Still seeing little organizational diversity: the long-run outcomes of market-inspired reforms in Swedish primary care

Purpose Our aim throughout this article is to develop a comprehensive description detailing the organizational diversity existing among private providers of primary care services in Sweden today. Design/methodology/approach We begin by mapping all public and private providers in Swedish primary care during 2024. We continue by examining the organizational diversity existing across three salient management dimensions – business types, core purposes and external funding sources – among all private providers, which represented ≈47% of all primary care centers and ≈44% of all primary care patients. Findings Concerning business types, we find that most private providers functioned as private limited companies, which commanded 80% of all privately operated primary care centers and ≈75% of all privately listed primary care patients. Regarding core purposes, we find that most private providers conducted for-profit activities, which affected ≈95% of all privately operated centers and privately listed patients. And, concerning external funding sources, we find that most private providers utilized credit institute loans, which impacted ≈80% of all privately operated centers and ≈75% of all privately listed patients. Originality/value Our findings contribute to previous research on private providers of primary care services in Sweden by offering an updated and expanded description highlighting how we are “still seeing little organizational diversity” among said providers. These findings are problematic for politicians across Scandinavia, considering they have, ever since the early 1990s, sought to attract diverse private actors as providers of public sector services.