Equitable healthcare services for the elderly?
A new health atlas has been published, showing differences in the use of health services for the elderly.
Photo: Colourbox
Elderly Health Atlas for Norway, 2013-2015 has been developed in collaboration between SKDE - Centre for Clinical Documentation and Evaluation and a broadly composed reference group. The atlas was launched on 15 June 2017.
Revealing Differences
An equitable healthcare service is a key health policy objective in Norway. The Elderly Health Atlas for Norway describes the variation in the use of central somatic specialist healthcare services by the elderly in relation to their place of residence.
The atlas is primarily based on data from the Norwegian Patient Register and describes healthcare services provided to individuals aged 75 and over for the period from 2013 to 2015.
The analyses reveal unjustified variation for several important healthcare services and are therefore relevant for health policymakers, healthcare leaders, and clinicians.
Insights into the Future Elderly Wave
The Elderly Health Atlas also documents when and how the anticipated elderly wave will occur, showing how this will manifest differently in various catchment areas, and for different specialties and services.
For some healthcare services, there has also been an examination of whether age is used as a prioritisation criterion, despite the objective of the opposite.