Today, Minister of Health and Care Ingvild Kjerkol (Ap) sets out his expectations for hospitals in 2023. The hospital economy across the country is severely tested. Several healthcare companies are planning with a deficit this year. At the same time, the offer to women giving birth in Norway has been exposed to harsh criticism for a long time. Red numbers in many health regions lead to cuts in maternity services in several places in the country. Fødende tells of a long journey and demanding experiences. Employees describe a working day where the time does not go up. Central to the issue of maternity care in Norway is effort-based financing (ISF). This is how much the hospitals are paid for a birth Somatic services, i.e. medicine that treats physical challenges, are financed with approximately 50% basic funding and 50% Performance-based funding (ISF) in 2022. The hospitals code each treatment that is carried out, and are reimbursed the amount per treatment . This is done through the DRG system. DRG, diagnosis-related groups, is a system that classifies patients into groups that are medically and resource-wise similar. The system has been used to correct for differences in patient composition when comparing cost levels between somatic hospitals in Norway. (source Store medical encyclopedia) The figures below are from the Dips grouper. And is divided into births and caesarean sections with and without complicating secondary diagnoses (bk). 50% DRG – refund in kroner amount.Normal birth without birth: 13702,-Normal birth with birth: 20982,-Caesarean birth without birth: 32584,-Caesarean birth with birth: 45283,- Today, maternity wards receive money based on how many births they have. Births that are more complicated bring more money than a birth without intervention. This means that the hospital earns less from a “normal birth” than a birth that involves a caesarean section. Now Kjerkol wants all of the country’s regional health organizations to review and assess the funding scheme linked to specialized maternity care. – The high rate may have had particularly unfortunate consequences within the birth area. The income has decreased due to a decrease in the number of births – at the same time as the need for preparedness means that the costs have not been able to be reduced, says Kjerkol to Klassekampen. Sufficient staffing and stable operations, and good and individual follow-up throughout the birth, are also highlighted by the minister. – For that we need both midwives, obstetricians and childcare workers. Professionals are the most important thing, and we must keep them. The government has also created more places on midwifery training, says Kjerkol to the newspaper. See the Minister of Health and Care’s hospital speech here. – Clear order Figures from the Medical Birth Register show that 15.6 per cent of all births in 2021 were caesarean sections. According to the Midwives’ Association, today’s announcement from Kjerkol means, among other things, that the funding system for maternity wards will become more accurate. Leader Hanne Charlotte Schjelderup in the Midwives Association. Photo: Odd Skjerdal / news – Now we see that the Minister of Health is clear in his order to the hospitals that money should be spent on maternity wards. We expect that this will mean that it will not be necessary to close maternity services for longer periods in order to save money, says head of the Midwives’ Association, Hanne Charlotte Schjelderup. She hopes that this means fewer closed maternity services. – We have seen with concern that when companies want to save, maternity care is an easy trade-off. In the current system, the maternity service generates little income. “Normal” births with healthy children and women bring little money to the coffers in the system we use, she says. If complications and a caesarean section occur, they get a little more money, she explains. – But there is still so little that it is tempting for the economists to cut offers that give little income. I think the system should be more accurate. Schjelderup believes that the government must ensure that a more reliable system is put in place and that enough money must be allocated to the maternity services. – So that we ensure that we manage to keep maternity wards open, that we have enough midwives at work and that we ensure safety and quality. Today, she believes that the health organizations are too free to dispose of the money. – How can it be ensured that this will happen without affecting other offers? – The Midwives’ Association has registered that there has been an underfunding of hospital services over time. Nevertheless, we believe that a reprioritization must be made in relation to vital health care, that we ensure that it is in place for the citizens. Everyone has a right to a good quality food supply. It is important that the companies prioritize and we believe that these are strong signals that this must also be the case in the future.
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The Minister of Health with a new funding scheme for maternity wards – news Nordland
