Prioritization in medicine – a special role for mental healthcare?

Abstract

The international debate on priority setting in health care has been around for more than 30 years now, Denmark, Norway, the US state of Oregon, Sweden, UK and the Netherlands being among their vanguards. From the beginning, the debate has been related to – or was even seen as identical to – the discourse on rationing in health care. Based on these international debates, the presentation will introduce different understandings and characteristics of the priority-setting concept in health care and will argue for a clear distinction between priority setting and rationing. Different ways of implementing priority setting, i.e., by means of guidelines or ethical frameworks, will be introduced to set the frame for the current choosing-wisely initiative. It will be argued that priority setting is important for the organisation of mental health care, as it is for health and social care of different chronic disorders.

Disclosure of interest

The author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest.