Emerging trends in the Swedish health system

The Swedish health care system has embarked upon a broad process of organizational reform. Confronted by increasing pressures from an aging population, intensive new medical technology, and tightly constrained public sector budgets, Swedish county councils have begun to experiment with new models of health service delivery that incorporate specific elements adapted from market-oriented approaches. This article briefly reviews two of the more influential organizational models presently in place or under development in different counties, and assesses the revised role for health planning that these reforms will require at both county and national levels.