More patients seek care in other counties

Last year, the regions bought care from other counties for nearly SEK 13 billion. Stockholm, Dalarna, Jönköping and Sörmland had the highest costs for purchased care last year. The majority of the patients who are referred to other counties are responsible for, and particularly high costs are the places that do not have a university hospital.

- The fact that we have increased costs for purchased care is due to several different things. There have been more patients and we have had more seriously ill patients. This is not something we can control, but we need to give our patients good care even if we need to refer them to other regions, ”says Magnus Johansson, head of the division of medicine in the Region of Sörmland.

Here you are currently mapping the outpatient care to see if there is care that can be offered at home.

It is most common for patients to be referred to other counties for various cancer diagnoses, surgical treatments and heart disease.

In addition to the referred care, the number of cases in emergency care and free choice of care also increases.

- Many commuters from Stockholm, for example, may choose to seek care closer to their workplace, says Magnus Johansson.

But what will be the consequences when more people seek care in other counties?

- Foreign care is more expensive and it can lead to less money for the region. This may mean that care cannot be developed here, says Lena Lindh, chair of the Södermanland Care Association.

But the Health Care Association thinks it is good that they have an opportunity to seek care in other counties if, for example, accessibility is better elsewhere.

- Health care does not look the same in all places. For example, in some places you are better at a certain type of cancer diagnosis, while in other places you are better at something else. So it's very uneven in healthcare, says Lena Lindh.