ABSTRACT
Health care systems worldwide face challenges as demands increase, including a growing elderly population, often requiring care by various providers in multiple settings. Promoting health care integration (that is, coordination of care between and within various levels of the health care delivery system) has long been a concern and an ongoing challenge (WHO, 2008). Various strategies have been suggested to overcome and meet these challenges, taking into account various perspectives including the patients and next of kin, or system properties such as quality, efficiency, correct utilisation of resources or cost-effectiveness (Grone and Garcia-Barbero, 2001).
