Improved management of chronic and age-related care
The project 'Benchmarking integrated care for better management of chronic and age-related conditions in Europe' (PROJECT INTEGRATE)(opens in new window) addresses the challenges of an ageing population with an increasing number of chronic conditions. It is taking into account the benefits offered by Europe's health and social security systems and assessing various elements. These include the design process, service delivery, health care worker skills, patient involvement, funding flows and regulatory conditions, while also analysing how the full potential of enabling information technologies can be realised in better aligning the cure and care sectors. Four case studies were conducted, two diseases and two general conditions, that represent four European countries with a tax-based or an insurance-based system. This facilitated a better understanding of integrated care and is adding insight to the second phase of the project. The information collected to date will be published, and has been used to develop a template for analysing the integrated care experience. PROJECT INTEGRATE reviewed best practices of integrated care that have a proven impact in terms of positive patient care experiences, care outcomes and cost effectiveness. By using real case studies, good quality integrated care was defined. The understanding of these best practices is the base of the horizontal issues analysis across different European health systems that constitute the project’s second phase. The results are to be analysed and paired with international evidence and feed into operational and policy recommendations. A multidisciplinary team with extensive knowledge of the challenges involved in promoting integrated care is drawing on care process design; human resources management and workforce skill mix; financial incentives and barriers; information communication technology management; and patient involvement perspectives. PROJECT INTEGRATE will provide managerial and policy recommendations for successful integrated care experiences supporting health providers and Member States in better organising health care and systems. Continuing work will involve studying integrated care at European level. Researchers participated in the Chronic Care Summit in April 2014 and continue to collaborate closely with the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe and HQ Geneva and IFIC, the International Foundation for Integrated care, which is one of the project’s partners and is leading the project’s communication and dissemination activities, including the webpage.