Digital Health and Care Congress 2016. Enabling patient-centred care through information and technology

The congress will feature presentations and case studies from: NHS trusts; clinical commissioning groups; local authorities; voluntary sector organisations; universities and private sector providers, who will present innovative projects that are using technology and data to deliver high-quality sustainable health and care services.

Best practices in scaling digital health in low and middle income countries

Healthcare challenges in low and middle income countries (LMICs) have been the focus of many digital initiatives that have aimed to improve both access to healthcare and the quality of healthcare delivery. Moving beyond the initial phase of piloting and experimentation, these initiatives are now more clearly focused on the need for effective scaling and integration to provide sustainable benefit to healthcare systems.

Future of Digital Health Systems in the European Region

The WHO Symposium on the Future of Digital Health Systems in the European Region will bring together evidence and experience to show how governments and organizations can adopt digital health to reduce inequalities and improve the health and well-being of populations.

The Symposium will help policy-makers prepare for the digitalization of health systems by sharing country experiences of:

• - How digital health and emerging innovations are being used to strengthen national health systems
• - Digital health activities currently underway
• - How digital technologies can empower individuals and health-care workers.

Tomorrow’s World: Is Digital Health the Disruptive Innovation that will Drive the Adoption of Integrated Care Systems?

The idea of this study is that disruptive digital innovations can play a significant role in curbing the long-term rise in the costs of health and care, empower and engage service users, and enable better care outcomes and experiences.
In many ways, the strategy has similar objectives to the integrated care movement in the need to design and implement new ways of care delivery. Indeed, the role of information, communication and technology is commonly regarded as one of the essential ingredients in enabling the success of integrated care. It has the most uncommon dual property in this regard. It is simultaneously the grease that allows integrated care systems to operate as smoothly as they can through good communication of information between care professionals and services users, but it is also the glue that binds care systems together.

20th International Conference on Integrated Care (ICIC20)

In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions in place, we regretfully inform you that the 20th International Conference on Integrated Care in Croatia, scheduled for 27 – 29 April 2020, cannot go ahead as planned. The conference has NOT been cancelled and will take place later this year when we understand when attendees will be in a better position to participate. IFIC are currently working with our hosts on an alternative solution and will be making an announcement in the comings weeks. We are mindful of those working at the frontline and in the management of health and care systems right now and they must be our first priority. We are committed to delivering the conference and we appreciate your patience whilst we work on finalising details. (International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC)).

The 20th International Conference on Integrated Care (ICIC20) will take place in Sibenik, Croatia ...

Community health alliances as social enterprises that digitally engage citizens and integrate services: A case study in Southwestern Sydney (protocol)

Community health alliances (CHAs) are a population health approach for addressing the challenges faced by people who are united by a common area of residence, sociocultural characteristic or health need, and are generally characterised by a shared mission, shared resource needs and the task of acquiring/developing necessary organisational knowledge and skills. In South Western Sydney, CHAs are being explored as an innovative approach to support the provision of integrated health services. 

Much of the population live in local government areas with levels of disadvantage higher than the state average, with a predominance of non-communicable and chronic diseases that are typically associated with age-related and behavioural factors which necessitate integrated primary and social care. 

Social enterprises can utilise digital health interventions and citizen engagement strategies to integrate health services. 

This study aims to (a) explore how CHAs in South Western Sydney operate as social enterprises that utilise digital health and ...

mHealth for Integrated People-Centred Health Services in the Western Pacific: A Systematic Review

The global move towards achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires a fundamental shift towards integrated healthcare systems. This vision of ‘Integrated care’ has been defined as a “coherent set of methods and models on the funding, administrative, organisational, service delivery and clinical levels designed to create connectivity, alignment and collaboration within and between the cure and care sectors.”

Digital Health includes the use of mobile health (mHealth) applications, social media and health information systems and data. With the Internet of Things (IoT), it improves the data flow and interface between self-care, home-based services, primary care, ambulatory care, outreach services, and hospital-based curative and palliative services

This review analized how mobile health (mHealth) to support integrated people-centred health services has been implemented and evaluated in the World Health Organization (WHO) Western Pacific Region (WPR).

Building a Digital Bridge to Support Patient-Centered Care Transitions From Hospital to Home for Older Adults With Complex Care Needs: Protocol for a Co-Design, Implementation, and Evaluation Study

Older adults with multimorbidity and complex care needs (CCN) are among those most likely to experience frequent care transitions between settings, particularly from hospital to home. Transition periods mark vulnerable moments in care for individuals with CCN. Poor communication and incomplete information transfer between clinicians and organizations involved in the transition from hospital to home can impede access to needed support and resources. Establishing digitally supported communication that enables person-centered care and supported self-management may offer significant advantages as we support older adults with CCN transitioning from hospital to home.

This protocol outlines the plan for the development, implementation, and evaluation of a Digital Bridge co-designed to support person-centered health care transitions for older adults with CCN. The Digital Bridge builds on the foundation of two validated technologies: Care Connector, designed to improve interprofessional communication in hospital, and the electronic Patient-Reported Outcomes (ePRO) tool, designed to support goal-oriented care planning ...

IFIC Scotland Webinar: Digitally enabled Care Pathways. Integrated Care Matters

The International Foundation for Integrated Care’s report, Realising the true value of integrated care describes the steps we must take to create a radically different future beyond COVID-19. The report is a powerful call to reset our compass to a new reality based on solidarity and collaboration for population health.

IFIC Scotland and partners explore this new future in series 5 of their Integrated Care Matters webinars. Guest panelists, members of IFICs international Special Interest Groups, will share their experiences and insights and challenge us to design a better future that improves lives and opportunities for all. 

The final webinar of 2020 in the Integrated Care Matters series 5 will discuss digitally enabled care pathways. All who register will receive links to the recordings and topic resources.

Additional information and guest panelists

Integrated Care’s New Protagonist: The Expanding Role of Digital Health

Digital health technologies hold significant promise to advance both functional and normative health and social care integration. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a window of opportunity to rapidly advance the adoption of digital solutions which can improve activities that support integration at clinical, professional, organizational and system levels. Global examples demonstrate how the pandemic has also created opportunities to use technology to address core values of integrated care like person-centredness and coordination. However, rapid and reactive changes could lead to increased fragmentation and exacerbate health inequity. This perspective paper outlines some of the opportunities and threats to advancing integrated care presented by the rapid adoption of digital health tools, suggesting we maintain a long view to ensure the stage we set today will mean greater integration tomorrow.

A Digital Health Platform for Integrated and Proactive Patient-Centered Multimorbidity Self-management and Care (ProACT):Protocol for an Action Research Proof-of-Concept Trial

Multimorbidity is defined as the presence of two or more chronic diseases and associated comorbidities. There is a need to improve best practices around the provision of well-coordinated, person-centered care for persons with multimorbidities. Present health systems across the European Union (EU) focus on supporting a single-disease framework of care; the primary challenge is to create a patient-centric, integrated care ecosystem to understand and manage multimorbidity. ProACT is a large-scale project funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 programme, that involved the design, development, and evaluation of a digital health platform to improve and advance home-based integrated care, and supported self-management, for older adults (aged ≥65 years) living with multimorbidity.

Geneva Health Forum "Covid-19 Pandemic and Environmental Emergency: Reinventing Global Health in Times of Global Change"

Geneva Health Forum, 3rd to 5th May 2022: "Covid-19 Pandemic and Environmental Emergency: Reinventing Global Health in Times of Global Change"
 
The Geneva Health Forum (GHF) brings us together around major global health issues. It gives a voice to actors from the field and bridges them with policy-makers present in Geneva. It gives visibility to innovative, accessible and sustainable practices and tools and to important initiatives. After more than 15 years of existence, the GHF has become a crucial event in the field of global health.
 
For its 9th edition, which will take place from 3rd to 5th May 2022, #GHF2022 will address crucial issues for our future. Under the theme “Covid-19 Pandemic and Environmental Emergency: Reinventing Global Health in Times of Global Changes”, the GHF will help us learn the lessons from the Covid-19 crisis and better understand the impact of environmental degradation on human health.
 
Indeed, the Covid-19 ...

Integrated care with digital health innovation: pressing challenges

Digital health care has emerged as one of the most important means to deliver integrated care by care providers in recent years. As the use of digital health increases, there are some pressing issues such as interoperability of data across different healthcare information systems, regulatory environment and security and privacy of patient’s information which need to be discussed and addressed in order to reduce information silos and to ensure efficient and seamless use of digital health technologies. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues.