The quality of the clinical research will play a role for how much government research funding the county councils receive. Deficient quality could mean that a county council can lose the possibility of conducting university healthcare. This is the content of the new agreement signed between the state and the county councils, which takes effect at year-end.
The cooperation between the state and some county councils on the education of physicians, clinical research and development of healthcare is regulated in a special agreement, known as the Agreement for Medical Education and Research (ALF). The ALF agreements are signed for several years. The current agreement was canceled by the state in 2009 and negotiations for a new agreement have been under way between the actors. Today, an agreement on a new ALF has been signed.
Every year, the state invests around SEK 1.7 billion in clinical research via the ALF agreement.
The main news in the new agreement is that a new quality-based resource distribution model is being introduced for clinical research. In 2016-2018, the quality will be measured through a bibliometric evaluation. Beginning in 2019, a developed model for resource distribution will be introduced based on the expert assessment of various inputs and indicators such as the conditions of research, the implemented research’s clinical significance and a bibliometric evaluation. Recurring evaluations of the university healthcare will ensure quality and be able to lead to agreements with individual county councils being canceled.
More news in the agreement:
• The concept of university healthcare is established. It means the part of healthcare that is formulated with special regard to the needs of research and education.
• Recurring evaluations of the university healthcare are introduced with high requirements on quality and a certain minimum level that the university healthcare must achieve.
• The state has the right to cancel the ALF agreement effective immediately with a county council that has not resolved deficiencies in the university healthcare within a certain period of time.
• A national steering committee will be appointed to monitor the agreement and perform evaluations.