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Background and purpose: In many countries, measurements are taken to support cancer patients. In Iran the high costs of cancers and increasing incidence of cancer have made health system authorities to plan for this issue as a top priority of healthcare reform program. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of this program in cancer patients in Sari Imam Khomeini teaching hospital, Iran.

Materials and methods: An analytical study was performed in which the costs of leukemia patients admitted in Sari Imam Khomeini Hospital (in two six-month periods, April-October 2013 and 2014) were obtained using their medical and billing records. Data analysis was done in SPSS V.21 applying t-test.

Results: Percentage of direct patient costs were 17.12% and 3.02% in 2013 and 2014, respectively. The portion of the medicine fee paid by patients reduced to 7.7% in 2014 (after implementing the healthcare reform program) from 16.8% in 2013. 

Conclusion: Implementation of healthcare reform program has dramatically reduced the direct patient costs in 2014. Also, the fee paid by patients for medicine has reduced by 9% following the program.  Therefore, adopting new policies that could reduce the costs of medications can be of great benefit in reducing financial barriers to patients.

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Background and purpose: In order to increase the accountability of hospitals and ensuring proper medical treatments at any time of the day, physicians residing in non-administrative hours have active physical presence in the hospital and perform the diagnostic and therapeutic measures required. The purpose of this study was to assess the implementation of resident physician program in Mazandaran province, Iran.
Materials and methods: A qualitative study was carried out in which the participants included 27 individuals from university authorities, hospital managers, and specialists. Data was collected by semi-structured interviews using purposeful and snowball methods and continued until data saturation. Then, transcription of interview data was done to determine the meaning units, coding, classification based on similarity and proportion, and identifying themes using content analysis.
Results: According to the framework of the resident physician program, 13 primary themes and 47 secondary themes were extracted. This program improved the centers’ responses, indicators, and processes. But some themes such as finance, infrastructures, monitoring, implementation of the program, and payments to doctors were found as challenging issues requiring more attention.
Conclusion: Considering the opportunities and threats, and the strengths and weaknesses of the resident physicians program, current findings could provide managers and healthcare authorities with a more comprehensive approach to the present situation.
 

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 Background and purpose: In recent years, Health System Reform Plan has been implemented in Iran to improve health care system. Medication costs, including medical prescriptions are major parts of the budget in this project. In the meantime, health insurance plays a significant role in providing these costs. This study aimed at evaluating the effect of Health System Reform Plan on the cost of medical prescriptions of patients with Health Insurance in selected public hospitals in Sari, Iran.
Materials and methods: In this analytical study, inpatient prescriptions in two periods (2011-2013 and 2014-2015) were obtained from the health insurance organization. Data analysis was done in SPSS software.
Results: The trend of cost changes was not significantly different in years before implementation of the Health System Reform Plan (2011-2013) and subsequent years. But, significant cost changes were seen in 2013-2016 (P= 0.311) and 2013-2014 (P=0.0204).
Conclusion: Implementation of the Health System Reform Plan in 2014 increased the cost of medication prescriptions for health insurance, which continued in 2015, but in most hospitals the trend declined in 2016.