Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Challenges and opportunities for integration in health systems: an Australian perspective

Challenges and opportunities for integration in health systems: an Australian perspective Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute an Australian perspective to the debate on health system integration by identifying some key Australian challenges to integration, policy responses to enhance integration and potential insights from these for international policy makers, researchers and practitioners. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on the systems theory concept of entropy, the authors contend that there exist factors that contribute to system fragmentation. Whilst policy responses to these challenges are contextual, there are generalisable features worth exploring internationally. Findings – The authors suggest that recognition of inherent system‐based barriers is an important initial stage in moving towards integration. Whilst process and people factors are important contributors to integration, the political will to move in this direction is a necessary dynamic to energise the system through appropriate funding, incentives and governance structures. Originality/value – The paper provides a fresh Australian perspective to the international discourse on barriers and opportunities to enhance health system integration. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Integrated Care Emerald Publishing

Challenges and opportunities for integration in health systems: an Australian perspective

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/challenges-and-opportunities-for-integration-in-health-systems-an-vU5Oq9wYsJ

References (60)

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
1476-9018
DOI
10.1108/JICA-09-2013-0037
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute an Australian perspective to the debate on health system integration by identifying some key Australian challenges to integration, policy responses to enhance integration and potential insights from these for international policy makers, researchers and practitioners. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on the systems theory concept of entropy, the authors contend that there exist factors that contribute to system fragmentation. Whilst policy responses to these challenges are contextual, there are generalisable features worth exploring internationally. Findings – The authors suggest that recognition of inherent system‐based barriers is an important initial stage in moving towards integration. Whilst process and people factors are important contributors to integration, the political will to move in this direction is a necessary dynamic to energise the system through appropriate funding, incentives and governance structures. Originality/value – The paper provides a fresh Australian perspective to the international discourse on barriers and opportunities to enhance health system integration.

Journal

Journal of Integrated CareEmerald Publishing

Published: Nov 29, 2013

Keywords: Australia; Systems theory; Health policy; Integrated care; Barriers to integration; Health system integration

There are no references for this article.