Investigating the most Important Advantages, Disadvantages and Obstacles of Public-Private Sector Partnership in Providing Primary Health Care Services from the Viewpoint of Health Managers

Background and Objectives

Public-private partnerships can lead to increased efficiency, equity, accountability, quality and access to services in the health system. The aim of this study was to explore the opinion of health system managers about the advantages, disadvantages and barriers of public-private partnership in the provision of primary health care services.

Material and Methods

We used both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the opinion of experts about the objectives of the study. First of all a literature reviewe was done to identify the problems and challenges of public-private partnership in the health sector in the year 2020. Based on the literature review and interviews conducted with experts, a two-part questionnaire was developed to collect data. The sample for the interviews was selected by snowball method until saturation was reached. After the validity and reliability of the questionnaire were established, the questionnaire was completed by 100 health managers. The collected data were analyzed using Stata software version 14.

Results

The most important benefits of public-private partnership in providing primary health care services from the point of view of health managers include providing financial resources for health services plans with an average of 4.02 (SD 1.00) , as well as the high technical and managerial efficiency in the private sector with an average of 3.90 (SD 0.60). Lack of full coverage of primary health care services and incomitment to social justice with an average score of 3.99 (SD 0.92) as well as the inadequate job security of human resources in the private sector with an average score of 3.97 (SD 0.9) were found as the most important disadvantages of partnership of public-private. It was revealed that the major barriers hindering public-private partnership in service delivery include "legal, and monitoring shortcomings alongside hampering rules and regulations in partnership with the private sector" with a mean score of 4.06(SD 0.60), "reluctance of health managers for risk-taking when in partnership with the pivate sector "with a mean score of 4.05 (SD 0.61) and" Insufficient expertise of government managers regarding knowledge of partnership with the private sector "with a mean score of 4.04 a(SDf 0.53).

Conclusion

It seems that managers' attention to the disadvantages of partnership, such as lack of full coverage of services and withdrawal from social justice, etc., can pave the way for developing much clearer and smoother public-private sectors’ partnerships.