Developing a Model of Healthcare Services Supply Chain Performance Evaluation in Tehran’s Governmental, Private and Social Security Hospitals Using Grounded Theory

Facilitating people's access to healthcare services is one of the main goals of policy makers in the healthcare sector of every country. In this regard, evaluating healthcare services supply chain performance is a necessary step towards achieving this crucial goal. This study was conducted with the aim of developing model for healthcare services supply chain performance evaluation in Tehran’s governmental, private and social security hospitals based on Grounded Theory.

The present study is a qualitative study that was performed by Grounded Theory method. The data collection method was in-depth semi-structured interviews with 16 experts from Tehran’s governmental, private and social security hospitals familiar with performance evaluation concepts. The purposeful sampling method was the snowball method. To measure the validity of the findings, four criteria including credibility, generalizability, reliability and verifiability were applied. The test-retest reliability method was used to evaluate the stability of the researcher's identification. Open, axial and selective coding methods were employed for data analysis.

In this research, 58 open codes and 21 axial codes were identified for healthcare services supply chain performance evaluation in Tehran’s governmental, private and social security hospitals categorized in form of 6 selective codes consist of causal conditions, context, intervening conditions, phenomena, strategies and consequences.

The final pattern shows that the causal conditions include 2 axial codes, the context includes 3 axial codes, the intervening conditions include 2 axial codes, the phenomenon includes 6 axial codes, the strategies include 5 axial codes and the consequences include 3 axial codes. It is suggested to use the results of the provided model to improve healthcare services.