Analysis of Implementation of Care Coordination in a Multi-level Care Provider Organization: A Need for Systems Approaches

Abstract : Better care coordination is a crucial objective to answer to the rising complexity of healthcare and the associated increase in costs. Process-based organizations is a widely recommended method for achieving this goal. In this article an initiative of implementing a care process in a French public hospital group is analyzed. The procedure to design the care process is documented and the official care process is compared to the current situation in a hospital. This analysis shows how important local parameters are in such projects. The shortcomings of the approach are identified and propositions to overcome these issues are made.