Teamwork in health care

It is becoming increasingly clear that maintaining and improving the health of the population, and doing so in a financially sustainable manner, requires the coordination of acute medical care with long-term care, and social support services, that is, team-based care. Despite a growing body of evidence on the benefits of team-based care, the health care ecosystem remains "resistant" to a broader implementation of such care models. This resistance is a function of both system-wide and organizational barriers, which result primarily from fragmentation in reimbursement for health care services, regulatory restrictions, and the siloed nature of health professional education. To promote the broader adoption of team-based care models, the health care system must transition to pay for value reimbursement, as well as break down the educational silos and move toward team-based and value-based education of health professionals.