The integrated care performance assessment tool: a co-design approach

• Published in: International Journal of Integrated Care
• Main Authors: Dates, Mariana, Tedeschi, Micol, Lennox-Chhugani, Niamh
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Ubiquity Press 2019
• Subjects: performance assessment; performance indicators; implementation; evaluation; stakeholder engagement; user-centred design; Iceland
• Online Access: https://account.ijic.org/index.php/up-j-ijic/article/view/5291; https://doi.org/10.5334/ijic.s3538

Optimity Advisors conducted the study “Health system performance assessment – Integrated Care Assessment”, commissioned by Chafea and DG SANTE, assessing: (i) the state of integrated care (IC) implementation in the EU28 Member States, Norway and Iceland; and (ii) developing an evidence-based Integrated Care Performance Assessment (ICPA) framework. The framework, supported by an Excel tool, was co-designed with stakeholders across Europe. The ICPA tool will be tested by members of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIPonAHA), B3 Action Group on Integrated Care.From a review of literature in 24 languages, an extensive mapping of 560 IC initiatives in 30 countries and the maturity assessment of 12 health systems, we inferred that IC strategies, policies, models and projects are present across Europe, but their characteristics, depth and breadth of integration vary considerably. Taking this heterogeneity into account, the framework was co-designed drawing on user-centred design and agile methodologies. Following an iterative approach with regular stakeholder engagement (questionnaires, video-conferences, peer-review webinars, presentations at events, and a validation workshop), experts and practitioners helped us determine which indicators sourced from existing performance assessment frameworks were considered “core” to IC assessment, with the rest proposed as “optional” indicators in the performance assessment model. The core indicators selected were categorised under four domains -Advancement of integration; Use of care services; Health outcomes; Experiences of care- with a fifth overarching domain considering financial issues. Indicators have been re-worded and re-defined to make them applicable across the wealth of IC initiatives while offering measures for international comparison.The heterogeneity of the context in which IC initiatives operate in Europe was a key challenge for the development of a framework that had to be relevant and potentially used in all included countries. ...