Effect of Iran Health Transformation Plan on Patient Satisfaction

The health system reform is a course of targeted, fundamental, and sustainable changes to increase accessibility, efficiency, quality, equity, resilience, sustainability, accountability, and satisfaction, and to reduce cost. Iran’s Health Transformation Plan (HTP) was implemented in May 2014 to reduce patients’ costs, improve the quality of services, and provide equal access to hospital care. The objective of this study was to evaluate the HTP effect on patient satisfaction.

A retrospective, descriptive-analytical research was conducted using patient satisfaction data from 2012 to 2016 in a specialized hospital in Isfahan, Iran. About 538 and 873 patients were examined before and after the HTP implementation, respectively. A 29-item questionnaire was used to measure patients’ satisfaction with medical, nursing, supportive, and welfare services. Data were analyzed using SPSS-V24.

Patient satisfaction increased from 84% in 2012 to 89.7% in 2016. The HTP implementation increased patient satisfaction by 6.3%, which was statistically significant (p<0.05). Patient satisfaction was increased in all medical, nursing, supportive, and welfare dimensions. The most increase occurred in supportive and welfare services and the least increase happened in nursing services. Patient satisfaction increased by 5.5%, 0.37%, and 0% after one, two, and three years of HTP implementation in the hospital.

Patient satisfaction increased in the hospital following HTP implementation. Evaluating the HTP effects regularly reveals its strengths and weaknesses and policy-makers can apply necessary and on-time changes to sustain its positive results.