Care pathways across the primary-hospital care continuum: using the multi-level framework in explaining care...

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Health Services Research
• Interorganizational Collaboration

Background:

• Care pathways are established hospital tools for structured care planning.
• Extending care pathways to primary care aims to boost quality through enhanced care coordination.
• Limited evidence exists on the link between care pathways and care coordination.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate how care pathways support or establish elements of a multi-level framework for care coordination.
• To assess the impact of care pathways on care coordination across the primary-hospital continuum.

Main Methods:

• In-depth analysis of five community projects in Flanders, Belgium.
• Mixed-methods approach including interviews, observations, documentation review, and a focus group.
• Cross-case synthesis to analyze and strengthen findings from multiple cases.

Main Results:

• Care pathway development fostered structures, data monitoring, and information tools.
• Inter-organizational mechanisms positively impacted information exchange and goal alignment.
• Improved role clarity, mutual understanding, and relationship quality among professionals were observed.

Conclusions:

• Care pathways effectively enhance components of care coordination.
• Implementing care pathways across the primary-hospital continuum strengthens inter-professional collaboration and care integration.