Integrated care in Latin America and the Caribbean beyond COVID-19

The speed and scale of the response required by the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how the fragmentation in current health and care systems significantly impairs their ability to respond effectively. The health and long-term care service delivery system is in general compartmentalized. Health services are provided by physicians or medical specialists responsible for inpatient and outpatient care. This care is often separate from primary care and from rehabilitation and home care provided after patients leave hospital, and from long-term care that provides extended care for people with functional dependency, whether in a nursing home or in the community. Long-term care includes services provided by a nurse or therapist or trained caregiver, or a family member/informal caregiver.  The challenges posted by COVID-19 present an opportunity to reset fragmented health and care systems so that they are integrated, driven by people and communities and resilient in the face of future systemic shocks.

In this webinar, Dr Edelweiss Aldasoro from The International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC), will present an overview of integrated care and IFICs recent report “Realising the true value of integrated care: Beyond COVID-19”.  After this presentation practice-based examples that enable better linkage, coordination and integration of care will be examined. First, Fatima Palmeira Bombarda, Health Care Networks Manager at São Paulo State Secretariat of Health’s Health in Action Programme, and Anne Hendry, Senior Associate and Director of IFICs hub in Scotland, will present the experience of integrated care in the development of a Regional Health Care Network across four municipalities (Ubatuba, Caraguatatuba, São Sebastião and Ilhabela) in the Litoral Norte region of Brazil. Finally, Galileo Pérez Hernández, Board member of IFIC, will analyze implications for current and future integrated care projects in Latin American countries using implementation science lens and will discuss its relationship with the health systems resilience concept.