Does the integration of health services management improve clinical coordination? Experience in Catalonia

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the experience and perception of clinical coordination across care levels and doctor's organizational and interactional related factors, according to the type of management integration of the healthcare services of the area, in Catalonia. Method: Cross-sectional study based on an online survey by self-administration of the questionnaire COORDENA-CAT. Data collection: October–December 2017. Study population: primary and secondary care (acute and long-term care) doctors of the public Catalan health system. Sample: 3308 doctors. Outcome variables: experience and perception of clinical coordination, knowledge and use of coordination mechanisms and organizational and interactional factors; explanatory variables: area according to type of management (integrated, semi-integrated, non-integrated), socio-demographic, employment characteristics and attitude toward work. Descriptive analysis by type of area and multivariate analysis by robust Poisson regression. Results: Better clinical coordination was observed in integrated areas compared to those semi-integrated, mainly in relation to information transfer, adequate follow-up and perception of coordination in the area. No differences were found between integrated and non-integrated areas in the clinical coordination experience, although there were differences in perception and some related factors. There are common problems across areas, such as accessibility to secondary care. Conclusions: Few differences were found between integrated and non-integrated areas, revealing that management integration may facilitate clinical coordination but is not enough. Differences with semi-integrated areas indicate the need to promote cooperation formulas between all the providers of the territory, with common objectives and coordination mechanisms, in order to avoid inequalities in quality of care.