The Impact of Social Networks in Developing and Managing Chronic Care Models

The aim of this chapter is to monitor the impact of interrelations in the development of an efficient and proactive system of chronic care management by tools of Social Network Analysis (SNA). The basic motivation of this work resides in observing the complexity of the healthcare practice, embedded within an evolving framework with epidemiological changes, population ageing, and chronic diseases ruling on acute cases. Focusing on a population benchmark of patients affected by chronic degenerative disease, we provide evidence of how SNA can help to understand the dynamics of mutual relationships between the network of home-physicians and the other entities within the National Health System, and to suggest corrective interventions to improve the overall quality of the provided service.