Factors Affecting Induced Demand in Iran's Health System: A Qualitative Study

Induced demand is defined as the sale of unnecessary services to patients by exercising power and ordering health stakeholders. The purpose of this study is to identify and provide a comprehensive framework of factors affecting the inductive demand in the Iranian health system from the perspective of experts and specialists.

In terms of the type of study, the research was a qualitative content analysis from 2014 to 2018. 14 articles from Iranian data and 101 articles from global citation databases were selected, and 20 related articles were selected according to the purpose of the research. By carefully studying them by qualitative analysis method, a list of main and sub-factors and components of induced demand were identified. Then, the list was modified with the opinions of a group of experts, and the final list was obtained.

The final results of the initial analysis and the opinions of experts and experts in relation to the factors affecting the induced demand in the 5 main categories of fundamental, social, organizational structure, economic, stakeholders, and 18 sub-categories and 82 factors were identified and presented.

Summarizing the findings of this study shows that due to the expansion and multiplicity of factors and the complex nature of the induced demand phenomenon in the health system, only by identifying the relevant factors can its harmful effects be controlled.