title: [Primary health care in Vestfold county prior and after the introduction of the primary health act].
abstract: A longitudinal analysis of the development of primary care in Norway focusing on Vestfold County shows that resources have increasingly been channelled to curative services, with less being spent on community-based preventive care. Vestfold, a county in the most densely populated area of Norway, with an expanding population and a growing economy, has seen a remarkable growth in private practice. There are several reasons for this. Socio-economic and demographic trends play a role; the provision of curative services is also more flexible and more profitable. Local municipalities seem to have given higher priority to curative services than to preventive tasks. Nation-wide, primary care has grown more slowly than specialised care. At the local level, care for the elderly, organised as a separate service, has been a winner.
authors.affiliation: hans.knut.otterstad@jbv.no
authors.forename: Hans Knut
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Otterstad
mesh_terms: D003153:Community Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000600:supply & distribution; D015276:Health Care Rationing / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006292:Health Priorities; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D009664:Norway; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000600:supply & distribution; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends*; D012042:Registries; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors