Governance structures and practices in for-profit and not-for profit hospitals in Egypt.

Background: Governance is a system that ensures and promotes accountability and responsibility toward stakeholders. The present study aims to compare the governance structures and practices in for-profit and non-for profit hospitals in Alexandria, Egypt.

Methods: The study is a descriptive cross sectional study in which Chief Executive officers (CEOs) in all hospitals in Alexandria Governorate were interviewed. A predesigned questionnaire was used in the interview that is composed of four section. The first section explored characteristics of study hospitals. The second section assessed the composition and the characteristics of boards. The third section assessed the functions of the board and the fourth section assessed boards' training and evaluation.

Results: A centralized board existed in the Health Insurance, Ministry of Health and Population and University hospitals. As for private hospitals, board existed in only 72 hospitals (82.75 %). Almost all boards have CEO duality. Board members were as few as two members in some boards and up to twenty members in others. Some hospital boards did not have an orientation manual or program.

Conclusion: A proportion of study hospitals does not have a governing board. For the hospitals with governing boards, there were wide variation in governance structures and practices.