Abstract

Introduction: System performance evaluation is one of the principles of health services management that continuously inhibit the diversion of the system from achieving its goals. This study aimed to rank and prioritize the performance indicators of an insurance organization from the patients' perspective. Methods: This is a cross-sectional and analytical-descriptive study conducted in 2011. The service recipients sample size was determined at 400 patients who referred to the health centers. Required data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire. Then, the collected data was analyzed using SPSS 17.0 and some descriptive and analytical tests including Mean, Standard Deviation (SD), ANOVA and Friedman Tests. Results: The mean of the most indicators studied from the service recipients' perspective was above the average. The findings showed that in the prioritization of the insurance organization's performance indicators from the service recipients' perspective, the component of overall satisfaction with services received and the recipients' knowledge of insurance regulations were high and low priorities with averages of 3.78 and 2.51, respectively. Conclusion: The insurance organization's performance was far from its optimum position. Developing training programs to increase patients' knowledge of the insurance regulations, more supervision and control over informal payments, as well as, calculating actual insurance premiums are the most important issues which should be consideredby the heads of insurance organization in developing theirorganization strategies.