title: The Evaluation of Hospital Performance in Iran: A Systematic Review Article.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This research aimed to systematically study and outline the methods of hospital performance evaluation used in Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this systematic review, all Persian and English-language articles published in the Iranian and non-Iranian scientific journals indexed from Sep 2004 to Sep 2014 were studied. For finding the related articles, the researchers searched the Iranian electronic databases, including SID, IranMedex, IranDoc, Magiran, as well as the non-Iranian electronic databases, including Medline, Embase, Scopus, and Google Scholar. For reviewing the selected articles, a data extraction form, developed by the researchers was used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The entire review process led to the selection of 51 articles. The publication of articles on the hospital performance evaluation in Iran has increased considerably in the recent years. Besides, among these 51 articles, 38 articles (74.51%) had been published in Persian language and 13 articles (25.49%) in English language. Eight models were recognized as evaluation model for Iranian hospitals. Totally, in 15 studies, the data envelopment analysis model had been used to evaluate the hospital performance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Using a combination of model to integrate indicators in the hospital evaluation process is inevitable. Therefore, the Ministry of Health and Medical Education should use a set of indicators such as the balanced scorecard in the process of hospital evaluation and accreditation and encourage the hospital managers to use them.
authors: Health Management Research Centre, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: Mohammadkarim
authors: M
authors: Bahadori
authors: Health Management Research Centre, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: Ahmad Reza
authors: AR
authors: Izadi
authors: Health Management Research Centre, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: Fatemeh
authors: F
authors: Ghardashi
authors: School of Management and Medical Information Sciences, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors: Ramin
authors: R
authors: Ravangard
authors: Dept. of Health Services Management, Tehran North Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
authors: Seyed Mojtaba
authors: SM
authors: Hosseini
keywords: Hospital; Iran; Model; Performance evaluation; Systematic review