title: Reregulation of the Swedish pharmacy sector-A qualitative content analysis of the political rationale.
abstract: In 2009, a reregulation of the Swedish pharmacy sector took place, and a fundamental change in ownership and structure followed. The reregulation provides an opportunity to reveal the politicians' views on pharmacies. The aim of this study was to explore and analyze the political arguments for the reregulation of the Swedish pharmacy sector in 2009. The method used was a qualitative content analysis of written political documents regarding the reregulation. The primary rationales for the reregulation were better availability, efficiency, price pressure, and safe usage of medicines. During the preparatory work, the rationales of diversity on the market and entrepreneurship were added, while the original rationales of efficiency, price pressure, and better usage of medicines were abandoned. The reform can be seen as a typical New Public Management reform influenced by the notion that private actors are better equipped to perform public activities. The results point to that the reform was done almost solely in order to introduce private ownership in the pharmacy sector, and was not initiated in order to solve any general problems, or to enhance patient outcomes of medicine use.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Uppsala University, Box 580, S-751 23 Uppsala, Sweden. Electronic address: kristin.wisell@farmaci.uu.se.
authors.forename: Kristin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wisell
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Caring Services, Uppsala University, Box 564, S-751 22 Uppsala, Sweden. Electronic address: ulrika.winblad@pubcare.uu.se.
authors.forename: Ulrika
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Winblad
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Uppsala University, Box 580, S-751 23 Uppsala, Sweden; Department of Pharmacy, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 2, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. Electronic address: sofia.sporrong@sund.ku.dk.
authors.forename: Sofia Kälvemark
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Sporrong
mesh_terms: D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D033161:Government Regulation; D018166:Health Care Reform; D010067:Ownership / Q000191:economics; D010594:Pharmacies / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D011057:Politics; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012449:Safety; D013548:Sweden
keywords: Community pharmacy; Pharmacy policy; Regulation; Sweden