Presenting a Process Model for the Outsourcing of Medical Service Operations based on a Good Governance Approach: a Qualitative Study

Outsourcing refers to the transfer of services or functions (which are traditionally performed by the organisation itself) to an external supplier, and their control is done through a contract or cooperative management. This study aimed to explain the medical service operations outsourcing process model based on the good governance approach.

In this research, a grounded theory approach was used. The population and statistical sample of the qualitative stage were ten senior managers of medical sciences universities in Region 2 who were interviewed. Coding was done in three basic steps according to the analysis results. The research questions obtained were categorised into six factors. Therefore, all the identified factors are part of the outsourcing process model of medical service operations. According to the model and the results of the measured models, all the research tools had a suitable and acceptable fit.

The study examined the outsourcing process model of treatment service operations and identified various components, influential consequences, effective causal factors, effective intervening factors, effective background factors, and strategies for management. The components of the outsourcing process model included organizational management; patients demand management, financial resources management, human resource management, business process management, information technology, and management of service accessibility by patients. The influential consequences of the model included the integration of intra-organizational services and the integration of extra-organizational services. The effective causal factors of the model included the management system and synchronization of the workforce with customer-oriented services. The effective intervening factors of the model included technical and specialized knowledge, supervisory system, organizational policies, regulations and laws, and notification system. The effective background factors of the model included the service supply and demand system, investment, and prevailing competitive conditions. Lastly, the strategies for management included professional ethics and spiritualism.

With a qualitative approach, this research has presented the pattern of the process of outsourcing treatment services operations based on the good governance approach in the form of a theory, and through it, the efficiency of treatment service outsourcing can be well interpreted and explained.