Mahdi Mahdavi
1, Mahboubeh Parsaeian
2, Ebrahim Jaafaripooyan
3*, Shahram Ghaffari
41 Tehran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran.
2 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran.
3 Department of Health Management & Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran.
4 Social Security Research Institute, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
The operational management of healthcare services is expected to directly touch patient experiences. Iranian
Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MoHME) for the first time, as such, has sought to improve the
operational management of healthcare delivery within a reform agenda by setting benchmarks for ‘number of
visit per hour’ and waiting time in outpatient clinics of about 700 affiliated hospitals. As a new initiative, it has
faced with mixed reactions and various doubts have been cast on its successful implementation. This manuscript
aims to shed some light on the operational challenges of the initiative and the requirements of its successful
implementation.