ArticleCost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E2020
Assessing the efficiency of Iran health system in making progress towards universal health coverage: a comparative panel data analysis.
Article in Cost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pertussis resurgence in iran: A systematic review and meta-analysis of seroimmunity and diagnostic evidence.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Pooled it
- A study on the efficiency and spatial correlation of health resource allocation in Chinese hospitals.PloS one · 2026Article
- Health insurance literacy and the associated factors in Iran: A national-scale study.Health policy OPEN · 2025Article
- Key indicators for evaluating Iran's health insurance performance.Health economics review · 2025Article
- Health systems performance in health outcomes, health financing and COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons from 31 countries.PloS one · 2025Article
- Identifying and prioritizing inefficiency causes in Iran's health system.Cost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E · 2024Article
- Challenges in institutionalizing evidence-informed priority setting for health service packages: a qualitative document and interview analysis from Iran.Health research policy and systems · 2024Article
- A study of primary health care service efficiency and its spatial correlation in China.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- Universal Health Coverage in Iran: A Review of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.Medical journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran · 2023Review
- Health system to response to economic sanctions: global evidence and lesson learned from Iran.Globalization and health · 2022Review
- The Use of Evidence-Informed Deliberative Processes for Health Insurance Benefit Package Revision in Iran.International journal of health policy and management · 2022Article
- Out-of-pocket payments for treatment of COVID-19 in Iran.Cost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E · 2022Article
- The effect of COVID-19 on public hospital revenues in Iran: An interrupted time-series analysis.PloS one · 2022Article
- COVID-19: Marking the Gaps in Migrant and Refugee Health in Some Massive Migration Areas.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Review
- The efficiency of provincial government health care expenditure after China's new health care reform.PloS one · 2021Article
- How do primary care providers work together in the Iranian PHC system?Medical journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundBuilding upon decades of continuous reforms, Iran has been implementing various initiatives to reach universal health coverage (UHC). Improving efficiency is a crucial intermediate policy objective for UHC. Therefore, this article aimed to measure the efficiency and productivity changes of the Iranian health system in making progress towards UHC during 2010-2015 in comparison with 36 selected other upper-middle-income countries.
methodsWe used panel data to measure the variations in technical efficiency (TE) and total factor productivity (TFP) through an extended data envelopment analysis (EDEA) and Malmquist productivity index, respectively. General government health expenditure (GGHE) per capita (International dollar) was selected as the input variable. Service coverage of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis; family planning; antiretroviral therapy; skilled attendants at birth; Tuberculosis treatment success rate; and GGHE as % of total health expenditure (THE) were considered as output variables. The data for each indicator were taken from the Global Health Observatory data repository and World Development Indicator database, for 6 years (2010-2015).
resultsThe TE scores of Iran's health system were 0.75, 0.77, 0.74, 0.74, 0.97, and 0.84 in the period 2010-2015, respectively. TFP improved in 2011 (1.02), 2013 (1.01), and 2014 (1.30, generally). The overall efficiency and TFP increased in 2014. Changes made in CCHE per capita and GGHE/THE attributed to the increase of efficiency.
conclusionThere is a growing demand for efficiency improvements in the health systems to achieve UHC. While there are no defined set of indicators or precise methods to measure health system efficiency, EDEA helped us to draw the picture of health system efficiency in Iran. Our findings highlighted the essential need for targeted and sustained interventions, i.e., allocation of enough proportion of public funds to the health sector, to improve universal financial coverage against health costs aiming to enhance the future performance of Iran's health system, ultimately. Such tailored interventions may also be useful for settings with similar context to speed up their movement towards improving efficiency, which in turn might lead to more resources to reach UHC.
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