Information technologies care for patient engagement in integrated: Lessons from international comparison for the CORTEXS-project

A key characteristic of integrated care for chronic diseases concerns the integration of supporting systems1. However, research demonstrates that this integration is staying behind within the Flemish context2. As a result, patient care might be hampered due to the existence of numerous electronic and paper-based systems that hold patient information. Even less attention is given to role of patients in digitally managing their personal health information. In our contribution to the symposium “Organizing Integration of Care – Results from Project Cortexs”, we present the results of our qualitative inquiry into the use of patient-centered information technology (IT) within four international integrated care examples. More specifically, we focus on the relationship between IT and patients’ engagement in self-management. The results highlight that most of the advancements focus on the integration of information systems in order to create a shared electronic health record. This is achieved either by building a new IT-system or by building a clinical portal that links different IT-systems. Health care professionals generally have a positive attitude towards this development as it facilitates the sharing of information and coordination of care processes. However, the role of patients in actively managing their personal information and their health is less elaborated upon. For example, only in one case example, patients are actively stimulated to use the information technologies provided by the network. In the present contribution, we compare the different IT-designs and discuss its implications for the development of a patient-centered IT-agenda. References : 1- van der Klauw D, Molema H, Grooten L, Vrijhoef H. Identification of mechanisms enabling integrated care for patients with chronic diseases: a literature review. International Journal of Integrated Care. 2014;14(3). DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/ijic.1127 2- van der Klauw D van der, Mutsaert A, Molema H, Hermans K, Dhondt S, Vrijhoef B. Integratie van zorg in Vlaanderen. Discussienota over een vergelijking van zes Vlaamse cases. [Internet]. CORTEXS. 2016. [cited 15 December 2016]. Available from: http://cortexs.be/Bestanden/IntegratieZorgVlaanderen.pdf