What is a model of care?
A model of care is a conceptualization and operationalization of how services are delivered, including the processes of care, organization of providers and management of services, supported by the identification of roles and responsibilities of different platforms and providers along the pathways of care.
The components of a model of care can vary from one setting to another, but usually comprise:
Service package developed and meets a criteria
Roles and functions of service delivery platforms and settings defined
System to promote first contact through regular provider
Protocols for patient transfer, referral and counter-referral
Care pathways for tracer conditions
Management capability and leadership
Multidisciplinary team-based organization
Supportive supervision in place
Facility budget and financial management information system (FMIS) are maintained
Empanelment system exists
Linkages with community-based and social services
Community engagement in service organization and management
Proactive population outreach
Self-management and health literacy in primary care
Governance
Financing
Resources (Health workforce, Physical infrastructure, Medicines and other health products)
Health information and digital technologies for health
Systems for improving quality
Resilience of health factifies and services.
Operational framework for primary health care
There is high-level commitment to strengthen primary health care (PHC) in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and the family practice-based model of care has been implemented to varying degrees in several countries of the Region. However, different models of care are needed for different contexts. Opportunities have been missed in identifying the roles, functions and linkages between service delivery platforms, community engagement is ad hoc and lacks sustained mechanisms for social accountability. Although more recently there has been greater attention towards multisectoral action and policy, regular engagement between health and other social sectors is often lacking. Increasingly, countries are focusing on PHC-oriented models of care to progress towards universal health coverage.
Related links
Global scoping review
Models of care strategic paper