Complex adaptive systems for management of integrated care

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how a complex adaptive systems (CAS) approach can be used to promote the integration of health and social care for the benefit of the user.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is a research review and a conceptual analysis of key issues identified in the growing literature on CAS. An application of the CAS approach to the field of integrated care is presented. The paper identifies crucial issues, notably: bringing together different providers and the place of the user as a co‐producer of care.FindingsThe benefits of the CAS approach to integrated care are distilled. Above all CAS provides managers of health and social care with an alternative mindset. Guiding principles are offered to these managers to facilitate development towards a more integrated system of health and social care. The possibility to benefit from the user's own resources is increased when organizations are viewed from a CAS perspective. CAS promotes emergent ways of working.Practical implicationsThe CAS approach makes possible a significant improvement in relationships between providers and users and managers and providers; a possibility of more productive relationships and better care outcomes, not least in terms of user satisfaction.Originality/valueThe paper shows that CAS literature applied to the health and social care field points the way for managers to rethink the functioning of the field, specifically to go beyond the present dominant but outdated machine model to one which encourages the cooperation of providers and users for better outcomes.