A regional health authority ( no, Regionalt helseforetak or RHF) is a

state enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...

responsible for specialist healthcare in one of four regions of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. Responsibilities of the RHFs include patient treatment, education of medical staff, research and training of patients and relatives. Areas covered by the authorities are

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial psych ...

ambulance An ambulance is a medically equipped vehicle which transports patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to medi ...

service, operation of

pharmacies Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links healt ...

at the hospitals,

emergency telephone number Most public switched telephone networks have a single emergency telephone number (sometimes known as the universal emergency telephone number or the emergency services number) that allows a caller to contact local emergency services for assista ...

and

laboratories A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physicia ...

. The actual performance is done by subsidiary

health trust Health trust or HF ( no, helseforetak) is a health Company, enterprise owned by one of the four regional health authority (Norway), regional health authorities in Norway, with responsibility for performing a geographic and/or specialist activities ...

s (HF) that usually consist of one or more hospitals, with associate responsibilities. The authorities are subordinate to the

Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services (''Helse- og omsorgsdepartementet'') is a Norwegian government ministry in charge of health policy, public health, health care services, and health legislation in Norway. It is led by the Mini ...

Health reform

The authorities were created on January 1, 2002 when the

Government of Norway The politics of Norway take place in the framework of a parliamentary, representative democratic constitutional monarchy. Executive power is exercised by the Council of State, the cabinet, led by the prime minister of Norway. Legislative power i ...

took over the responsibilities of the hospitals from the

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

. At the time there were created five authorities, but the Southern and Eastern Norway authorities were

merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

in 2007. The reform was credited to the

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

Tore Tønne Tore Tønne (5 March 1948 – 20 December 2002) was the Norwegian Minister of Health and Social Affairs (responsible for social affairs) from 2000 to 2001 in Jens Stoltenberg's first cabinet. Tønne committed suicide after newspaper writings abo ...

(

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

) who only held office for one and a half years. The ultimate goal of the reform was to increase the effectiveness of the hospitals and reduce the cost of the specialist healthcare service, that in 2007 had an annual budget of

NOK Nok is a village in Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The village is an archeological site. Archaeology The discovery of terracotta figurines at this location caused its name to be used for the Nok culture, of which these ...

114 billion, about 14% of the

state budget A government budget is a document prepared by the government and/or other political entity presenting its anticipated tax revenues (Inheritance tax, income tax, corporation tax, import taxes) and proposed spending/expenditure (Healthcare, Educat ...

Criticism

There has been some criticism of the health reform in Norway. Mr. Tønne was a corporate manager from

Statoil Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil and StatoilHydro) is a Norwegian state owned enterprise, state-owned multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger. It is primarily a petroleum company, petroleum company, operating in 36 countries with ad ...

and the Aker Group and the reform attempted to introduce

corporate governance Corporate governance is defined, described or delineated in diverse ways, depending on the writer's purpose. Writers focused on a disciplinary interest or context (such as accounting, finance, law, or management) often adopt narrow definitions th ...

and to a certain degree

public tender Government procurement or public procurement is the procurement of goods, services and works on behalf of a public authority, such as a government agency. Amounting to 12 percent of global GDP in 2018, government procurement accounts for a subst ...

into the health care system of Norway. This has been criticised as being

market fundamentalism Market fundamentalism, also known as free-market fundamentalism, is a term applied to a strong belief in the ability of unregulated ''laissez-faire'' or free-market capitalist policies to solve most economic and social problems. It is often used ...

, as the system was intended to take all decisions entirely on economic grounds. This was partially escalated by the initial decision to not have any

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

s on the boards of the authorities and trusts, thus entirely removing control of the healthcare services from political bodies. Because all decisions were taken by the boards, and not by elected political bodies, entire hospitals could be closed without political resolution. The

Second cabinet Stoltenberg Stoltenberg's Second Cabinet was the Government of Norway from 17 October 2005 to 16 October 2013. It was a coalition between the Labour Party, the Socialist Left Party and the Centre Party, known as the Red–Green Coalition. On 9 September ...

has partially changed this policy by electing politicians onto the boards of the authorities. Other criticism has been directed at the organisational form of the authorities. In essence the reform created more layers of administration (government - regional health authority - health trust - hospital), where there formerly only two (county and hospital). Also, the administrations of the authorities were places in towns outside the major regional centres, places that sometimes didn't even have a hospital, making recruitment of management difficult. This has partially been criticised as directors'

wage A wage is payment made by an employer to an employee for work done in a specific period of time. Some examples of wage payments include compensatory payments such as ''minimum wage'', ''prevailing wage'', and ''yearly bonuses,'' and remuner ...

s have escalated to the level of corporate directors. The authorities have also, through cutbacks in government funding, accumulated large amounts of

debt Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The ...

Authorities and subsidiaries

* Central Norway Regional Health Authority **

Central Norway Pharmaceutical Trust Central Norway Pharmaceutical Trust ( no, Sykehusapotekene i Midt-Norge HF) is a health trust owned by Central Norway Regional Health Authority that operates four hospital pharmacies at St. Olavs Hospital in Trondheim, Kristiansund Hospital, Mol ...

Møre and Romsdal Hospital Trust Møre is the name of two traditional districts in different parts of Scandinavia. * Møre og Romsdal, Norway * Möre, Sweden See also * Møre (newspaper), a newspaper in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway {{disambiguation ...

** Nord-Trøndelag Hospital Trust ** St. Olav's Hospital Trust *

Northern Norway Regional Health Authority Northern Norway Regional Health Authority ( no, Helse Nord) is one of four regional health authorities in Norway. It covers the counties of Finnmark, Nordland and Troms. The authority owns five health trusts that operate the hospitals as well a ...

** Finnmark Hospital Trust **

Helgeland Hospital Trust Helgeland Hospital Trust is a health trust covering Helgeland in Nordland, Norway. It is part of Northern Norway Regional Health Authority and was established on 1 January 2002. The main facilities are in Mo i Rana, Mosjøen and Sandnessjøen Hosp ...

** Hålogaland Hospital Trust **

Nordland Hospital Trust Nordland Hospital Trust (Norwegian: ''Nordlandssykehuset'', NLSH) is a part of the Northern Norway Regional Health Authority and covers the specialist health services for areas north of Saltfjellet in Nordland county. The trust consists of a num ...

Northern Norway Pharmaceutical Trust Hospital Pharmacy of North Norway Trust ( no, Sykehusapotek Nord HF, se, Davvi Buohcceviessoapotehka) is a health trust owned by Northern Norway Regional Health Authority that operates six hospital pharmacies. The pharmacies are part of the D ...

University Hospital of North Norway The University Hospital of North Norway ( no, Universitetssykehuset Nord-Norge) or UNN is a hospital and health trust. UNN is a university hospital for the region which includes the counties of Nordland, Troms and Finnmark. It is part of the ...

Southern and Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority Southern and Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority ( no, Helse Sør-Øst RHF) is the largest of the four Regional health authorities in Norway. It covers the counties of Viken, Oslo, Innlandet, Vestfold og Telemark, and Agder, with 57% of the ...

** Aker University Hospital Trust **

Blefjell Hospital Trust Blefjell is a mountain area at the border between Buskerud and Telemark in Norway, and encompasses parts of the five municipalities Rollag, Flesberg, Kongsberg, Notodden and Tinn. The highest point is Bletoppen at 1342 meters above sea level. ...

** Akershus University Hospital Trust **

The New Akershus University Hospital Trust ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

Innlandet Hospital Trust Innlandet Hospital is a health trust which covers the counties of Hedmark and Oppland of Norway. The health trust consists of 10 divisions with services over 41 sites in Hedmark and Oppland. The hospital's institution lies in Brumunddal, in Ringsak ...

** Psychiatry of Vestfold Trust ** Rikshospitalet-Radiumhospitalet Trust ** Southern and Eastern Norway Pharmaceutical Trust ** Hospital of Southern Norway Trust ** Sunnaas Hospital Trust ** Sykehuspartner ** Telemark Hospital Trust ** Ullevål University Hospital Trust ** Vestfold Hospital Trust **

Vestre Viken Hospital Trust Vestre Viken Hospital Trust ( no, Vestre Viken HF) is a health trust which covers Buskerud, Asker and Bærum. The trust is owned by Southern and Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority and is headquartered in Drammen. It covers an area with 470,0 ...

Østfold Hospital Trust Østfold Hospital Trust is a health trust in Norway with bases in Fredrikstad, Moss, Sarpsborg and Halden. It is owned by Southern and Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority Southern and Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority ( no, Helse S� ...

* Western Norway Regional Health Authority **

Bergen Health Trust Bergen Hospital Trust ( no, Helse Bergen HF) is one of the five health trusts owned by the Western Norway Regional Health Authority. Institutions It consists of 14 institutions, located all over Hordaland. * Haukeland University Hospital * Sa ...

Fonna Health Trust Fonna Hospital Trust ( no, Helse Fonna) is a health trust which administrates hospitals and institutions in Haugaland, Sunnhordland and parts of Hardanger. Fonna Health Trust is one of five local health trusts owned by Western Norway Regional H ...

** Førde Health Trust ** Stavanger Health Trust ** Western Norway Pharmaceutical Trust

References

{{Norwegian type of company Types of companies of Norway 2002 establishments in Norway Regional