Abstract
Introduction: Due to aging populations with more complex care needs and growing workforce shortages, our health systems are increasingly under pressure. As these challenges are complex multidimensional problems, governments and healthcare providers face challenges in addressing these issues individually. To work towards sustainable solutions for the future, a collaborative regional approach is needed. The national ‘RegioKracht’ (Regional Strength) program in the Netherlands aims to guide and support organizations in this transformation, by facilitating and encouraging regional collaboration among healthcare providers, governments and insurers. The program provides assistance and knowledge (e.g. through strategic advisors and dissemination platforms) to the governance groups of more than 66 regional collaborations in both care for older people and people with disabilities.
The authors of this abstract are part of the team of researchers involved in this program and will be studying the progression in regional collaboration over a period of three years (2024-2026). To examine collaboration and governance, we have developed a questionnaire based on the frequently cited Collaborative Governance Model by Ansell and Gash (2007). Besides the broader scientific implications of the study, the research is primarily aimed at supporting the actors involved in the regional collaboration. In order to do so, the researchers have worked together with strategic advisors policy and decision makers to co-create a practice informed and practical methodology.
Co-design: In this presentation the authors will introduce ‘RegioKracht’ as an example of how qualitative research and lived experience of the actors involved intersect and complement each other in order to catalyse transformation. The presentation will specifically focus on the region Groningen as a case-study, describing the collaboration on regional level and in one regional project in particular: ‘LogeerWonen’. In this project different organisations work together with parents to provide integrated care for children with severe learning disabilities and complex comorbidities.
Target audience: This presentation will be of interest to policy and decision makers seeking to learn more about collaboration and governance on a regional level, and how to improve these. Researchers may also find this presentation relevant, because several theoretical insights and methodological applications will be presented
Results/contribution:
In this presentation we will present:
-An overview of the RegioKracht program's structure and design, explaining its components and interventions,
-The co-designed measurement tools, methods and instruments, based on the Ansell and Gash (2007) model, used in the RegioKracht study,
-Preliminary findings from an initial pilot study in Groningen.
-Learned lessons about researching integrated care in a way that centres experiential expertise and the ingredients that are important to make regional collaboration effective.
Learnings for an international audience: Since many countries face challenges of aging populations, complex care needs, and workforce shortages, effective collaboration is crucial. Furthermore, in both the study of integrated care and the practice of collaboration, experiential expertise is recognised as being of importance. Therefore it is important to keep learning together about how this can inform choices both in methodology and the collaborative process.