Clinical Interventions in Aging (Dec 2018)
Integrated health care systems in Asia: an urgent necessity
Abstract
Tat Yean Tham,1 Thuy Linh Tran,2 Somjit Prueksaritanond,3 Josefina S Isidro,4 Sajita Setia,5 Vicknesh Welluppillai6 1Clinical Affairs Department, Frontier Healthcare Group, Singapore; 2Department of Pharmacy, National University of Singapore, Singapore; 3Department of Community, Occupational and Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Burapha University, Chonburi, Thailand; 4Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines; 5Transform Medical Communications, Wanganui, New Zealand; 6Medical affairs, Pfizer Essential Health CMO Organization, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Abstract: A rapidly aging population along with the increasing burden of patients with chronic conditions in Asia requires efficient health systems with integrated care. Although some efforts to integrate primary care and hospital care in Asia are underway, overall care delivery remains fragmented and diverse, eg, in terms of medical electronic record sharing and availability, patient registries, and empowerment of primary health care providers to handle chronic illnesses. The primary care sector requires more robust and effective initiatives targeted at specific diseases, particularly chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, depression, and dementia. This can be achieved through integrated care – a health care model of collaborative care provision. For successful implementation of integrated care policy, key stakeholders need a thorough understanding of the high-risk patient population and relevant resources to tackle the imminent population demographic shift due to the extremely rapid rate of increase in the aging population in Asia. Keywords: Asia, aging, integrated health care, primary care
