Reimbursement criteria and regional assessment is a research and development project that focuses on developing the funding model for social and health care services in Finland’s wellbeing services counties. The aim of the project is to maintain and further develop the knowledge base used to allocate funding to wellbeing services counties in line with population service needs.
The project develops and evaluates need-adjustment methods that take population morbidity, other factors describing service needs, and the growth in service needs into account in funding models. The work is based on extensive national register and statistical data, which are used to identify and explain regional differences.
In addition, the project produces indicators and classifications for assessing service needs and the operating environment of wellbeing services counties. Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) uses these indicators to compare regions and to support national steering and decision-making as part of the monitoring and development of the social and health care system.
Goals
- Developing need-adjustment–based methods that enable the determination of funding for wellbeing services counties based on factors describing population service needs.
- Developing the assessment of growth in service needs.
- Maintaining the knowledge base used for need-based allocation of funding.
- Producing indicators based on national register and statistical data that allow the service needs of wellbeing services counties to be assessed in a consistent manner for the purposes of steering wellbeing services counties.
Implementation
The project is implemented by utilising extensive national register and statistical data describing population structure, morbidity, and the use of social and health care services across wellbeing services counties. The datasets are linked and analysed to enable a systematic statistical examination of regional differences in service needs.
In the research, THL develops and tests need-adjustment methods and indicators based on them. The performance of the methods is assessed by comparing the ability of different models to describe service needs using statistical criteria. The results are documented and reported in a way that allows them to be used in the preparation of funding for wellbeing services counties and in national steering.
Funding
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
Contact details
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