The Contribution of Case Mix, Skill Mix and Care Processes to the Outcomes of Community Hospitals: A Population-Based Observational Study

Community hospitals could address the emerging complex care needs of patients. The authors investigated which characteristics of patients and community hospitals affect patient outcomes, in order to identify who could benefit the most from community hospital care and the best skill mix to deliver this care.

Evaluation is Key: Providing Appropriate Evaluation Measures for Participatory and User-Centred Design Processes of Healthcare IT

The increasing availability of healthcare IT has the potential to improve the integration of health services. Existing projects developing healthcare IT mostly disregard the potential and importance of incorporating user feedback and proper evaluation measures to gain user feedback throughout the development process.

This article aims to provide methodological guidance for evaluation in a stepwise user-centred design process.

An Analysis of the Sustainability of a Collaborative Care Program Used to Deliver Integrated Mental Health Care Within a Micronesian Island State

Adequate access to mental health care is a global problem, including in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). The Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) offers an opportunity to deliver improved access to mental health services in primary care centers, and key factors to program sustainability have been investigated in high-income country settings. This study's objective was to evaluate how well factors associated with sustainability have been incorporated into a CoCM in Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia. The Kosraean CoCM's strengths included its supportive leadership, team member training, and having a strong care manager and engaged primary care provider champion ...

Pathway-Driven Coordinated Telehealth System for Management of Patients With Single or Multiple Chronic Diseases in China: System Development and Retrospective Study

Integrated care enhanced with information technology has emerged as a means to transform health services to meet the long-term care needs of patients with chronic diseases. However, the feasibility of applying integrated care to the emerging "three-manager" mode in China remains to be explored. Moreover, few studies have attempted to integrate multiple types of chronic diseases into a single system.

Applying Complexity Theory to a Hospital Complex Patient Care Program

Increasingly, complexity science concepts are informing health care design and practice. The present paper describes the implementation of early complexity science principles in a Complex Care Program with the aim of strengthening the provision of integrated care. Grounded in cybernetic network theory, Stafford Beer’s Viable Systems Model provided the guiding principles for the program’s redesign. The Viable Systems Model with its broadly applicable principles, is now the conceptual model of information management in the program. Beer’s framework has enabled a relatively small number of clinicians to coordinate care for a large cohort of patients with significant clinical ...

Impact of Integrated Care on the Rate of Hospitalization for Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions among Older Adults in Stockholm County: An Interrupted Time Series Analysis

Reducing avoidable hospital admissions is often viewed as a possible positive consequence of introducing integrated care (IC). The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of implementing IC in Norrtälje on the rate of admissions for ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSC).

Exploring the Quality Paradigms in Integrated Care: The Need for Emergence and Reflection

There are four quality paradigms, of which the Empirical and Reference paradigm fit best in stable circumstances, and the Reflective and Emergence paradigms, which fit best in unstable circumstances.

This study aims to explore the use of the four quality paradigms in integrated care, and to shed light on the different paradigmatic commitments and different perspectives on quality.

Co-Design for People-Centred Care Digital Solutions: A Literature Review

The implementation of people-centred care requires strategies that respond to local conditions and contexts, with the participation of local stakeholders in collaborative approaches such as co-design. Within this framework, the authors performed a literature review to identify the most implemented practices in health and social care services for co-designing digital solutions.

Integrated care systems are an opportunity to reset the relationship between health services and the public

‘The more we concentrate on merely reworking our existing institutions, the more we fail to see or understand the nature of the new challenges that surround us.’
Hilary Cottam, Radical help

Integrated care systems explained: making sense of systems, places and neighbourhoods

Integrated care systems (ICSs) are partnerships that bring together providers and commissioners of NHS services across a geographical area with local authorities and other local partners to collectively plan health and care services to meet the needs of their population. The central aim of ICSs is to integrate care across different organisations and settings, joining up hospital and community-based services, physical and mental health, and health and social care. All parts of England are now covered by one of 42 ICSs.