Obstacles to the Implementation of Intersectoral Planning in the Healthcare System

Introduction: Health master plan is a tool designed to promote health and it is essential to define strategies, policies, and directions to health system programs. Therefore, the present study aimed to find obstacles to intersectoral planning and help it to implement. Methods: This was a qualitative and content analysis study (Mixed method). The study participants consisted of 12 managers and experts in planning involved in the development of the health master plan of Kerman and were selected through purposive and snowball sampling. Data collection was conducted through semi-structured and were analyzed using framework analysis method. The four criteria of “Credibility, Dependability, Confirmability, and transferability” were considered to increase the validity and reliability of the research. Results: Two themes are internal and external factors in the form of 8 sub-themes, including Stewardship, management commitment, Financing, training, information, policymaking, laws and regulations and intersectoral collaboration identified as obstacles to the implementation of intersectoral planning in health master plan of Kerman. Conclusion: Each plan, especially long-term and intersectoral planning, needs a set of collaboration, resources, legal requirements and most importantly, commitment to achieve its ultimate goal that, if this goal is related to the health of the community, the importance of the program’s implementation is doubled.