Studies from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences Reveal New Findings on Healthcare Economics (Recommendations to improve insurance coverage for physiotherapy services in Iran: a multi criteria decision-making approach): Economics – Healthcare Economics

Health & Medicine Daily

2021 DEC 23 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health & Medicine Daily -- New study results on healthcare economics have been published. According to news reporting out of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences by NewsRx editors, research stated, “High toll of traffic-related injuries, climate change, natural disasters, population aging, as well as chronic diseases have all made considerable demands on receiving physiotherapy services in Iran. Nevertheless, there is an assortment of complications facing utilization of such services, particularly poor insurance coverage.”

Financial supporters for this research include National Institute for Medical Research Development.

Our news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences: “Therefore, the present study investigated and identified gaps in insurance coverage in order to inform future policy reforms and the design of a more comprehensive and universal benefits package for physiotherapy services in Iran. This project was carried out in Iran, using a mix-methods (viz. qualitative-quantitative) approach. Within the first phase, a qualitative study was completed to find policy recommendations. Such recommendations were then prioritized through the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), in the second phase, based on effectiveness, acceptability, cost, fairness, feasibility, and time. Within the first phase, a total number of 30 semi-structured interviews with health policy-makers, health insurers, faculty members, rehabilitation experts, and physiotherapists were completed. Several policy recommendations were also proposed by the study participants. Following the second phase, prioritized recommendations were provided to promote stewardship (e.g., informing policy-makers about physiotherapy services), collection of funds (e.g., placing value-added taxes on luxury goods and services), pooling of funds (e.g., moving allocated resources towards insurance (viz. third-party) mechanism), purchasing (e.g., using strategic purchasing), and benefit package (e.g., considering preventive interventions) as the main components of insurance coverage.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “The study findings provided a favorable ground to improve insurance coverage for physiotherapy services in Iran. As well, decision- and policy-makers can place these recommendations on the agenda in the health sector to protect population health status, especially that of groups with disabilities.”

For more information on this research see: Recommendations to improve insurance coverage for physiotherapy services in Iran: a multi criteria decision-making approach. Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation, 2021,19(1):1-15. (Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation - http://www.resource-allocation.com/). The publisher for Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation is BMC.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12962-021-00333-0.

Our news journalists report that more information may be obtained by contacting Saeed Shahabi, Health Policy Research Center, Institute of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Additional authors for this research include Dimitrios Skempes, Masoud Behzadifar, Reza Tabrizi, Behrooz Nazari, Mahboubeh Khaton Ghanbari, Seyed Taghi Heydari, Leila Zarei, Kamran Bagheri Lankarani.