Who Cares? Attracting and Retaining Care Workers for the Elderly

This report presents the most up-to-date and comprehensive cross-country assessment of long-term care (LTC) workers, the tasks they perform and the policies to address shortages in OECD countries. It highlights the importance of improving working conditions in the sector and making care work more attractive and shows that there is space to increase productivity by enhancing the use of technology, providing a better use of skills and investing in prevention.

COVID-19 and Older Persons: A Defining Moment for an Informed, Inclusive and Targeted Response

As the world grapples with an unparalleled health crisis, POLICY BRIEF NO68 older persons have become one of its more visible victims. The pandemic spreads among persons of all ages and conditions, yet available evidence indicates that older persons and those with underlying medical conditions are at a higher risk of serious illness and death from the COVID-19 disease. This brief has presented the distinct situation of older persons during the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights how older persons encounter specifc challenges that need to be understood and integrated into policy measures related to COVID-19. 

Policy Brief: The Impact of COVID-19 on older persons

The COVID-19 pandemic is causing untold fear and suffering for older people across the world. As the virus spreads rapidly to developing countries, likely overwhelming health and social protection systems, the mortality rate for older persons could climb even higher. Efforts to protect older persons should not overlook the many variations within this category, their incredible resilience and positivity, and the multiple roles they have in society, including as caregivers, volunteers and community leaders.

COVID-19 recovery is an opportunity to set the stage for a more inclusive, equitable and age-friendly society.

Cost and effects of integrated care: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis

Health and care services are becoming increasingly strained and healthcare authorities worldwide are investing in integrated care in the hope of delivering higher-quality services while containing costs. The cost-efectiveness of integrated care, however, remains unclear. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to appraise current economic evaluations of integrated care and assesses the impact on outcomes and costs.

Paradoxes of person centred care: A discussion paper

Starting the Transition Towards Integrated Community Care 4all

Integrated Community Care (ICC) is a new concept that has been launched by the international partnership of philanthropic organisations known as TransForm which came into being in 2018. The TransForm partners are convinced of the value of investing time, resources and imagination to enhance the capacity of local communities to deal with public health issues and the care needs of community members throughout their whole lifetime. The Covid-19 crisis may be a turning-point. It is giving us a unique opportunity to acknowledge ICC as a systemic approach that blurs boundaries between informal and formal care, between different skills in the ...

Leveraging service design for healthcare transformation: toward people-centered, integrated, and technology-enabled healthcare systems

This paper explores how service design can contribute to the evolution of health service systems, moving them toward people-centered, integrated and technology-enabled care; the paper develops a research agenda to leverage service design research for healthcare transformation.

Defining Coordinated Care for People with Rare Conditions: A Scoping Review

To coordinate care effectively for rare conditions, we need to understand what coordinated care means. This review aimed to define coordinated care and identify components of coordinated care within the context of rare diseases; by drawing on evidence from chronic conditions. Coordinated care is multi-faceted and has both generic and context-specific components. Findings can help to develop and eventually test different ways of coordinating care for people with rare and common chronic conditions.

Family medicine in times of ‘COVID-19’: A generalists' voice

The novel coronavirus epidemic is transforming the world in which we live. This pandemic will bring sweeping changes everywhere, not least in the field of primary care medicine. Overall, this pandemic has genuinely demonstrated the medical professional’s power to adapt, evolve and thrive, even in these times of unprecedented crisis. Family medicine, dealing with both the emotional and the scientific side of medicine on a daily basis, plays a central role in tackling this pandemic. Taking responsibility for both care and research on COVID-19 will redefine the importance of family medicine for public health care. 

Rethinking Integrated Care: A Systematic Hermeneutic Review of the Literature on Integrated Care Strategies and Concepts

Integrated care is a broad concept, used to describe a connected set of clinical, organizational, and policy changes aimed at improving service efficiency, patient experience, and outcomes. Despite examples of successful integrated care systems, evidence for consistent and reproducible benefits remains elusive. This review identified four perspectives on integrated care: patients’ perspectives, organizational strategies and policies, conceptual models, and theoretical and critical analysis.