WCIC4 – 4th World Congress on Integrated Care: “Investing in our Future: Improving the Health of People and Communities”

Engaging patients, carers and communities for the provision of coordinated/integrated health services: strategies and tools

This paper (working document) illustrates strategies aimed at engaging patients, their families, and carers to be an active part of health disease management and treatment, guiding them to make informed choices. Furthermore, it outlines strategies aimed at empowering populations to adopt responsible health lifestyles and act as protagonists in influencing determinants of health in a human-rights based approach to health. Exemplary tools for each type of strategies are proposed to support the realization of coordinated and integrated health services delivery.

WCIC4 Extended deadline for submission of abstracts

The International Foundation of Integrated Care (IFIC), in partnership with General Practice New Zealand (GPNZ) and Healthcare Quality and Safety Commission (HCQSC) , presents the 4rd World Congress on Integrated Care “Investing in our Future: Improving the Health of People and Communities” to take place in Wellington, New Zealand 23 to 25 November 2016.

They extended the call for submission of abstracts until Friday 1 July 2016. Follow the link below for more information. 

Healthy China : deepening health reform in China building high-quality and value-based service delivery

As many other countries, China faces big challenges to meet the health care needs of her citizens, associated with a rapidly aging society and increasing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Also, health costs have been growing at a rate higher than GDP growth since 2008.

Since the launch of health reform in 2009, China has invested significantly in health infrastructure at the grassroots level and made progress in building the primary care doctors system. Basic public health services capacity has been significantly enhanced. China is progressing quickly to achieving universal health coverage and some of the reform achievements have attracted worldwide attention.

The reform commanded many innovative pilots in health financing and service delivery at the local level and provided a strong foundation for the next stage of reform. This report aim to support China during this reform phase by recommending 8 sets of strategic reform directions, referred to as ...

From vision to action. Making patient-centred care a reality

The NHS have worked with The King´s Fund to translate their themes into outcomes for patients and set out the most important priorities for action to achieve these outcomes. Under each of their five themes: 

- Co-ordinated care

- Patients engaged decisions about their care

- Supported self-management

- Prevention, early diagnosis and intervention

- Emotional, psychological and practical support

they have described the outcomes that they most want to achieve for patients. In order to achieve these outcomes, they hace then selected the service improvements that, if met, will have a major impact on the quality and cost-effectiveness of care. 

4 Steps to Sustaining Improvement in Health Care

Leading health care organizations recognize that improving care isn´t enough; having a systematic approach to sustaining improvement is equally important.

To learn how to build systems that sustain improvement, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement studied health care organizations that were able to achieve standout results and ten build on them- organizations such as Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City; Saskatoon Health Region in Saskatchewan, Canada; and Virginia Mason Health System in Seattle. These high-performing health systems affered a key insight: To sustain change, you need a strong strategy for engaging and standardizing the work of frontline managers. From their efforts, they derived four steps on how to get started with introducing new standard work processes for point-of-care staff. 

Fourth Global Forum on Human Resources for Health

The global community is presented with an unprecedented challenge and an opportunity: to avert a potential 18 million health worker shortfall and shape increasing demand for additional health and social workforce jobs. In doing so, we will make progress towards universal health coverage and global health security while also contributing to gains across the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (e.g. quality education, gender equality, reduced inequalities, decent jobs and inclusive economic growth).

Last year brought forward a wave of exciting opportunities to markedly change the global health workforce situation. The Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health: Workforce 2030 and the UN High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth’s report, Working for Health and Growth present a vital road map to ensure an adequate, fit for purpose and sustainable workforce to address current and future needs. Together, they make the case for more and better investments, with ...

Imperial child health general practice hubs

For most children, the GP is their main point of contact with the health servivce. While children make up nearlyy one-fifth of the population in England, they are estimated to account for two-fifths of a typical GP´s workload. Despite this, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health estimate that in many parts of the country, between 40 and 50 per cent of GPs have a had little or no formal paediatric training. Evidence suggest that many of these case could be managed outside an acute setting. 

Operationalizing mHealth to improve patient care: a qualitative implementation science evaluation of the WelTel texting intervention in Canada and Kenya

Mobile health (mHealth) applications have proliferated across the  globe with much enthusiasm, although few have reached scale and shown public health impact. In this study, they explored how different contextual factors influenced the implementation, effectiveness and potential for scale-up of welTel, an easy-to-use and evidence-based mHealth intervention. WelTel uses two-way SMS communication to improve patient adherence to medication and engagement in care, and has been developed and tested in Canada and Kenya. 

Translating the Elements of Health Governance for Integrated Care from Theory to Practice: A Case Study Approach

Against a paucity of evidence, a model describing elements of health governance best suited to achieving integrated care internationally was developed. The aim of this study was to explore how health meso-level organizations used, or planned to use, the governance elements. 

Development of global health research in China

With the continuous deepening and broaddening of Chin´s engagement in global health as well as the transformation of its role in global health governance, global healh science have made great strides in China, from the infancy stage of last century to the grown-up stage of this century. Considerable progress in global health discipline has been witnessed, especially in the last ten years. This report analyse the three crucial indications that characterized the rapid development of global health in China

Patient–Provider Video Telemedicine Integrated With Clinical Care: Patient Experiences

Real-time patient–provider video visits have the potential to engage patients by allowing them to access a clinical encounter without arranging transportation, taking time off from work, or spending time in a waiting room. Although millions of U.S. patients have used direct-to-consumer telemedicine services without in-person facilities, these services may lack integration with electronic health records and with clinicians from whom patients receive ongoing care. Evidence is limited from large-scale implementation of “house call” video visits integrated with ongoing health care delivery and providers in community primary care.

Highlights from ICIC19 in San Sebastian

The 19th International Conference on Integrated Care took place from 1-3 April 2019 in San Sebastian and was attended by 1400 delegates representing 60 countries.

With the overarching theme ‘Evaluating and implement models of integrated people-centred services’, the conference is a partnership of OSAKIDETZA – Basque Health Service, Bioef, Ministry for Health of the Basque Government the City Council of Donostia-San Sebastian and the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa. The conference brought together researchers, clinicians and managers from around the world who are engaged in the design and delivery of integrated health and social care.

19th International Conference on Integrated Care (ICIC19) Highlights from Foundation for Integrated Care on Vimeo.

To watch the video

People as Partners in Care

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 ...

Self-management for chronic conditions in low- and middle-income countries: how can we know what works?

Self-management of chronic conditions is an approach to engaging people in their own health care. It places increased responsibility on the patient for monitoring their condition and their adherence to treatment. Wherever health systems are under resource strain, self-management is promoted as a means to increase patient investment in their treatment plan, thus improving treatment adherence and reducing use of costly services. Initiatives to support self-management have included text messaging reminders to monitor blood pressure or blood glucose, and community peer groups to support adherence to medications and lifestyle advice. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has further focused attention on self-management of chronic conditions, for example for vulnerable patients who are self-isolating.

Despite increased attention and resources devoted to self-management for chronic conditions, evidence of the effectiveness of self-management limited. This is particularly true in low- and middle-income countries, where self-management is proposed as one response to the challenges that ...

A critical realist evaluation of an integrated care project for vulnerable families in Sydney, Australia

Healthy Homes and Neighbourhoods (HHAN) Integrated Care Initiative was established to improve the care of families with complex health and social needs who reside in Sydney Local Health District. HHAN seeks to provide long-term multi-disciplinary care coordination as well as enhance capacity building and promote integrated care. Findings of this study supported the initial programme theory that engagement and trust building with clients, alongside enhanced collaboration and integration of services, improved outcomes for vulnerable families with complex needs.

23rd International Conference on Integrated Care (ICIC23)

Skill-mix Innovation, Effectiveness and Implementation: Improving Primary and Chronic Care

What are skill-mix innovations and why are they relevant? This systemic analysis of health workforce skill-mix innovations provides an overview of the evidence and lessons for implementation across multiple countries.

The authors focus on six core segments of health systems: health promotion and prevention, acute care, chronic care, long-term and palliative care, as well as access for vulnerable groups and people living in underserved areas.

From People-Centred to People-Driven Care: Can Integrated Care Achieve its Promise without it?

In this editorial, we argue that people-centred care has often remained too passive, condemns patients and carers to subservient roles, and as a result preserves a power imbalance that favours systems and professionals over people and communities. For integrated care to reach its full potential, we instead advocate for a deliberate shift towards ‘people-driven’ care where people have more agency in participating in their health and greater power in decision-making.

Civil society feedback on the Zero Draft of the 2023 Political Declaration on UHC

The 2023 UN High-Level (HLM) Meeting on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) provides countries and all stakeholders with the opportunity to not just recommit to UHC but take concrete actions toward building resilient and equitable health systems. While some progress has been made since the 2019 HLM on UHC that resulted in a comprehensive Political Declaration, more than half of the world’s population still lacks access to essential health services. The situation was further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the UHC2030 Co-Chairs recently stated in their reflection on the UHC Political Declaration 2023 Zero Draft, Member States must show political leadership and “move from commitment to action”. Following the release of the zero draft of the political declaration, the Civil Society Engagement Mechanism (CSEM) launched a survey to collect feedback from civil society to identify priorities for strengthening the zero draft, and ultimately, the Political Declaration. Over the span ...

Integrated care strategy, health and wellbeing board and joint forward plan guidance: what you need to know

Key points

• The Department for Health and Social Care has released guidance for:

1. the preparation of integrated care strategies by integrated care partnerships
2. health and wellbeing boards and how they will work with and within integrated care systems
3. principles for integrated care partnership engagement with adult social care providers
4. principles for integrated care partnership engagement with health overview and scrutiny committees.

• NHS England has released guidance on developing the joint forward plan, to support integrated care boards and their partner trusts to develop their first 5-year joint forward plans.
• Integrated care partnerships may wish to publish an initial interim strategy by December 2022 if they want to align and influence integrated care boards' first five-year joint forward plans.
• Integrated care boards (ICBs) and their partner trusts are required to prepare a joint forward plan before the start of each financial year, and share the final version with their integrated care ...