Reward systems within the health and geriatric care sector

Abstract: Authors: Carl Duberg, Märta Mollen Tutor: Peter Beusch Title: Reward systems within the health and geriatric care sector, the view of leaders. Key words: Reward system, Health care, Geriatric care, incentives, motivation. Background: Reward system as a financial tool is relatively new in the health care sector. In media, discussions are going on about the systems impact on quality. Absence of recent research in this area, made us interested to investigate further. Research problem: How are reward systems designed in health and geriatric care and do the current reward systems effect the care quality? Aim of study: This thesis aims to extend the knowledge of reward systems in health and geriatric care. Knowing how these systems are designed and what their effects on quality of health and geriatric care are, is the goal with this study. Methodology With a qualitative approach we interviewed six leaders in both private and public organizations. Two of the leaders worked in geriatric care and four in health care. Theoretical framework: The theoretical framework is based on scientific literature about motivation and reward systems. Also literature specifically about wage conditions in the health care sector and the public sector have been used. Results and conclusions: It is shown that conditions for working with reward systems in the public sector are limited due to the lack of resources and complex large organisation structures with old traditions. This must be reconsidered to be able to work with well designed reward systems similar to those in private care organizations.