The governance of Iranian public hospitals in passing paradigms

Abstract

Hospital governance, especially in the realm of public hospitals, has been less studied by many researchers as a distinct field of research. The aim of this study is to investigate the models of public hospitals in passing paradigms and introducing an optimal model of governance of these organizations based on the assumptions of last paradigm of the public governance. The method used for this research was to study archival studies, direct observation and semi-structured in-depth interviews with thirty Iranian experts in the field of health selected by using snowball sampling. Data analysis was performed using themes network analysis. Research findings have revealed shortcomings in the management of public hospitals and proposed governance model of these organizations. The proposed dimensions of this model include a council decision, corporate responsibility, strategic funding, interaction with society and the freedom to engage in market. It seems that the findings and designed models of this study could be proposed as a solution to get out of the current challenges of public hospitals to policy makers in this field.  Moreover, the results of this study have contributed to develop the theory of governance by offering various aspects of The Iranian public hospitals governance models.