Sammanfattning
A main aim of The Coordination Reform is to strengthen preventive health care in municipal
health and care services. In this article we ask whether The Coordination Reform has led to an
increased focus on preventive health care, and we evaluate whether measures to prevent falls
among elderly, as selected municipalities developed as a follow up of the Coordination Reform, have
an association with the hip fracture incidence rate (number of new cases per year). Using a
questionnaire, we find that 119 municipalities have developed fall prevention measures. Using data
on hip fracture incidence at the municipal level from Norwegian Patient Register (NPR), we find that
the annual hip fracture incidence in municipalities that have implemented such measures has
decreased by 0.09 hip fractures per 1000 inhabitants compared to the municipalities that have not
implemented such measures. The relationship is not statistically significant. When we look at the hip
fracture incidence by gender, we find that the annual hip fracture incidence for women has decreased
significantly, whereas for men there is a positive but uncertain relationship.