In partnership with ESTRO, the Integrated Care Alliance (ICA) has recently launched the multi-stakeholder digital health roadmap outlining drivers for integrated care.
                                                         
“Integrated care is a concept bringing together inputs, delivery, management and organisation of services related to diagnosis, treatment, care, rehabilitation and health promotion. Integration is a means to improve services in relation to access, quality, user satisfaction and efficiency."  
-World Health Organisation (WHO)
 
Encompassing clinical, social and technical challenges, integrated care requires stronger collaboration. ICA outlines that, building dynamic care models that take into consideration all stakeholders’ objectives can:
 
1)      Help patients and care providers work as coordinated team
2)      Accelerate Clinical Decision making and Decision Support System
3)      Support Personalised and Integrated health and social care
4)      Increase and manage costs more effectively
     
In Europe, many services have been created to help citizens, however, these are separated into different organisational clusters such as health, social care and delivered by institutions independently without wider coordination. The proposal for the European Social Fund plus (ESF +) that merges several existing EU funds, including the EU Health Programme within a single pillar on “investing in people and social cohesion,” is currently being reviewed. Meantime the European Commission’s single digital market initiative underpins that with the help of technical information systems and technologies care can be offered in an integrated way.
 
Models require carefully drafted roadmaps, carried out by sound political leadership to develop national, regional and local communities in the promotion of sustainable health, interoperable technologies and solutions to incentivise lasting impact. The implementation of a multi-stakeholder pathway leads to better collective care and coordination, in compliance with national guidelines and context. Moreover, it emphasises healthy community through increased multi-sector collaboration and stakeholder engagement, calling for policy makers’ close attention to promote coordinated care, prioritising outcome-based cancer care to the best benefits of patients.

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