Can Integrated Care Help in Meeting the Challenges Posed on Our Health Care Systems by COVID-19? Some Preliminary Lessons Learned from the European VIGOUR Project

Sonja Lindner; Lutz Kubitschke; Christos Lionis; Marilena Anastasaki; Ursula Kirchmayer; Simona Giacomini; Vincenzo De Luca; Guido Iaccarino; Maddalena Illario; Antonio Maddalena; Antonio Maritati; Diego Conforti; Isabella Roba; Daniele Musian; Antonio Cano; Monica Granell; Ana M Carriazo; Carmen M Lama; Susana Rodríguez; Agnieszka Guligowska; Tomasz Kostka; Annemieke Konijnendijk; Maria Vitullo; Alejandro García-Rudolph; Javier Solana Sánchez; Marcello Maggio; Giuseppe Liotta; Chariklia Tziraki; Regina Roller-Wirnsberger; VIGOUR consortium

doi:10.5334/ijic.5596

Can Integrated Care Help in Meeting the Challenges Posed on Our Health Care Systems by COVID-19? Some Preliminary Lessons Learned from the European VIGOUR Project

Int J Integr Care. 2020 Oct 19;20(4):4. doi: 10.5334/ijic.5596.

Authors

Sonja Lindner¹, Lutz Kubitschke², Christos Lionis³, Marilena Anastasaki³, Ursula Kirchmayer⁴, Simona Giacomini⁵, Vincenzo De Luca⁶, Guido Iaccarino⁷, Maddalena Illario⁸, Antonio Maddalena⁹, Antonio Maritati¹⁰, Diego Conforti¹¹, Isabella Roba¹², Daniele Musian¹², Antonio Cano¹³, Monica Granell¹⁴, Ana M Carriazo¹⁵, Carmen M Lama¹⁵, Susana Rodríguez¹⁵, Agnieszka Guligowska¹⁶, Tomasz Kostka¹⁶, Annemieke Konijnendijk¹⁷, Maria Vitullo¹⁸, Alejandro García-Rudolph^{19

20

21}, Javier Solana Sánchez^{19

20

21}, Marcello Maggio²², Giuseppe Liotta²³, Chariklia Tziraki¹, Regina Roller-Wirnsberger³; VIGOUR consortium

Affiliations

¹ Medical University of Graz, Department of Internal Medicine, Graz, AT.
² Empirica GmbH, Bonn, DE.
³ Clinic of Social and Family Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Crete, GR.
⁴ Department of Epidemiology ASL Roma 1, Lazio Regional Health Service, IT.
⁵ ASL Viterbo, Lazio Regional Health Service, IT.
⁶ Research and Development Unit, Federico II University Hospital, Naples, IT.
⁷ Department of Advanced Biomedical Sciences, Federico II University and Hospital, Naples, IT.
⁸ Campania Region Health Innovation Unit, and Federico II University Department of Public Health, Naples, IT.
⁹ Local Health Agency Naples 1 Department for Home Care Services, Naples, IT.
¹⁰ ProMIS Coordination, Health Committee and Social & Health Relations Organization Unit Social and Health Area, Veneto Region, IT.
¹¹ Department of Health and Social Policies, Autonomous Province of Trento, IT.
¹² ALISA Liguria Region, Genoa, IT.
¹³ Department of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology - INCLIVA, University of Valencia, Valencia, ES.
¹⁴ Department of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Valencia, Valencia, ES.
¹⁵ Regional Ministry of Health and Families of Andalusia, Seville, ES.
¹⁶ Department of Geriatrics, Healthy Ageing Research Centre, Medical University of Lodz, PL.
¹⁷ University of Twente, Department of Biomedical Signals and Systems, Enschede, NL.
¹⁸ Santobono-Pausilipon Hospital, Naples, IT.
¹⁹ Department of Research and Innovation, Institut Guttmann, Institut Universitari de Neurorehabilitació adscrit a la UAB, Badalona, Barcelona, ES.
²⁰ Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), ES.
²¹ Fundació Institut d'Investigació en Ciències de la Salut Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona, Barcelona, ES.
²² University of Parma, Department of Medicine and Surgery, IT.
²³ University of Rome Tor Vergata, Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, Rome, IT.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic puts health and care systems under pressure globally. This current paper highlights challenges arising in the care for older and vulnerable populations in this context and reflects upon possible perspectives for different systems making use of nested integrated care approaches adapted during the work of the EU-funded project VIGOUR ("Evidence based Guidance to Scale-up Integrated Care in Europe", funded by the European Union's Health Programme 2014-2020 under Grant Agreement Number 826640).

Keywords: COVID-19; health care; integrated care; pandemic management; social care; vulnerable patients.

Grants and funding

Authors acknowledge the continuous support and contribution of partners of the EU-funded VIGOUR project (Grant Agreement Number 826640).