Strategies to develop and promote public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the provision of hospital services in Iran: a qualitative study

INTRODUCTION Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) have been constructively considered in recent years to reform health sectors in many countries. This study aimed at explaining the strategies to develop and promote PPPs in the provision of hospital services in Iran. METHODS This qualitative study was conducted in 2015. The study population consisted of experts and professionals of the health system and individuals familiar with PPPs and roles in the development of such models in hospital services in Iran that were selected through purposeful sampling, and semi-structured interviews were used for data collection. To this end, 18 experts and professionals of the health system and individuals familiar with PPPs and roles in the development of such models in hospital services in Iran were selected. The data were analyzed and classified using MAXQDA10 software and content analysis, respectively. RESULTS According to the results of this study, four main themes and 20 subthemes in terms of strategies to develop and promote PPPs in the provision of hospital services in Iran were identified, including changes in policies and laws, socio-cultural changes, improvement of mechanisms and current processes, and financial and capital capacity building. CONCLUSION To develop and promote PPPs in the provision of hospital services, there is a need to consider prerequisites and measures to help such partnerships to be effective and produce valuable results.