Overview of the Healthcare System in Denmark

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Health care Infrastructure and Services:

Denmark is a small high-income country with a high population density, is governed by a constitutional monarchy, has a central parliament and is administratively divided into regions, municipalities and has 2 dependencies (Greenland and the Faroe Islands) (Kravitz & Treasure, 2009). It has a national health service (funded by general taxation) and a decentralized healthcare system in which the individual regions run most services and the municipalities are responsible for some public health services (Kravitz & Treasure, 2009). However, a process of (re) centralization (under the structural reform of 2007) has been taking place, which has lowered the number of regions from 14 to 5 and the municipalities from 275 to 98 (Olejaz, Nielsen, Rudkjøbing, Okkels, Krasnik & Hernández-Quevedo, 2012; Schäfer et al., 2010). The hospital structure is also undergoing reform, moving towards fewer, bigger and more specialized hospitals (Olejaz, Nielsen, Rudkjøbing, Okkels, Krasnik & Hernández-Quevedo, 2012). Greenland and the Faroe Islands are independent in health matters but follow the Danish Legislation (Kravitz & Treasure, 2009). The National Board of Health (NBH) (based in Copenhagen) is responsible for the legislation concerning dentistry in Denmark (Kravitz & Treasure, 2009; Schäfer et al., 2010).

The state is responsible for the overall regulatory, supervisory and fiscal functions as well as for quality monitoring and planning of the distribution of medical specialties at the hospital level (Schäfer et al., 2010). The 5 regions are responsible for hospitals and for self-employed health care professionals, whereas the municipalities are responsible for disease prevention and health promotion rel...

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