Health and social services funding

The funding of social welfare and health care services is collected from several different sources. A significant part of the funding of services provided by municipalities is based on central government transfers to municipalities.

In the reform of social welfare and health care (sote), the responsibility for the provision of services will be transferred to self-administrative welfare areas that are largely based on central government funding. At the same time, the social welfare and health care funding system will be reformed on a needs-based basis.

The appropriate distribution of state funding to welfare areas requires the best possible criteria as the amount of money allocated increases significantly. People's service needs vary. Some people do not need any social and health care services during the year, while others use many different services due to illnesses, for example.  There are significant differences between regions, for example in morbidity, which are reflected in large differences in regional service needs. 

The importance of needs-based funding is crucial for securing equal services throughout the country, so the criteria for needs must be based on the best available material and the research must be of high quality. 

We carry out research on the needs factors to be taken into account in the definition of central government transfers. By utilising the needs factors at the individual level, relative social welfare and health care service needs coefficients can be compiled for each welfare area, which indicate the service needs of the residents of the area in relation to the average level of the country. The need for services can also be assessed for other subsets of the population, for example by postal code area. This also enables the utilisation of results in the allocation of resources within regions. 

The study closely monitors the development of international practices and makes extensive use of domestic clinical and statistical expertise. The research is based on existing registers, such as the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare's Care Register and the data collected by the Social Insurance Institution, the Finnish Centre for Pensions and the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. 

More information:

Juha Honkatukia
Chief Researcher
tel. + 358 29 524 6011
[email protected]

Tuukka Holster
Senior Researcher
tel. +358 29 524 7937
[email protected]