Dimensions and Components for Designing the Basic Health Services Package in Iran: Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses

Objective (s): 

The basic health services package is the minimum set of essential health services that all people should have access to it, but there is no consensus on the services included in a package or the services to be included. The aim of this study was to identify the dimensions and components for designing a basic package in Iran.

This was a mixed method study. In qualitative phase 25 in-depth individual interviews were conducted with experts from the Ministry of Health, incurrence organization and the Planning and Budget Organization, and the data were analyzed using content analysis method. In the quantitative phase 285 managers and faculty members were selected from the Ministry of Health, insurance organizations, and 12 universities of medical sciences. Data were collected using a two-part questionnaire, including demographic characteristics and evaluation of 58 criteria, and analyzed using SPSS.23 and Smart-pls.3.2.8 software for exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses.

8 Dimensions of community health priority, structure and potential capacity of service delivery system, peoplechr('39')s demands, cost effectiveness, benefits, funding, social acceptance of service, and governance obligations and requirements for designing a basic health services package were identified, of which 57 components were classified under these eight factors. According to the goodness of fit index in factor analysis, the overall performance of the model was strong (GOF = 0.8).

It is important to design a basic health service package. The basic health services package needs to be comprehensive and accessible so that all individuals are willing and satisfied to use the services.