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Strategic planning is the best tool for managers seeking an informed presence and participation in the market without surrendering to changes. Strategic planning enables managers to achieve their organizational goals and objectives. Hospital goals, such as improving service quality and increasing patient satisfaction cannot be achieved if agreed strategies are not implemented. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors affecting strategic plan implementation in one teaching hospital using interpretive structural modeling (ISM).

The authors used a descriptive study involving experts and senior managers; 16 were selected as the study sample using a purposive sampling method. Data were collected using a questionnaire designed and prepared based on previous studies. Data were analyzed using ISM.

Five main factors affected strategic plan implementation. Although all five variables and factors are top level, “senior manager awareness and participation in the strategic planning process” and “creating and maintaining team participation in the strategic planning process” had maximum drive power. “Organizational structure effects on the strategic planning process” and “Organizational culture effects on the strategic planning process” had maximum dependence power.

Identifying factors affecting strategic plan implementation is a basis for healthcare quality improvement by analyzing the relationship among factors and overcoming the barriers.

The authors used ISM to analyze the relationship between factors affecting strategic plan implementation.

Accreditation helps to ensure safe and high-quality services in hospitals. Different occupational groups have various hospital accreditation experiences. The purpose of this paper is to investigate nurses’ accreditation experience and its effects on Iranian teaching hospital service quality.

This was a qualitative study involving a phenomenological approach to studying nurses’ hospital accreditation experience and understanding the effects on Iranian teaching hospital service quality. Data were collected using two focus groups in which nurses were selected using purposive sampling. Transcripts were analyzed using content analysis.

Nurses’ experiences showed that hospital administrators and nurses had greater role in implementing accreditation than other occupational groups. Accreditation improved patient-centeredness, patient safety, logistics and managerial processes and decision making. However, a weak incentive system, extra documentation and work stress were negative experiences.

Nurse experience, as the most important care team member, reveals accreditation’s strengths and weaknesses and its effects on service quality.

The author used a phenomenology approach to measure accreditation effects on service quality – a valuable tool for understanding a phenomenon among those that experience hospital accreditation processes.

The purpose of this paper is to determine accreditation effects on Iranian military hospital health service quality through nurses’ viewpoints.

The paper is a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study. Sampling drew from a hospital nurse census (n=160). Descriptive statistics were used to analyze participant demographics and nurses’ views. Linear regression analysis determined the independent variables’ overall effect on the accreditation quality results dimension (dependent variable).

From the nurses’ viewpoints, accreditation effects on services quality mean score was 3.60±0.61. Linear regression analysis showed that leadership and quality management were identified as the most important accreditation quality predictors. The R² value (0.698) showed that nearly 70 percent of the dependent variable changes were affected by the independent variables.

This study gives hospital managers a deeper insight into accreditation and its effects on military hospital service quality. Military hospitals benefit from military organization such as hierarchy and command chain, so managers should employ these characteristics to adopt appropriate policies to promote human resource management as a competitive advantage. Furthermore, results will guide public and private hospital managers on how to manage organizational variables that benefit from accreditation.

Accreditation was introduced as a hospital quality improvement program. However, implementing accreditation programs should be cost-effective. Hospital managers and employees should feel that accreditation can improve service quality. Nurses had positive viewpoints about accreditation and its effects on military hospital service quality.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the most important factors for strategic purchasing of health services in the health sector by the Iran Health Insurance Company and to provide an applicable model for other similar organizations in developing countries.

The present qualitative study was conducted in 2017 to identify the factors affecting the implementation of strategic purchasing of health services in the health sector by the Iran Health Insurance Company and to provide an indigenous and practical model through two phases: semi-structured interview followed by a Delphi process.

According to the findings of this study, Ministry of Welfare, Labor and Social Security plays a central role in the strategic purchasing. In addition, this was also approved by the representatives of citizens in communities concerning professional associations, insurance agencies and representative of the Council of Ministers. Model development explored 9 themes and 54 sub-themes.

Based on the model, most attention has been paid to consumer role and inter-sector leadership of the company with other relevant organizations and systems including other insurance organizations and the welfare ministry. More importantly, the health insurance company should be able to communicate with providers and to choose the best providers, receiving price information through competition in the most appropriate mechanism. Guided by this model, it can strategically buy the best and the most effective services for its insured population.

It might help developing societies to promote their health systems based on targeting the health budgeting and financial constraints so that it is prioritized according to the strategic purchasing criteria and consequently, economic evaluation.

The linchpins of the present study are as follow: first, the pragmatic model presented in the paper could help developing health systems to overcome the impediment in the implementation progress of strategic purchasing. Second, the model satisfies the need of enough knowledge to apply strategic purchasing in the health system. Third, the indigents have long been given special protection and consideration in the model that has continued to capture the attention of every policy-maker, in particular, developing countries, the portion of which is significant. Fourth, based on this model, attention has been paid to consumer role and inter-sector leadership of organization with other relevant organizations and systems. Fifth, this model could be correspondent for every insurance company in countries with similar developing conditions.