Welfare Reform on the Web (January 2008): Social care - overseas

Creating integrated care: evaluation and management of local care in Sweden

B. Ahgren

Journal of Integrated Care, vol. 15, Dec. 2007, p. 14-21

This paper has sought to reveal the complex nature of integration that must be taken into account in comprehensive evaluations of integrated care. It seems impossible to create a comprehensive measurement model that takes into account the multi-dimensional context of integrated health and social care. Functional clinical integration, as the prerequisite for efficient outcomes in integration, must however get special attention. For more extensive evaluation, the quality chain matrix has proved to be helpful, as it views the creation of integrated care as a chain of acts by different providers. Examples of evaluated services in Sweden are given.