Towards More Integrated Health Care – The Review of the International Experience

Most European countries have failed to integrate health care services. This inevitably leads to fragmented health care provision. This fragmentation results in long waiting times and involvement of multiple care providers who offer different forms of care. The lack of integration of health care seems to be one of the biggest challenges in health systems as integration calls for a holistic approach and the implementation of structural changes that are costly. The aim of the paper is to explore the nature and strategic forms of the mechanisms and tools dedicated to health care integration in selected European countries. The literature review was performed using resources of Web of Science and Ebsco. The search criteria focused on the following key words: integrated health care, care coordination, coordinated care programmes, and integration mechanisms. The time span of the analysis covered the last 20 years from 1998 to 2017. Finally, 39 studies were identified that presented the evidence-based experience with care coordination. Several strategic forms of health care integration have been identified, including structural, functional and subject-based mechanisms.