curb COVID-19 in Iran. Insights provided by the model will be necessary for controlling either future waves of the disease or similar future pandemics., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Sulfur Mustard (SM) is a chemical warfare agent that has serious short-term and long-term effects on health. Thousands of Iranians were exposed to SM during the eight-year Iran-Iraq conflict and permanently injured while the socioeconomic imbalance in their healthcare utilization (HCU) and health expenditures remains. This study aims to describe the HCU of SM-exposed survivors in Iran from 2018 to 2021; identify high-risk areas; and apply an inequality analysis of utilization regarding the socioeconomic groups to reduce the gap by controlling crucial determinants., Methods: From Oct 2018 to June 2021, the Veterans and Martyrs Affairs Foundation (VMAF) recorded 58,888 living war survivors with eye, lung, and skin ailments. After cleaning the dataset and removing junk codes, we defined 11 HCU-related variables and predicted the HCU for the upcoming years using Bayesian spatio-temporal models. We explored the association of individual-level HCU and determinants using a Zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) model and also investigated the provincial hotspots using Local Moran's I., Results: With ≥ 90% confidence, we discovered eleven HCU clusters in Iran. We discovered that the expected number of HCU 1) rises with increasing age, severity of complications in survivors' eyes and lungs, wealth index (WI), life expectancy (LE), and hospital beds ratio; and 2) decreases with growing skin complications, years of schooling (YOS), urbanization, number of hospital beds, length of stay (LOS) in bed, and bed occupancy rate (BOR). The concentration index (CInd) of HCU and associated costs in age and wealth groups were all positive, however, the signs of CInd values for HCU and total cost in YOS, urbanization, LOS, and Hospital beds ratio groups were not identical., Conclusions: We observed a tendency of pro-rich inequity and also higher HCU and expenditures for the elderly population. Finally, health policies should tackle potential socioeconomic inequities to reduce HCU gaps in the SM-exposed population. Also, policymakers should allocate the resources according to the hotspots of HCU., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Introduction: Access to healthcare for persons with disabilities (PWDs) is an important but often ignored issue for achieving universal health coverage. The current study aimed to investigate PWDs' access to healthcare in the rural areas in north of Iran., Methods: Following a descriptive-analytical design, 471 persons with disabilities (PWDs) living in the Nor city, Mazandaran province, were selected using quota sampling. Data were collected by a valid and reliable questionnaire that contained dimensions of time, geography, physical, and acceptability using face-to-face interviews. The findings are provided by central and dispersion indicators and analyses are performed with linear Regression using SPSS version 17., Results: PWDs had moderate access to healthcare services in all dimensions. The regression models for access to health services in all four dimensions were significant (p<0.05). The results showed that in the geographical dimension, the variables of marital status, income, receipt of financial aid, supplementary insurance, and type of disability; in the physical dimension, the variables of income, responsibility for taking care of the family, supplementary insurance, and type of disability; in the time dimension, supplementary insurance, home area, and type of disability; and in the aspect of service acceptability, only the variables of type of disability and internet access had a significant effect (p<0.05)., Conclusion: A small percentage of PWDs had high access to health services. Hence, improving their access to healthcare services, particularly in rural and less developed areas, and developing appropriate policies should be the focus of Iranian policy-makers., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Shams et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the relationship between metabolic control factors, socio-demographic characteristics, personality traits, and self-perceived health status in diabetes., Methods: This cross-sectional study included 318 patients with type 1 and 2 diabetes (DM). Participants completed a questionnaire-based survey, which included the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised to measure five personality dimensions and the SF-12 survey to assess self-perceived health status. Binary logistic regression was performed to analyze the data, with socio-demographic characteristics, clinical data, and nutrition status as independent variables, and self-perceived health status (categorized as poor or good condition) as the dependent variable. Unadjusted and adjusted binary logistic regression analyses were used to examine the association between personality traits (high vs. low) and metabolic control factors (good control vs. bad control) with health status scores., Results: 60.7% of the participants with diabetes in the study described their health as "good." The results indicated that female gender (OR: 0.314, 95%CI: 0.105-0.938, P  = 0.038), age > 60 years (OR: 0.263, 95%CI: 0.117-0.592, P  = 0.001), comorbidities (OR: 0.314, 95%CI: 0.178-0.556, P  = 0.001), DM complications (OR: 0.531, 95%CI: 0.337-0.838, P  = 0.007), diabetic neuropathy (OR: 0.562, 95%CI: 0.356-0.886, P  = 0.013), and diabetic ulcer (OR: 0.130, 95%CI: 0.023-0.747, P  = 0.022) were independent variables associated with a "poor" health status. However, regular physical activity (OR: 3.144, 95%CI: 1.209-8.175, P  = 0.019) and a healthy nutritional diet (OR: 2.456, 95%CI: 1.421-4.245, P  < 0.001) were associated with a higher likelihood of a "good" self-perceived health status., Conclusion: Preventive programs and interventions aimed at improving self-perceived health among patients with diabetes should focus on increasing regular physical activity and promoting a healthy nutritional status. These actions should be particularly targeted towards female and older patients with higher neuroticism traits., Competing Interests: Competing interestsNone to declare., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Tehran University of Medical Sciences 2023. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

Background: Expanding fiscal space for health can be defined as providing additional budgetary resources for health, which is highly important during biological crises. This study aimed to provide a model for financing the treatment costs during biological crises using the development of the fiscal space approach., Methods: This study employed a descriptive mixed-method design, consisting of three stages. In the first stage, a systematic review of relevant literature was conducted using multiple databases, including Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar. A total of 45 studies that met the inclusion criteria were selected. In the second stage, a panel of 14 experts identified five primary and 32 secondary strategies using an open questionnaire. Any additional strategies not identified during the literature review were added if a consensus was reached by experts. In the final stage, the Best Worst Method (BWM) was used to prioritize the identified strategies and sub-strategies based on their feasibility, effectiveness, quick yield, and fairness., Results: Five strategies and fifty sub-strategies were identified. The most important strategies were the increase in health sector-specific resources (0.3889), increase in efficiency of health expenditures (0.2778), structural reforms (0.1111), health sector-specific grants and foreign aid (0.1667), and conducive macroeconomic conditions (0.05556). The most important sub-strategies were establishing and increasing earmarked taxes for the health sector (0.0140), expanding Universal Health Coverage (UHC) plans (0.0103), attracting the participation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and charitable organizations in the health sector (0.0096), integrating basic social insurance funds (0.0934), and tax exemptions for economic activists in the health sector (0.009303) during the crisis., Conclusion: This study identified five main strategies and 50 sub-strategies for financing the treatment costs during biological crises. The most important strategies were increasing health sector-specific resources, improving efficiency of health expenditures, and implementing structural reforms. To finance health expenditures, harmful and luxury goods taxes can be increased and allocated to the health sector during crises. UHC plans should be improved and expanded, and the capacity of NGOs and charitable organizations should be better utilized during crises., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Forecasting the future trend of health expenditures is an important step toward sustainable financing of health-care systems. This study aims to develop a conceptual framework for forecasting Iran health spending growth., Materials and Methods: At first, we concentrated on the general model and conceptual framework of health expenditure projection by reference to a broad literature review and smart classifications of the origins of health spending and indicators. At the second step, we developed a time series modeling for econometric estimation and forecasting national health expenditure without restrictive assumptions except for current laws and regulatory environment. In the third step, we tested the accuracy of model by forecasting Iran real per capita health expenditures (2017-2025)., Results: The results of the literature review represented a distinct classification of the origins of health spending and indicators, applicable to any health system and health spending projection model. Furthermore, the model of expenditure forecasting shows the power of certainty of no spurious estimation, assessment of the normal state of a health system, and test of the accuracy of forecasting results. The projection by the Iranian health system database showed that the real per capita health spending will grow 43 percent till 2025 in the absence of any unforeseen disturbance in the future., Conclusions: The presented model provides estimates that are compatible with actual trends of health spending and can be applied to forecast health expenditure in the near future. The forecasted image of Iran's health spending growth implies that health authorities need to concentrate more on the growth rate of the health budget and its fiscal space in the near future., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2022 Journal of Education and Health Promotion.)

Objective: To assess existing evidence on the effects of COVID-19 on healthcare workers (HCWs) using the health-related productivity loss approach., Methods: A systematic search of online databases including PubMed, Scopus, Ovid, Web of Science, and EMBASE was conducted up to 25 August 2020. Following two screening stages, studies related to the effects of COVID-19 on healthcare workers were included in the study., Results: 82 studies were included in the analysis. The COVID-19 related death rate among HCWs ranged from 0.00-0.7%, while the positive test incidence varied between 0.00 and 24.4%. 39 evidences assessed psychological disorders. A wide range of psychological disorders observed among HCWs: 5.2 to 71.2% in anxiety, 1.00 to 88.3% in stress, 8.27 to 61.67% in insomnia, and 4.5 to 50.4% in depression., Conclusions: The early evidence suggests that healthcare workers are one of the most vulnerable groups when it comes to positive COVID-19 infection, mortality, and mental illness., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Patient relationship management (PRM), in addition to saving costs, increases patient loyalty and creates a satisfactory environment for the patient and the service provider. This study aimed to design a model of PRM in general hospitals using the combination of the analytic hierarchy process and interpretive structural modeling (ISM)., Methods: This was an applied and cross-sectional study conducted in 2020 at three stages. At the first stage, using a systematic review, factors affecting PRM were identified. In the second stage, these factors were prioritized based on the pair-wise comparisons. In the third stage, the interaction levels of the factors were modeled for the general hospitals using ISM through the use of the MICMAC technique and Excel 2007 software., Results: The results showed that "integrated information system," "registration of the patient's essential information," and "right data at the correct time" were the first to third priority in implementing PRM in the general hospitals. In the final model of ISM, three levels of effective factors were extracted, and 10, 4, and 6 factors were identified in the first, second, and third levels, respectively., Conclusion: Establishing the PRM strategy in the hospital, in addition to executive and managerial requirements, depends on the existence of an electronic customer relationship management system, and the choice of new technology, as well as the integration of information systems and technology culture, should be given special attention by managers., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2021 Journal of Education and Health Promotion.)

This cross-sectional study aimed to determine factors affecting the failure to report medical errors in teaching hospitals affiliated to Iran. The required data were collected during stages of systematic review and develop of researcher-made questionnaire. A total of 131 nurses were selected using Cochran's sample size formula. The collected data were analyzed by Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) using Expert Choice software. Results showed that the most important factors affecting the failure to report medical errors by nurses were, respectively, management-related factors (W = 0.595), nurse-related factors (W = 0.276), and factors related to the error reporting process (W = 0.128).

Background: Despite a lot of studies carried out on catastrophic and impoverishing health expenditures, exposure to these expenditures have not been studied among health staffs and their families yet. So that our study has analyzed exposure to CHE (Catastrophic Health Expenditures) and factors affecting them among the health staffs affiliated to army medical universities in Tehran. Methods: This study was a descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study implemented in 2016. Among all health staffs of a university of medical sciences, the full details of 240 households (838 individuals) were collected by using a stratified random sampling method. The data gathering and analyzing process have been done based on WHO standard guideline. Finally, the odds ratio of CHE determinants is reported using logistic regression by backward elimination method and chi-square test. Results: The results of this study showed that 7.5% (CI: 7.3-7.7) of health staff households (54 individuals) are faced with CHE. The odds of exposure to CHE for households with 3 members and less, households with lower education level and households with two or more outpatient visits were significantly more than others (p<0.05). Households who have used dental services during the past year were 8.77 times (p<0.001) more at risk of CHE. Also, households with 3 members and less, households with lower education level and households with two or more outpatient visits were 8.59, 7.96, and 3.39 times more at risk of such payments, respectively. Conclusion: CHE is a common financing dilemma even among health staffs. Families who have more referring to health centers and less education level and also dental service users are more at risk of exposure. Health policy-makers should pay more attention to such vulnerable and high-risk groups. Finally, our study results recommended the increase of dental insurance coverage as an effective strategy to reduce exposure to CHE., (© 2019 Iran University of Medical Sciences.)

In recent years the high cost of medicines and the lack of it were one of the major problems in developing countries that despite numerous efforts to solve the root causes of this problem, the issue remains, unfortunately. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the impact of antibiotics and corticosteroids prescription on the medicines expenditures. This was descriptive-analytical study that conducted to assess the function of medical expenditures through prescription letters and analysis the factors affecting medicine expenditures. We used the data of 91,994,667 selected prescription letters that were collected by the Ministry of the Health and Medical Education (MOHME) throughout the country in the year 2011 which was analyzed through a logarithmic regression model and OLS estimator. The average number of prescription items in each prescription letter were varied from 2.7 to 3.6, and the average price of each letter was varied from 30223 to 69986 Rials. Between 39 to 61 percent of prescription letters containing antibiotic items and between 15 and 35% of them contain corticosteroids. Also, the impact of antibiotic and corticosteroid prescriptions on the average expenditure of prescription letters were -1.4 and 0.032 respectively. Excessive and irrational prescribing had the greatest impact on medicine expenditures. On the other hand, the expenditure of prescription letters had the negative elasticity to antibiotics prescription and relatively inelastic for corticosteroids. So, raising the price of medications to reduce the use of them could not play a successful role in a control policy.

Background: Timely access to cardiovascular health services is necessary to prevent heart damages. The present study examined inequality in geographical distribution of cardiovascular health services in Iran. Methods: Present study is a cross-sectional study conducted using demographic data from all Iranian provinces (31 provinces) from 2012 census by the Statistics Center of Iran (SCI). The Gini coefficients of CCU beds and cardiologists were used to assess equality in access to cardiovascular health services in Iran. MS Excel software was used to calculate Gini coefficients. Results: The proportions of CCU bed and cardiologist per 100,000 population were 4.88 and 1.27, respectively; also the Gini coefficients were 0.129 and 0.045, respectively. Conclusion: Descriptive statistics showed a skewness in distribution of pubic cardiovascular health services in Iran, though Gini coefficient revealed no significant inequality. However, equal distribution of CCU beds and cardiovascular specialists does not mean they are sufficiently available in Iran.

Background & Aim: Inappropriate prescribing injection medicines can reduce the quality of medical care, patient safety, and leads to a waste of resources. Sufficient evidence is not available in developing countries to persuade policy-makers to promote rational drug prescription. The objective of this study is to assess some factors affecting the prescription of the injection medicines in Iran., Methods: In this descriptive-analytic study, the data of 91,994,667 selected prescription letters were collected by the Ministry of the Health and Medical Education (MOHME) throughout the country at the year 2011 which were analyzed through a logarithmic regression model., Results: Results of the study show that the percentage of the prescription letters containing injection items varied from 27 percent (in Yazd) to 57 percent (in Ilam). Also the impact of price on the prescription of the injection medicines was not significant (P=0.55). But the impact of the prescription of antibiotics and corticosteroid on injections were significant (P>0.05) and equal 0.44 and 0.65 respectively., Conclusion: Increasing price of injection medicines as a policy towards reducing consumptions cannot be a successful policy. But reducing the use of antibiotics and corticosteroids can be a more effective policy to reduce the use of injection medicines.

Background & Aim: While most of the published researches have reported the amount of inequity in geographical distribution of important health resources, only a small number of studies have focused on the trend of inequality in the distribution of these resources. The purpose of this study was to determine the trend of inequality in the distribution of intensive care beds in Iran during 2010 to 2012 by using the Gini coefficient., Methods: This is a cross-sectional research conducted in 2013. The changes over three years (2010 to 2012) were calculated by Gini coefficient to investigate the trend of inequality in geographical distribution of intensive care beds (CCU, ICU and NICU)., Results: The Gini coefficient for CCU beds was calculated as 0.02, 0.04 and 0.06 in 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively. The Gini coefficient for ICU beds was calculated as 0.03, 0.05 and 0.05 in 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively. Also, the Gini coefficient for NICU bed was calculated as 0.02, 0.03 and 0.04 in 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively., Conclusion: Regarding to Gini coefficient, the trend of inequality was increased in the distribution of intensive care beds in Iran. Particularly, the inequalities in distribution of CCU beds were significantly increased during past years. In fact, if this trend of inequality continues, the distribution of intensive care beds will be extremely unequal in the next five years in Iran.