Public Health Triangulation to inform decision-making in Belgium

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Services Research
• Healthcare Quality Improvement

Background:

• Ambulatory care quality is crucial for patient outcomes.
• Complex interventions require robust evaluation methods.
• The Belgian care trajectory program aimed to improve ambulatory care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of the nation-wide ambulatory care complex intervention (care trajectory program) on quality of care in Belgium.
• To demonstrate the utility of the three-step public health triangulation method for evaluating healthcare interventions.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a three-step public health triangulation method.
• Integrated data from four diverse sources: national reimbursement database, electronic patient records, general practitioner sentinel network, and a dedicated registry.
• Involved expert and stakeholder consensus on findings.

Main Results:

• Key findings regarding the impact of the care trajectory program were identified.
• The triangulation method proved effective in synthesizing evidence from multiple data streams.
• The study generated actionable recommendations for policy and practice.

Conclusions:

• The care trajectory program demonstrated measurable impacts on ambulatory care quality in Belgium.
• The public health triangulation method is a valuable tool for evaluating complex healthcare interventions.
• Timely recommendations were provided to inform ongoing decision-making processes.