Blog posts

Understanding how integrated delivery and payment models are being implemented is key in an era of value-based healthcare. Integrated care can be compared to a black box that may, or may not provide the ‘out of the box’ solutions needed to help improve patients’ care experiences and health, and to minimise costs

Earlier this month a small team representing the TransForm project landed in Hamburg for a series of site visits just as the temperature dropped to record levels across Europe.
The team, made up of Tinne Vandensande from the King Baudouin Foundation, IFIC’s Director of Education and Training Dr Viktoria Stein and Junior Researcher Henriikka Laurola

Today, 8th March is International Women’s Day and we would like to take the opportunity to once again recognise some of the great women who are advancing the science, knowledge and adoption of Integrated Care around the world. Here is a selection of some of our very best presentations that took place in 2017 from women leaders who are working tirelessly to make excellent patient care and experience a reality for people, their families and communities worldwide.

What is transitional care and how does it related to integrated care?
Transitional care is defined as a set of actions designed to ensure the coordination and continuity of healthcare as patients transfer between different locations or different levels of care within the same location. Transitional care and integrated care are interwoven with integrated care providing the infrastructure for how care is organized and transitional care providing the linkages between settings of care, inclusive of the patient’s home.

Places are filling up fast for this year’s International Summer School on Integrated Care. Aimed at professionals in the field of integrated care, clinicians, researchers and managers, this standalone course provides an intensive one-week of education and training on the theory and practice of Integrated Care.

Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of attending the International Conference for Integrated Care in Ireland. It was such a great opportunity to participate in, and help create, international partnerships and information exchange. It was an experience that brought home the point that when we break down silos and barriers between countries and jurisdictions, then what’s happening on one side of the world can be put into practice on the other. That’s how change is made.

In May 2017 IFIC was invited to become a content partner on a new joint initiative hosted by the Network of European Foundations entitled the Transnational Forum of Integrated Community Care.

On March 31th, 2017, delegates from the Franciscus Gasthuis & Vlietland (FG&V) regional hospital from the Netherlands visited North-West London, as part of an international learning exchange. The purpose of the trip was to bring together key physicians from the FG&V region to learn about essential approaches to the design, implementation and funding of integrated care.

This year’s ICIC17 in Dublin was a fantastic experience. The growth in delegate numbers to some 1200 attendees, and the breadth in representation from 54 different countries, demonstrates the international appeal in integrated care as a means to achieving more sustainable health and care systems.

Once again, attending the ICIC conference has been a rich and truly gratifying experience. The plenaries, breakout sessions and workshops, as well as the endless opportunities to debate and learn have configured a vibrant event. I very much hope that all delegates have enjoyed it as much as I did.

Being at the ICIC17 was a real pleasure. The high number of delegates and the high number of contributions from numerous countries reflects that integrated care matters. As in previous editions, attendees still want to explore what integrated care really is about, how it can work in practice, what experiences there are and, what we can learn from each other. Lessons are being shared and also being recognized by others when discussed

#ICIC17 is over, and what a great conference it was! Overall it was very heart-warming to see and experience the strong patient and carer voice over the three days, which was felt at a number of levels. On behalf of the 105 patient organisation members in IPPOSI, I wish to thank the IFIC team, and especially Dr Aine Carroll, the HSE’s National Director of Clinical Strategy & Programmes, for putting together such a wonderful event. Some of our IPPOSI-related highlights included

Congratulations to Nick and his entire team for another successful ICIC! It is an accomplishment in itself to be in the 17th year of the event, but having the most registrants to date speaks volumes to the impact and increasing relevance of integrated care.

It is now more than a month since the 4th World Congress on Integrated Care (WCIC4) was held in Wellington. Over 600 delegates from the USA, Europe, Asia, Australia and of course the host nation, New Zealand attended the 3 day event taking advantage of the high quality of plenary discussions, parallel sessions and workshops.

It is now more than a month since the 4th World Congress on Integrated Care (WCIC4) was held in Wellington. Over 600 delegates from the USA, Europe, Asia, Australia and of course the host nation, New Zealand attended the 3 day event taking advantage of the high quality of plenary discussions, parallel sessions and workshops.

Parallel to an ageing society is the increase in prevalence of multi-morbidity. Persons with multi-morbidity often deal with multiple care providers in both the health- and social care sectors, and are likely to benefit from person-centred integrated, and well-coordinated, care. Different integrated care programmes for multi-morbidity can be identified, however, further developments in the field are needed. The Horizon2020 EU project ‘SELFIE’ (Sustainable intEgrated care modeLs for multi-morbidity: delivery, FinancIng and pErformance) aims to address these needs. In the coming years, we would like to update readers of the IFIC-blog on the progress we make in SELFIE.

In his first blog as part of his Fellowship with the Foundation, Dr Harry Pope discusses how the Australian government is looking for more “cost neutral” ways of delivering medical services within a primary care setting.

Fiona Lyne, Director of Communications provides an overview of recent activities including highlights from ICIC15, plans for our next World Congresses and International Conferences as well as exciting developments in European integrated care projects and plans for the member’s network online platform.

The Spanish Observatory on Integrated Care (Observatorio de Modelos Integrados en Salud, OMIS) has just published the first annual report on integrated care experiences in Spain. The report collates and classifies the practices registered at the Observatory website over 2014, highlighting their key innovative and transformative elements in providing integrated social and health care to…

We explored current approaches to service integration and the outcomes that people with long-term neurological conditions (LTNCs) want to achieve.

The best abstract award at WCIC2 which took place in Sydney, Australia was presented to: Robert Peter Leitner, Bruce Chenoweth, Lif O’Connor, Jurgen Wille, Anne Funke, all from South Eastern Sydney Local Health District, Australia, and Rhoshel Lenroot, from University of New South Wales, Australia Title: Metro-Regional Intellectual Disability Network (MRID.net) A Statewide Collaborative Multidisciplinary Care Model The abstract stated that…

IFIC poster prizes acknowledge the valuable contributions the authors and researchers submitting these abstracts make to enhance integrated care science and practice. For having the courage to turn negative study results into a positive learning experience and strengthening health economic research in integrated care, the best poster award of the Second World Congress of Integrated…