The Feasibility of Deploying Business Process Management in Hospitals in Iran

Background: Business process management systems (BPM) can automate all processes in an organization. These systems provide the possibility of identifying, modeling, deploying, implementing, function managing, integrating with other information systems, monitoring and improving an organization's business processes in a standard form. As far as the authors know, no related research has been performed in this field. Objective: This study investigated the feasibility of establishing business process management in hospitals in Iran. Methods: This qualitative research involved 13 participants selected by purposive sampling, including faculty members from medical universities and managers of hospitals. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Interviewees were asked about the requirements for establishing BPM. To more easily understand the content, the interveiwees’ responses were classified into two general categories: prerequisites for guidelines and procedures, and prerequisites for electronic healthcare records. Conclusion: Despite slight differences between the two groups of respondents (healthcare administrative experts and medical informatics management experts), there was a consensus among the experts about the effectiveness and efficiency of using BPM in healthcare organizations. Furthermore, respondents maintained that, even though numerous prerequisites would be needed for the establishment of this kind of processing reform given the current situation in Iran, some benefit could be gained from implementing to any extent possible this approach in Iran’s hospitals.