[ survey of health sector from the perspective of economics and its relationship with other sectors in Iran's economy]

Introduction: Health sector is one of the most important sectors in the economy of any country with its products being on demand by individuals and households. This study was done in order to survey the health sector in Iran's economy using input-output analysis

Methods: In this analytical study all economic sectors in Iran were compared using input-output Technique. Ultimately, linkages, importance index, dependency degree of health sector were computed among the 18 aggregated sectors

Results: Health sector does not have remarkable effect on other sectors because of low backward linkage. The low forward linkage has an inappropriate place in providing intermediate data. This sector has the highest degree of dependency on industry products and the lowest on the mining sector. The first sector depending on health is the health itself followed by education whereas the real estate sector has the lowest dependency on health

Conclusion: Having a coefficient less than one compared to other sectors, the health sector has a smaller role in inducing production processes and integrating the economy. Moreover, its motivation depends on other sectors' motivation. Also, the end products of health sector are consumed in final demand form

[ analysis of productivity in hospitals affiliated to Iran and Tehran universities of medical sciences: 2006-2011]

Introduction: The rise in healthcare costs, population and technology development has led to an increased demand to consider productivity issue in hospitals and other medical centers to provide, preserve and promote public health services. The aim of this study was to analysis the productivity in hospitals affiliated to Iran and Tehran universities of medical sciences

Methods: In this study, partial and marginal productivity of each factor of production, as well as the total factor productivity changes of hospitals affiliated to Iran and Tehran universities of medical sciences were calculated using Kendrick-Kerimer and Malmquist indexes in 2006-2011

Results: The average total of productivity changes was 1.012 which implies a decrease in productivity during the study. The rate of reduction was 1.2, mostly affected by technological efficiency changes compared with other factors. Scale efficiency changes, managerial efficiency and technical efficiency were the next effective factors. Total productivity, checked with Kendrick-Kerimer index, was affected by productivity of active bed input

Conclusion: Lack of knowledge on the part of hospital staff concerning the proper use of technology in patients' treatment is the main cause of productivity loss caused by technological changes in these hospitals. Therefore, it is recommended to hold training courses for staff on the correct use of technology in diagnosis and taking care of patients