Evaluation of Factors Affecting the Strategic Purchasing of Medicines in the Iran Armed Forces Health Insurance Organization

After the World Health Organization (WHO)'s 2000 report, views shifted in that direction of strategic purchasing in medical services. WHO stated that adequate funding for health is an important issue, but financial resources alone cannot lead to universal health coverage. WHO defines "Strategic purchasing" as a measure to maximize the efficiency of countries' health systems to answer these questions: what to buy / from whom to buy/how to buy and for whom to buy.

This study was conducted in four main stages, including identifying the concept of "strategic purchasing" in the health system using the critical method and review resources, review of strategic purchasing policies in the Iran Armed Forces Health Insurance Organization, identifying the main policy factors of strategic purchasing by insurance from the perspective of experts in this field and finally evaluation of strategic purchasing in insurance and providing solutions and suggestions for its implementation. A validated questionnaire was developed and the Likert technique was used to score the results.

The results were presented in sub-categories, which included identifying the concept of "strategic purchasing" in the health system and the Iran Armed Forces Health Insurance Organization, effectiveness and contracting for the supply of medicine with the lowest price and quality of the product is a top priority for policymakers. In response to the four basic questions of strategic procurement, various factors and their contributions were measured.

Strategic procurement of health services is very necessary for health insurance organizations. Therefore, it is better to take steps to implement it as soon as possible. In addition to the findings of this study, including determining the factors for the strategic drug purchasing process, one of the most important policy findings of this study in interviews and discussions with experts was that theoretically, we all know what strategic purchasing is and what are the steps involved, but in practice, there is not any plan to implement it or we do not have the ability to implement it due to the existing infrastructure and policies. So, in addition to raising awareness, a proper understanding of the process must be established so that policy-making and implementation can follow, which requires integrated decisions.