Integrated care for older persons who live with complex health and social care requirements: a core set of indicators

What is it about?

Performance measures are an important mediating mechanism that influences the design and delivery of care. Unfortunately, it is still commonly the case that acute care indicators are employed to assess the efficacy of integrated care. This hinders the ability to accurately assess and continuously improve integrated care efforts for priority populations, including older persons who live with complex health and social care requirements. A core set of indicators is needed from which to assess the quality and impact of integrated care on these older persons and care partners. A modified Delphi process was employed to that comprised of the following steps: i) selection of an indicator inventory ii) defining criteria for ranking and achieving consensus, iii) recruiting participants, iv) iterative voting rounds and analysis, and v) selection of a core indicator set. The study produced a core set of 16 indicators of integrated care that pertain to older persons who live with health and social care requirements. The set can be applied by health and social care organizations and systems to assess the quality and impact of integrated care for this population across the continuum of care. The findings are informed by the perspectives of older persons, care partners and healthcare professionals. Future research is needed to test, validate and potentially expand the indicator set.

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