Integrated care
Integrated care is a concept bringing together inputs, delivery, management and organization of services related to diagnosis, treatment, care, rehabilitation and health promotion. Integration is a means to improve services in relation to access, quality, user satisfaction and efficiency.
Overview[edit | edit source]
Integrated care, also known as coordinated care, comprehensive care, seamless care, or transmural care, is a worldwide trend in health care reforms and new organizational arrangements focusing on more coordinated and integrated forms of care provision. Integrated care may be seen as a response to the fragmented delivery of health and social services being an acknowledged problem in many health systems.
Types of Integrated Care[edit | edit source]
There are three types of integrated care:
- Care coordination involves deliberately organizing patient care activities and sharing information among all of the participants concerned with a patient's care to achieve safer and more effective care.
- Co-located services refers to having different health services located in the same geographical area or physical setting.
- Integrated health services involves the management and delivery of health services so that clients receive a continuum of preventive and curative services, according to their needs over time and across different levels of the health system.
Benefits of Integrated Care[edit | edit source]
Integrated care has several benefits:
- Improved access to care
- Improved quality of care
- Increased satisfaction with care
- Improved health literacy
- Increased perceived quality of life
- Decreased hospitalization
- Decreased emergency department visits
- Decreased use of residential care facilities
Challenges in Integrated Care[edit | edit source]
Despite the potential benefits, there are also challenges in implementing integrated care:
- Lack of a shared vision
- Lack of leadership
- Lack of financial incentives
- Lack of a supportive policy environment
- Lack of skills and knowledge
- Lack of a supportive organizational culture
- Lack of appropriate technology
- Lack of patient and public involvement
See Also[edit | edit source]
References[edit | edit source]
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Contributors: Prab R. Tumpati, MD