exploring the extent and nature of outsourcing in public hospitals affiliated with tehran university of medical sciences, iran

introduction: measuring the extent and nature of outsourcing in public hospitals affiliated with tehran university of medical sciences (tums), tehran, iran was the aim of this study. methods: in this cross-sectional applied study, we reviewed the relevant literature and interviewed with 5 experts to introduce various indices of measuring the extent and nature of outsourcing. we recommended 6 simple indices. the data was collected from 14 hospitals affiliated with tums in 2007. results: the extent of outsourcing in tums hospitals was 12% in average. moreover, the private sector was in charge of 25% of employments. there were 124 contractual agreements between tums hospitals and other parties in 2007. a private institute was the other side of 90% of contracts. the other sides of 68% of contracts were recognized in a competitive space. however, 10% of the contracts had been revised during implementation. conclusion: although the extent of outsourcing was not considerable, the implementation process of outsourcing was acceptable.