TY - JOUR
T1 - The response of health systems to after-hours primary cares in Iran and the selected countries
AU - Salemi, Morteza
AU - Aryankhesal, Aidin
AU - Jafari, Mehdi
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
PY - 2019/10/1
Y1 - 2019/10/1
N2 - Background: After-hours primary care often involves care required for medical conditions managed outside hospitals by a general practitioner. After-hours care aims at meeting the urgent needs of patients who cannot wait to visit their general practitioner in office hours. Aim: The present study aims at comparing the after-hours primary cares in Iran, Turkey, the United States, the Netherlands, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Method: This is a descriptive-comparative study comparing after-hours primary cares in Iran and selected countries in 2019. Considering the research purpose, data pertaining to each country were collected from valid information sources and the countries were compared based on the comparative table. A framework analysis was used for data analyses. Results: The results were stated regarding the model type, dominant model, payments mechanism, the support of insurance organizations, service tariffs, private sector participation, and participation of primary care general practitioners in each country. Conclusions: Different countries are using diverse policies to enhance patients' access to general practitioners in out-of-office hours. In Iran, however, due to the lack of specific policies to access after-hour primary cares, people have to use expensive hospital and private cares. An essential step in solving this problem is the availability of general practitioner services at primary care level.
AB - Background: After-hours primary care often involves care required for medical conditions managed outside hospitals by a general practitioner. After-hours care aims at meeting the urgent needs of patients who cannot wait to visit their general practitioner in office hours. Aim: The present study aims at comparing the after-hours primary cares in Iran, Turkey, the United States, the Netherlands, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Method: This is a descriptive-comparative study comparing after-hours primary cares in Iran and selected countries in 2019. Considering the research purpose, data pertaining to each country were collected from valid information sources and the countries were compared based on the comparative table. A framework analysis was used for data analyses. Results: The results were stated regarding the model type, dominant model, payments mechanism, the support of insurance organizations, service tariffs, private sector participation, and participation of primary care general practitioners in each country. Conclusions: Different countries are using diverse policies to enhance patients' access to general practitioners in out-of-office hours. In Iran, however, due to the lack of specific policies to access after-hour primary cares, people have to use expensive hospital and private cares. An essential step in solving this problem is the availability of general practitioner services at primary care level.
KW - after-hours primary care
KW - general practitioner
KW - out-of-hours medical care
KW - urgent needs
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85069927565&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/hpm.2815
DO - 10.1002/hpm.2815
M3 - Article
C2 - 31313385
AN - SCOPUS:85069927565
VL - 34
SP - e1899-e1908
JO - The International Journal of Health Planning and Management
JF - The International Journal of Health Planning and Management
SN - 0749-6753
IS - 4
ER -