Impact of Outsourcing Medical Equipment Department on Costs and Profits: A Case Study of a University Hospital in Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Background: Medical equipment plays a key role in diagnosis, treatment, and medical education. Outsourcing is delegating a part or all activities of an organization to a party (e.g., individuals or organizations) outside the organization, which has an important role in the organization’s productivity.

Objectives: The current study aimed to investigate the effect of outsourcing the department of medical equipment of a university hospital in Tehran, Iran, by emphasizing costs, profits, and performance.

Methods: This was a descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study. This study investigated the documents and financial records of the Financial Office to calculate costs and revenues. Additionally, a researcher-developed questionnaire was used to evaluate the effect of outsourcing on employees’ performance and financial performance. A total of 36 subjects were randomly selected, following the sampling formula (the response rate: 72%). The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was applied to test for a normal distribution. As the data were not normally distributed, the Wilcoxon test was used. Furthermore, the t-test and analysis of variance were used to study the difference in the effect of outsourcing and age, gender, and educational level. The data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 19).

Results: According to the findings, there was a significant difference before and after outsourcing in the costs and revenues of the Medical Equipment Department. Concerning the effect of outsourcing on the performance, the “human resources” factor obtained the highest mean (3.37), which indicated the poor perspective of the staff in this aspect. Moreover, the lowest score was related to the “cost-effectiveness” (2.96), which was an average score. There were weak scores concerning the dimensions of management (3.28) and quality of services (3.36). Conclusions: Considering the importance of staff in the hospital, it is necessary to pay serious attention to the impact of different types of reforms intended to increase the revenues and reduce the costs of hospitals on the staff of the organization by emphasizing managerial and human resources dimensions, which not only will increase the efficiency of the organization and satisfaction of the staff but also translated into better quality.