Private Entries, Competition, and Patient Experiences in Swedish Primary Care: Local patterns between 2015-2024
(2026) EOSK12 20261Department of Economic History
- Abstract
- Over the past decade, Swedish primary care has seen a substantial increase in the establishment of private actors. As the sector changes in composition, it becomes relevant to examine the influence on the functioning of the system, as well as on patients’ experience and right to healthcare. This thesis examines the relationship between the entry of new private clinics and quality of the nearest public clinics, where quality is defined by patients’ overall impressions of their primary care provider. The research aims to examine how competition theory works in a price-regulated sector, with the purpose of highlighting potentially beneficial or disadvantageous outcomes of patient experience at existing public care clinics in relation to... (More)
- Over the past decade, Swedish primary care has seen a substantial increase in the establishment of private actors. As the sector changes in composition, it becomes relevant to examine the influence on the functioning of the system, as well as on patients’ experience and right to healthcare. This thesis examines the relationship between the entry of new private clinics and quality of the nearest public clinics, where quality is defined by patients’ overall impressions of their primary care provider. The research aims to examine how competition theory works in a price-regulated sector, with the purpose of highlighting potentially beneficial or disadvantageous outcomes of patient experience at existing public care clinics in relation to increased private competition. The approach is a quantitative panel design examining quality development of primary care clinics based on patient survey data from 2015-2024, extracted from Nationell Patientenkät (NPE). Tools of analysis include comparison of means and difference-in-differences. The analysis finds no clear relationship, suggesting that patients have been little affected by the entry of more private providers, and that competitive mechanisms may not operate as expected in the primary care market. Further research is encouraged to identify factors of greater impact on patient impressions which could enable increases in patient-perceived care quality forward. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9231915
- author
- Hennig, Alice LU and Nisséus, Lina
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- EOSK12 20261
- year
- 2026
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Primary care, care quality, Sweden’s healthcare system, private primary care clinics, public primary care clinics, competition, patient-perceived care quality, price- regulated markets
- language
- English
- id
- 9231915
- date added to LUP
- 2026-09-07 13:56:30
- date last changed
- 2026-09-07 13:56:30
@misc{9231915,
abstract = {{Over the past decade, Swedish primary care has seen a substantial increase in the establishment of private actors. As the sector changes in composition, it becomes relevant to examine the influence on the functioning of the system, as well as on patients’ experience and right to healthcare. This thesis examines the relationship between the entry of new private clinics and quality of the nearest public clinics, where quality is defined by patients’ overall impressions of their primary care provider. The research aims to examine how competition theory works in a price-regulated sector, with the purpose of highlighting potentially beneficial or disadvantageous outcomes of patient experience at existing public care clinics in relation to increased private competition. The approach is a quantitative panel design examining quality development of primary care clinics based on patient survey data from 2015-2024, extracted from Nationell Patientenkät (NPE). Tools of analysis include comparison of means and difference-in-differences. The analysis finds no clear relationship, suggesting that patients have been little affected by the entry of more private providers, and that competitive mechanisms may not operate as expected in the primary care market. Further research is encouraged to identify factors of greater impact on patient impressions which could enable increases in patient-perceived care quality forward.}},
author = {{Hennig, Alice and Nisséus, Lina}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Private Entries, Competition, and Patient Experiences in Swedish Primary Care: Local patterns between 2015-2024}},
year = {{2026}},
}