International Journal of Preventive Medicine (Int J Prev Med)2008-780210122020031522082208ENHealth Human Resources Research Center, School of Management and Information Sciences, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, ShirazDepartment of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran & Information, Evidence and Research, World Health Organization Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, Cairo20200315<p><span class="fontstyle0"><strong>Background</strong>: </span><span class="fontstyle2">Although there is a critical need for information on economic performance of<br />Iranian general practitioners (GPs) in health policymaking, there is not any scientific evidence<br />in this area. Therefore, in the present report, the characteristics of economic behaviors of Iranian<br />GPs were described. </span></p><p><span class="fontstyle0"><strong>Methods</strong>: </span><span class="fontstyle2">This was a cross‑sectional study in 2015, in which the data were<br />collected from 666 GPs. The variables including monthly gross income, hours of work, and patient<br />visits were studied as the measures of economic behavior of GPs. Descriptive statistics, </span><span class="fontstyle3">t</span><span class="fontstyle2">‑test,<br />and Analysis of Variance were used for analyzing the data. The statistical analysis was performed<br />by STATA12.</span></p><p><strong></strong><span class="fontstyle0"><strong>Results</strong>: </span><span class="fontstyle2">The annual income of the GPs understudy was 26,000 US dollar (USD)<br />(82,680 purchasing power parity [PPP]). The ratio of this value to gross domestic product per capita<br />and minimum wage of Iran in 2015 was 4.8 and 9.2, respectively. On average, every GP in Iran has<br />an income of 2188.1 USD (6958.16 PPP), works 142 h, and visits an average of 494 patients/month.<br />The results showed that the economic behavior of Iranian GPs has a significant difference in<br />terms of gender, age, marital status, practice experience, practice location, type of practice, being<br />a family physicians, and working in different settings (</span><span class="fontstyle3">P </span><span class="fontstyle2">&lt; 0.05). </span></p><p><span class="fontstyle0"><strong>Conclusions</strong>: </span><span class="fontstyle2">The Iranian GPs<br />understudy work less than their counterparts in other (compared) countries. The studied GPs had a<br />higher income (adjusted by hours of work and countries’ per capita income) than their counterparts<br />in other (studied) countries. Moreover, there are inequalities between GPs in terms of income, the<br />volume of services provided and the work hours.<br /></span></p><p><span class="fontstyle0" style="color: #00652e;"><strong>Keywords</strong>: </span><span class="fontstyle3">Family practice, general practitioners, health‑care economics and organizations, office<br />visits, private practice</span></p>http://ijpm.mui.ac.ir/index.php/ijpm/article/view/2208http://ijpm.mui.ac.ir/index.php/ijpm/article/download/2208/717718007