Organization and financing of the Danish health care system.
The present paper aims at giving a short overview of the organization and financing of the Danish health care system as of 1997-1998 when the SWOT panel evaluated the system. The overview follows the triangular model of a health care system. The Danish system is characterized by being decentralized and single-funded. The hospital sector is public, and hospitals are financed and run by the counties (with only a very small private hospital sector alongside). General practitioners are private entrepreneurs but work under contract for the counties. Hospitals are financed by global budgets, while general practitioners are paid by a mixed remuneration system of capitation fees and fee-for-service. During the past 20 years, the government has repeatedly imposed budget ceilings on the counties which has limited growth in the health care sector.
Christiansen
Terkel
T
Institute of Public Health, Health Economics, University of Southern Denmark, Winsloewparken 19, 3., DK-5000 Odense C, Denmark. tch@sam.sdu.dk
D002017:Budgets; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003718:Denmark; D005194:Family Practice / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration; D005249:Fees and Charges; D006302:Health Services Research; D006779:Hospitals, Public / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration; D007348:Insurance, Health; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D017146:Models, Organizational; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017149:Private Sector; D017150:Public Sector; D013597:Systems Analysis; D019472:Universal Health Insurance