Studies on Filed and Compensated Claims for Patient Injuries

Abstract

The Finnish patient injury compensation scheme offers patients an opportunity to claim for compensation for a health care-related injury. Because adverse events relatively seldom result in a claim, the research investigated which factors influence patients decisions to file a claim and their chances of receiving compensation. Other topics of the research addressed the treatment costs of claimants compared to non-claimants and the use of claims in performance measurement. Some patient groups sought compensation more actively than others, while the impact of patient characteristics on receiving compensation across the surgical procedures studied was not uniform. The number of certain types of compensated injuries following knee arthroplasties was lower at larger operating units, suggesting a possible reduction in injuries if such procedures were centralised to larger hospitals. The use of patient injury claims in performance measurement seems promising. Overall, the treatment costs of claimants with successful and unsuccessful claims did not differ, which implies that treatment processes and contributory factors of adverse events for both compensated claimants and claimants denied compensation should be subject to further study.