Factors associated with patients’ mobility rates within the provinces of Iran

BACKGROUND: The absence of a referral system and patients’ freedom to choose among service providers in Iran have led to increased patient mobility, which continues to concern health policymakers in the country. This study aimed to determine factors associated with patient mobility rates within the provinces of Iran. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Iran. Data on the place of residence of patients admitted to Iranian public hospitals were collected during August 2017 to determine the status of patient mobility within each province. The sample size were 537,786 patients were hospitalized in public hospitals in Iran during August 2017. The patient mobility ratio was calculated for each of Iran’s provinces by producing a patient mobility matrix. Then, a model of factors affecting patient mobility was identified by regression analysis. All the analyses were performed using STATA14 software. RESULTS: In the study period, 585,681 patients were admitted to public hospitals in Iran, of which 69,692 patients were referred to the hospital from another city and 51,789 of them were admitted to public hospitals in the capital of the province. The highest levels of intra-provincial patient mobility were attributed to southern and eastern provinces, and the lowest levels were observed in the north and west of Iran. Implementation of negative binomial regression indicated that, among the examined parameters, the distribution of specialist physicians and the human development index had the highest impact on intra-provincial patient mobility. CONCLUSION: The distribution of specialists throughout different country areas plays a determining role in patient mobility. In many cases, redistributing hospital beds is impossible, but adopting different human resource policies could prevent unnecessary patient mobility through equitable redistribution of specialists among different cities. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-022-08972-6.