A NEW PRIMARY-CARE ROSTERING AND CAPITATION SYSTEM IN NORWAY - LESSONS FOR CANADA

PROVIDING EVERY PATIENT With a personal primary care physician or, fro m the physician's perspective, establishing a stable roster or list of patients is currently being actively debated in Canada. Norway's syst em of primary care medicine, similar to Canada's, faces many of the sa me problems. In 1992 a trial rostering system with blended funding (ca pitation, fee-for-service and user fees) was established in 4 Norwegia n municipalities. After 3 years of close monitoring, the results of sy stem evaluations have attracted strong interest. This article reports on the benefits and problems encountered with the new rostering system in Norway. If Canada is moving in the same direction, some of the les sons learned may be helpful.