[Management of health services--financing method tool]

Financing methods for health care have great actuality in the Nordic countries. Incentive theory background is briefly presented. The main categories and subcategories of financing methods are listed. For the global budget solutions capitation and global budget based on historical costs, the advantages and problems are discussed. The two main categories per-case reimbursement, retrospective and prospective, are presented. The retrospective category includes per-diem rates and fee-for-service payment. Prospective reimbursement can be done on the basis of product definitions or episodes of care. The possibility of result grading the per-case reimbursement is mentioned. Problem solving by hybrid methods of financing is presented. Requirements to reimbursement methods can be: 1) They should be clinically neutral or assist in reaching formulated goals. 2) They should not result in unwanted use of any level of care. 3) They should not present barriers to justified referral between any level of care.