Integration of Chronic Care in a Fragmented Healthcare System; Comment on “Integration or Fragmentation of Health Care? Examining Policies and Politics in a Belgian Case Study”

Document Type : Commentary

Authors

1 Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

2 Mobilab & Care, Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, Mechelen, Belgium

3 LiCalab, Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, Mechelen, Belgium

Abstract

The authors of “Integration or Fragmentation of Health Care? Examining Policies and Politics in a Belgian Case Study” present a fresh perspective on the inertia of integrated care (IC) implementation. They conclude that the decisive power in Belgium is fragmented and undermines efforts towards IC. As researchers in integrated heart failure (HF) care and active primary healthcare professionals, we comment on the three policy initiatives evaluated by Martens et al from a bottom-up perspective. A Learning Healthcare Network (LHCN) was established September 2019 to overcome fragmentation, the lack of evaluation and capacity loss each time a pilot project ends. This commentary wishes to illustrate that a LHCN can be a powerful meso-level mechanism to engage in alignment work and to overcome macro-level barriers that are often difficult to change and not supportive of IC

Keywords

References

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History

  • Receive Date: 01 February 2022
  • Revise Date: 30 June 2022
  • Accept Date: 03 July 2022
  • First Publish Date: 04 July 2022

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