Integrating And Connecting Care

The last few decades have seen the digital transformation of healthcare, with health informaticians taking the lead in innovations which have enabled the sector to evolve from rudimentary computer based records to large-scale systems allowing for intra-organisational, national and even international communication and information exchange. Establishing and maintaining strong partnerships between the healthcare community, government, universities and industry is integral to supporting these advances. This book presents 24 selected papers from the 25th Australian National Health Informatics Conference (HIC 2017), held in Brisbane, Australia, in August 2017. The theme of HIC 2017 is Integrating and Connecting Care, and the conference provides the ideal professional and social environment for clinicians, researchers, health IT professionals, industry and consumers to integrate, educate and share their knowledge and debate current and future health systems. The papers in the book reflect the theme of the conference, highlighting the cutting-edge research evidence, technology updates and innovations crucial to the digital transformation of the healthcare sector. Health informatics and e-health play a central role in connecting information systems, being smart with data, and enhancing both practitioner and consumer experience in healthcare interactions, and the book will be of interest to researchers and practitioners alike.

Integrating Social Care into the Delivery of Health Care: Moving Upstream to Improve the Nation's Health was released in September 2019, before the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic in March 2020. Improving social conditions remains critical to improving health outcomes, and integrating social care into health care delivery is more relevant than ever in the context of the pandemic and increased strains placed on the U.S. health care system. The report and its related products ultimately aim to help improve health and health equity, during COVID-19 and beyond. The consistent and compelling evidence on how social determinants shape health has led to a growing recognition throughout the health care sector that improving health and health equity is likely to depend â€" at least in part â€" on mitigating adverse social determinants. This recognition has been bolstered by a shift in the health care sector towards value-based payment, which incentivizes improved health outcomes for persons and populations rather than service delivery alone. The combined result of these changes has been a growing emphasis on health care systems addressing patients' social risk factors and social needs with the aim of improving health outcomes. This may involve health care systems linking individual patients with government and community social services, but important questions need to be answered about when and how health care systems should integrate social care into their practices and what kinds of infrastructure are required to facilitate such activities. Integrating Social Care into the Delivery of Health Care: Moving Upstream to Improve the Nation's Health examines the potential for integrating services addressing social needs and the social determinants of health into the delivery of health care to achieve better health outcomes. This report assesses approaches to social care integration currently being taken by health care providers and systems, and new or emerging approaches and opportunities; current roles in such integration by different disciplines and organizations, and new or emerging roles and types of providers; and current and emerging efforts to design health care systems to improve the nation's health and reduce health inequities.

Connecting Care for Patients: Interdisciplinary Care Transitions and Collaboration addresses practical strategies for creating connected, seamless, and transparent health care for patients in settings outside of the hospital. It presents antidotes to healthcare fragmentation caused by inefficient care, patient safety problems, patient dissatisfaction, and higher costs. The text focuses on clinical case management, interdisciplinary referrals and conferencing, cross functional team meetings, tracking patients in value-based purchasing programs, inpatient liaison visits, structured collaboration with physician groups, and referral sources and development of clinical community networking groups. Further, it explores tools for patient self-management support, effective integration of technology, family caregiver engagement, and techniques for addressing health disparities and other high-risk care gaps.

This book introduces service planners and managers to successful strategies to design, implement and manage care integration programmes. It details the various components of change in individual chapters, which are illustrated with practical examples from actual care implementation projects.

As citizens, we must all take responsibility for our own health to some extent, and recent developments in medical informatics have provided some valuable new ways to help us do that. This book presents the proceedings of the 2020 Special Topic Conference of the European Federation for Medical Informatics (EFMI STC 2020), held for the first time as a virtual conference on 26 & 27 November 2020, due to restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Entitled Integrated citizen centered digital health and social care – Citizens as data producers and service co-creators, this conference focused on the citizen-centered aspects of health informatics. This topic provided the opportunity for contributors to present innovative solutions to allow citizens to take greater responsibility for their health with the help of information and communication technology, and the 52 presented papers published here cover a wide range of areas under the broad, invited subject headings of: tools and technologies to support citizen-centered digital services; capacity building to enhance the development and use of digital services; confidentiality, data integrity and data protection to guarantee trustworthy services; citizen safety in digital services; effectiveness and impact of citizen-digital and integrated health and social services; evaluation approaches and methods for digital services; usability, usefulness and user acceptance of digital services; and guidelines for the successful implementation of digital services for citizens. Offering a current overview of research and applications, the book will be of interest to all those health professionals working to increase citizen use of digital healthcare.

Social Work and Integrated Care draws on the latest research, practice and theory to explore integration within both child and adult services. Although all the home nations in the UK view integrated care as a top priority within health and social care policy, many people continue to experience fragmented care. This book sets out the case for integration, considers the evidence of its impact, and discusses the implementation challenges that must be overcome. Packed full of current examples of integration, from across the UK and internationally, and reflexive exercises which highlight practice issues for social workers, it provides the following key learning outcomes: • An understanding of what is meant by integrated care and why it is seen as vital to a modern health and social system. • A knowledge of the expected impacts in relation to improving the experience and outcomes for individuals and their families, addressing inequalities and promoting health and wellbeing and increasing financial efficiency. • A recognition of the common barriers to integrated care and what such fragmentation can mean for individuals and their families. • A critical review of key approaches to promote integration and their practical implementation. • Reflection on the potential contribution of social workers and their own collaborative practice. Providing a comprehensive and accessible overview of integrated care policies and practice, this book will help prepare social workers for the realities of collaborating with other professions and services. It should be considered essential reading for students undertaking their professional qualification and those who are in practice who are looking to improve their ability to collaborate.

A growing body of research indicates that social determinants of health have a significant impact on health care utilization and outcomes. Researchers and policymakers in the United States have spent decades exploring and discussing approaches to integrating health care and social services. While no nation has a truly integrated system, many other industrialized nations invest more heavily in social services than the United States, and are more effective in integrating these services with health care. Integrating health care and social services, such as accessible housing, meals and nutrition services, transportation, and caregiver training, is particularly important for those facing serious illness who typically encounter multiple chronic conditions, pain and other symptoms, functional dependency, frailty, and significant family caregiver needs. In an effort to better understand and facilitate discussions about the challenges and opportunities related to integrating health care and social services for people with serious illness, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a full-day public workshop on July 19, 2018 in Washington, DC. The workshop featured a broad range of experts and stakeholders including researchers, policy analysts, patient and family caregiving advocates, and representatives of federal agencies. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

This timely and much needed text book provides a systematic assessment of recent policy developments across the UK and introduces the different models of integration which currently operate - from structural integration in Northern Ireland to health and care partnerships in Scotland. It examines the achievements of integrated working, showing how it can lead to improvements in the quality of services and access to services, as well as create cost efficiencies. It also considers barriers to integration and draw comparisons with experiences in the US, Canada, Australia and Europe to identify lessons for practice in the UK. Supported throughout by case studies and a wealth of illustrative material - including charts and diagrams - this is key reading for students taking degree programmes and foundational qualifications in health and social care, or related degrees in social policy, health studies, social work and nursing.