Towards a sustainable health system in the Netherlands: strategies to improve cross-sector collaboration and community engagement

Abstract

In the Netherlands, the concept of population health management PHM is increasingly embraced to realize a sustainable and more integrated provision of prevention, health and social care for the population. Adding to this, a new playing field between municipalities, health care professionals, insurers and citizens is introduced by the transition towards a more decentralized organization of health and social services. This requires cross-sector collaboration between all actors, such as health care providers, citizens, insurers and municipalities on a local/regional level. Over the past years, a number of initiatives based on regional cross-sector collaboration have been introduced. In this development, stakeholders face the difficult challenge of developing strategies that will encourage the cross-sector collaboration. Furthermore, although community engagement is seen as key to achieving citizen-centered and cross-sectoral collaborative healthcare systems, many initiatives are still searching for effective ways to engage citizens in the shaping of healthcare services and policies. Aim: In this workshop we aim to present the development of PHM in the Netherlands over a four year period as well as the strategies used to encourage cross-sector collaboration. We will present the Collaborative Adaptive Health Network CAHN framework, which provides insight in the key elements to achieve cross-sectorial collaboration: social forces, resources, finance, relations, regulations, market, leadership, accountability and community engagement. We will show, based on these key elements, strategies to improve cross-sector collaboration, the outcomes of these strategies and the contextual factors and mechanisms that explain how and why these outcomes can be achieved. We will focus on how to successfully engage communities in such strategies and give insight in how stakeholders’ strategies are related to their expectations and the underlying values and assumptions. Format: During the session, we briefly present the development of PHM and the CAHN framework. We will share our experiences of applying the CAHN framework, using concrete examples and results from PHM initiatives and highlight different strategies for cross sector collaboration and community engagement. In an interactive manner, common lessons learned will be identified and discussed with the audience. Target Audience: This workshop targets all stakeholders involved or interested in PHM and cross sectoral collaboration including community engagement. Sharing of your own experiences in the open discussion is an integral part of this session. Learnings / Take away: After this session, participants will: 1. have insight in PHM development in the Netherlands; 2. Have insight in the CAHN framework and how this framework will guide PHM initiatives towards a more nuanced understanding of how and why specific strategies contribute to cross-sector collaboration and subsequently to sustainable and integrated health care systems; 3. have insight into expectations of stakeholders participating in collaborative networks and the underlying visual and invisible conditions that influence cross-sector collaborative strategies in achieving cross-sector collaboration. 4. Have insight in guiding principles underlying successful community engagement.