Economic assessment of the national project Active Patient Support

The nurse supported the patient by telephone in taking responsibility for his or her life with illness and finding his or her way around the existing health and social/cultural offers. It could be anything from appointments with the general practitioner, the municipality, the hospital, to other offers in the local area such as patient associations, sports associations, libraries etc.

Experience from Sweden has shown that telephone support can help patients to have a better quality of life and a better everyday life, where they are not hospitalised as often as before. In connection with this, it was decided to investigate the impact of implementing the Swedish model in a Danish context.

AIM

The purpose of the economic assessment was to clarify whether Active Patient Support provided more health for the money in both municipalities, state and regions. Costs for treatment in the healthcare system were looked at, and whether Active Patient Support meant that more or less money was spent overall per patient, and it was also looked at how much it cost to run the project.

RESULTS

Active Patient Support was implemented in the Region of Southern Denmark as a voluntary support offer for patients for a time.

EXTERNAL FUNDING

The project was financed by the Danish Ministry of Health.