Introduction: Evaluating agility effectively and efficiently is necessary and challenging for organizations. Therefore, this article aimed to assess the performance of hospitals with organizational agility (OA) approach. Materials and methods: A descriptive-analytical study was done in which the statistical population consisted of managers and experts of hospital courses including medicine, nursing, midwifery, and paramedics. A total of 283 managers and experts were enrolled as the sample using the Krejcie and Morgan table with stratified random sampling. Data were analyzed using one-sample t test with SPSS20. Results: Among 13 elements of agility, the results showed that competence (P=0.032) had a significant difference with customer satisfaction (P=0.029). The results also showed that OA was not optimal in selected hospitals of Mazandaran province, Iran. Concerning the indicators, introduction of new product (8.56) and staff skill development indicator (5.32) were maximum and minimum, respectively. Conclusion: The results showed that OA was not optimal in selected hospitals. Introduction of new product scored the top, while staff skill development was the lowest. As a result, health policy makers are recommended to plan for customer satisfaction, timely utilization of facilities, elimination of weak points, lost cost reduction, encouragement and punishment system for staff, and staff empowerment.

Background: Branding in the field of healthcare services leads to transparency and utility in the type of services, differentiation of services in the minds of patients, and their trust in health centers. Therefore, the present study aimed to provide a branding model in the field of healthcare services. Methods: A mixed-method approach was utilized to develop a branding model for providing healthcare services. The study population for the qualitative phase included 20 academic and organizational experts using snowball sampling and the Delphi technique. For the quantitative phase, 830 people who were referred to health centers were selected as service recipients, and 415 medical staff were selected as health care providers. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by face, content, and structural validity; moreover, its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha of 0.96. Quantitative data were presented by EQS software (version 6.1) with confirmatory factor analysis and structural equations. Results: According to the results of factor structure and measurement equivalence, the branding of healthcare services had six main themes of competitive position, brand equity, brand accessibility, brand consolidation in the minds of clients and the market, branding strategies, and consumer-brand relationship with 19 sub-themes for clients and providers (Comparative fit index=0.9, Tucker Lewis index=0.8, Root mean square error of approximation=0.085, Root mean square error=0.049). Moreover, the items had a good fit and internal consistency at significant levels (P<0.05). Conclusion: According to the results, six main themes of competitive position, brand equity, brand accessibility, brand consolidation in the minds of clients and the market, branding strategies, and consumer-brand relationship with 19 sub-themes can be used in the field of health services branding.

Background:  One of the most important subjects in health economics and healthcare management is the theory of induced demand; that is, caring for or providing and selling unnecessary services to users of healthcare systems, which is accompanied by the exercising of power by the service providers. Methods: This study was performed on physicians, nurses, and laboratory and radiology technicians working in Medical Science universities. Random sampling was conducted from five areas: the center, north, west, east and south of Iran. Data were gathered by a questionnaire, with a Cronbach's alpha of >0.7, consisting of nine dimensions on existence of induced demand and its associated factors. Results: The results showed that overall, 65.2% of the participants agreed with the existence of induced demand. Chi-squared test showed there was no difference in the level of induced demand between the regions of the country, education level and occupation. However, there was a significant difference in terms of gender (P<0.005). The Kruskal-Wallis test indicated a significant relationship between the associated factors and induced demand (P<0.005). Conclusions: Results showed that induced demand was influenced by factors including service recipients’ awareness, personal benefits of service providers, the extent they cared about health, supervision of insurance companies, industrialization of the health sector, diversity and increased number of trained experts and the quality of methods of training the service providers.  Therefore, policymakers and planners should consider raising awareness of health service recipients, supervising insurance companies, reforming teaching methods, social culture making and changing the beliefs of society.

Introduction/Aim: A strong brand reduces costs, increases customer satisfaction with the quality of services and the effectiveness of services. Therefore, this study was conducted to present a model for health branding with a service providers' approach. Methods: This qualitative-quantitative study was conducted in 2020. The statistical population of the study was selected for the qualitative stage and included 20 academic and organizational experts using the Delphi technique and the quantitative stage included 415 service providers of the staff health centers. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by face, content, construct validity and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha of 0.96. Quantitative data were presented by EQS software version 6.1 with confirmatory factor analysis and using structural equations. Results: The results of factor structure in healthcare branding based on six main themes of competitive position, brand equity, brand accessibility, brand consolidation in the minds of clients and the market, branding strategies, and consumer-brand relationship with 19 sub-themes based on the perspective of service providers (CFI = 0.9, TLI = 0.8, RMSEA = 0.08, SRMR = 0.05) had a good fit and the internal consistency of the items reached significant levels. Conclusion: To take an effective step in health branding, one can achieve competitive advantage and provide high-quality and profitable health services with the help of service providers through adopting and strengthening competitive position, equity, accessibility, brand consolidation in the minds of clients and the market, branding strategies, and consumer-brand relationship.