FACTORS AFFECTING DECISION-MAKING IN OUTSOURCING HEALTH SERVICES USING A STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING APPROACH.

Corresponding Author:
Leila Riahi,
Department of Health Services Management,
Science and Research branch,
Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
E-mail: l.riahi@srbiau.ac.ir

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND

In developing countries, the restructuring of financial resources is one of the components of the health system reform policy. In this regard, outsourcing services is one of the types of interventions that is under consideration. The purpose of this research is to develop a decision-making model for outsourcing services in Iranian public hospitals.

METHODS

This is an exploratory study. For data analysis, the statistical methods of exploratory and deterministic analysis were used with IBM SPSS Statistics 23 and LISREL 8.8 software.

RESULTS

Effective factors in deciding on outsourcing services in Iran’s public hospitals include economic factors with a load factor of 0/70, characteristics of service with a load factor of 0/60, environmental factors with a load factor of 0/46, social factors with a load factor of 0/42, and resource with a load factor of 0/40. Standardized load factor values and T values for significant loading factors’ tests indicate that all extracted factors are significant in outsourcing measurements in comparison with T values(p <0.001, T›2).

CONCLUSIONS

The proposed model for decision making outsourcing services in Iranian public hospitals in the form of a comprehensive and multidimensional concept consists of six effective factors (economic, service, environment, policy, social, and resources). Therefore, consideration of all aspects of its components can lead to the successful outsourcing of services in the public hospitals to achieve the desired goals.

KEY WORDS

Decision Making, Economics, Hospitals, Outsourced Services