Consequences of a decentralized healthcare governance model: measuring regional authority support for patient choice in Sweden

What are the implications of a decentralized model of healthcare governance? This case study on patient choice in Sweden is an attempt to shed light on this issue. Due to decentralization and constitutional rights of self-determination, the regional authorities in Sweden, called County Councils (CCs), have far-reaching rights to manage the healthcare sector. The fact that patient choice is considered to be a soft law or a soft governance regulation, opens it up to regional variation. To examine the CCs level of support of patient choice, an index is presented. The Patient Choice Index (PCI) shows that there is extensive variation among the CCs. To explain the causes of these variations, a number of hypotheses are tested. The analyses imply that ideology and economy, and more specifically the CCs' governing majorities and running net profits, are major explanations for the level of support.