[Healthcare profiles: similarities and differences with respect to case and disease management]

In Healthcare systems, to overcome the problem of the fragmented response to the medical needs of patients, new theoretical models and operative approaches have been proposed; the process-based approach is one of the solutions more appreciated. This approach has been adopted in different ways in different healthcare systems: typically the Case management, the Disease management and, in Italy, the Healthcare profiles. These three healthcare models that share in the logic of a process-based approach present similarities and dissimilarities. This article aims to describe the features of Healthcare profiles compared to Case and Disease management, using a comparison scheme which contains items capable to distinguish the different Healthcare models.