Unlocking information for coordination of care in Australia: a qualitative study of information continuity in four primary health care models.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Coordination of care is considered a key component of patient-centered health care systems, but is rarely defined or operationalised in health care policy. Continuity, an aspect of coordination, is the patient's experience of care over time, and is often described in terms of three dimensions: information, relational and management continuity. With the current health policy focus on both the use of information technology and care coordination, this study aimed to 1) explore how information continuity supports coordination and 2) investigate conditions required to support information continuity.

Methods

Four diverse Australian primary health care initiatives were purposively selected for inclusion in the study. Each has improved coordination as an aim or fundamenta

SUBMITTER: Banfield M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3605301 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature