The main factors of supplier‑induced demand in health care: A qualitative study

Induced demand is a major challenge for financing health promotion, whereby providers exploit patients’ information gap to manipulate their demand for health care. The purpose of this study was to identify the factors associated with induced demand for health‑care services in hospitals affiliated with Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS) in 2018.

In this qualitative study, semi‑structured interviews were conducted with 20 participants from IUMS hospitals, including faculty members, physicians, public hospital managers, patients, and researchers with academic and practical experience. Inductive content analysis was used to analyze the data.

Overall, 24 subthemes or factors were identified and classified into the health system, the insurer, health‑care provider, and health‑care recipient themes. Poor monitoring and control, the fee‑for‑service payment system, limited role of insurance companies, insufficient monitoring of insurance companies, the educational nature of our health centers, health‑care providers’ interests, and patients’ information gap were some important factors in induced demand for health‑care services.

Our results showed that there are many factors that contribute to induced demand for health care. Given the four levels of factors identified in this study, health policymakers and managers must develop strategies at each level to reduce induced demand for health care.