Finland will in future have a healthcare system in which money follows the patient, and private providers can compete for their custom. That’s the view of the the union of health service providers following a landmark agreement to reform provision of health and social care services.
“Money follows the patient to the service provider,” said the union’s Managing Director Merja Hirvonen. “Under this model service providers compete for patients on quality, and customers’ freedom of choice is the whole system’s engine for development.”
The crucial point is that the provider and organiser of services will in future be separate. Five regional authorities, arranged around university in hospitals in Helsinki, Turku, Tampere, Kuopio and Oulu, will arrange care. Municipal—or private sector—providers will then care for patients.
Date: March 24, 2014
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