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Background and Aim: Equitable distribution of health system resources and hospital beds is crucial for an acceptable level of health for all the people of the country. The aim of this study was to examine the equity in distribution of hospital beds in Iran.
Materials and Methods: In this descriptive and cross sectional study data were collected from Ministry of Health and Medical Education and Iranian statistics Center. The study population consisted of all Iranian hospitals in 2016. The equity in the distribution of hospitals’ beds was evaluated using the Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient. Excel software was used for data analysis.
Results: Iranian population was 79,926,270 and there were 930 hospitals with 118,894 beds in 2016. (1.2 hospitals per 100,000 population and 1.5 hospital beds per 1000 population). Yazd, Semnan and Tehran provinces had the highest hospital beds per 1000 population. About 17% of the total hospitals and 22% of the hospital beds were located in Tehran. The Gini coefficient for hospital bed distribution among Iranian provinces was 0.107. Distribution of the hospital beds was equitable in Alborz and Yazd provinces and inequitable in North Khorasan, Sistan & Baluchestan and Charmahal & Bakhtiary provinces.
Conclusion: The distribution of hospital beds among Iranian provinces has been fair. However, hospital beds were not distributed equitably among the cities in the provinces and were concentrated in the capital cities of the provinces of the country. Healthcare policymakers should take appropriate measures to reduce inequality in the distribution of hospital beds.
 

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Background and aim: Approximately 85% of Iranian hospitals are general hospitals. Considering the limitation of resources, improvement of hospital efficiency is an absolute necessity. Efficiency, as the output-input ratio, indicates the use of the lowest amount of inputs to produce the greatest amount of outputs. The aim of this study was to determine the efficiency of general hospitals in Iran and identification of the factors affecting the efficiency of the hospitals.
Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional and descriptive study we used the Pabon Lasso model and three performance indicators. i.e., bed occupancy rate (BO), the average length of stay (ALS), and hospital bed turnover (BT) to determine the efficiency of the Iranian general hospitals in 2017. Data were analyzed by SPSS software and charts were drawn using Power BI software.
Results: There were 834 general hospitals with 108257 beds in Iran in 2017. The average BO, ALS, and BT were 62.8%, 2.6 days, and 93 times respectively. Only 15% of the general hospitals were located in zone III of the Pabon lasso model and had acceptable efficiency (high BO and BT). Factors such as hospital ownership, type, size, age of hospital building, and staff number were significantly related to hospital efficiency. Private and social security hospitals, non-teaching hospitals, and hospitals with 100-200 beds and 2-4 staff per bed had more efficiency in comparison to the teaching hospitals.
Conclusion: Because of the low efficiency of most general hospitals policymakers and senior managers should take necessary measures for the improvement of the efficiency of the hospitals.