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We are very pleased that the 22nd International Conference on Integrated Care will take place in Odense, Denmark, from 23 – 25 May 2022. The conference is a partnership with Healthcare Denmark in cooperation with Odense University Hospital, Municipality of Odense, Campus Odense and Inspiring Denmark. Denmark is among international frontrunners when it comes to integrated healthcare services.

 A coherent and integrated healthcare system is key to solving the demographic challenges and reduce patient length of stay at hospitals. A high degree of coherence means that Denmark can address newly diagnosed cancers with clinical pathways, which connect hospitals, clinics, GPs and the patients. This has already led to remarkable progress in Danish cancer survival.

A coherent and integrated healthcare system with a high degree of digitalization enables real-time sharing of electronic data and makes it possible to initiate early diagnostics and address chronic diseases in new ways, where the patients are empowered and involved in handling their own disease.

Electronic communication and sharing of information enable municipalities, home care staff and the hospital to support elderly citizens to stay in their own homes as long as possible. As a result, the patients experience fewer admissions and shorter length of stays at hospital, and the risk of frailty, leading to long hospital admissions, is drastically reduced.

The conference will operate as a hybrid event. While we are very excited to be physically together in Odense, the hybrid formal means that people who do not wish to travel next May can join and present at the conference via video link and present their paper digitally, however a delegate fee and registration will still be required.

Abstract Submission

The scientific committee for this conference has been established from international experts who are leading in the field of Integrated Care. They are accepting paper submissions on research, policy or education and specifically related to the Conference Themes and the 9 Pillars of Integrated Care until Friday, 15 October. The full abstract should be limited to 500 words. All accepted abstracts will be published in the International Journal of Integrated Care (Impact factor 5.120) and recordings of presentations and workshops and all digital posters will be connected to the Knowledge Tree.

Each abstract submitter is asked to choose one of the Conference Themes and which of the 9 pillars that their paper is most relevant to, understanding there will be an overlap. This system will enable the programme committee and Special Interest Group leads to group papers together in a way that works best for delegates to navigate the programme and maximize the learning opportunities.

Special consideration is given to papers that can demonstrate active people involvement in either or all of design, implementation and evaluation!

This year we are also introducing a new supplementary submission format specifically for Real-World Experiences or Case Studies. The traditional written abstract option will continue to be available, but now we will also offer the opportunity for individuals to submit a 5-minute video presentation in lieu of a paper submission. This format may be particularly appropriate to projects and programmes that are incorporating an integrated care approach to the design and delivery of their services. Case Studies for this purpose are identified as compelling stories about integrated care practice based on real-world experiences that will be instructive and of interest to other members of the community. The five-minute video should describe your work and the impact it has had on users of the service, paying particular attention to how people and/or communities have been included in the design of the service. The successful ‘authors’ will be incorporated into the programme in the same way as written abstract submissions in the form of an Oral or Digital Poster presentation. The submissions will not be published in the International Journal of Integrated Care but will be included in The IFIC Knowledge Tree post-conference

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Conference Themes

1. Personalised and person-centred health and care
Most countries face a common challenge today; a rise in the number of chronically ill patients combined with limited resources. Integrated care solutions with a focus on the individual’s needs can help combat this challenge. People do not always receive personalised care and one size solutions don’t fit all. It is important that health and care services are co-designed with individuals, families, carers and the wider community.

2. Digitized and digital support of health and care
Digitalisation at its best has the potential to be an important pillar in the support and enabling of integrated health and care. But it can also become a pitfall, highlighting the shortcomings of a fragmented system. It is important that we learn from each other’s successes as well as take some time to reflect on the areas where we can still improve.

3. Innovative collaborations
Innovative collaborations are one of the key factors in achieving integrated care. If we proceed with business as usual, we are not going to evolve. We need to collaborate in new ways and with people and organisations that we do not work with normally. But how do we support and enable these new collaborations? How do we identify the right collaborators and how do we ensure results that benefit a truly integrated system of care?

4. COVID recovery and impact on health and care system
By May 2022 we will all have lived with covid for more than 2 years. And some of us – perhaps all of us – will at some point have felt that we were perhaps living in spite of COVID 19. Hopefully we will have reached a point where we can also start to look back on the pandemic and start to identify and share lessons learned. Here we will start the collective conversation on how we support each other going forward.

Find out more

The 1st North American Conference on Integrated Care in association with the 6th World Congress on Integrated Care will be run as a virtual conference in partnership with the University of Toronto, KPMG Canada, HSPN, and iCOACH from 4 – 7 October 2021. With the overarching theme ‘Co-designing for health and wellbeing with individuals and communities’, the conference will bring together leaders, researchers, clinicians, managers, citizens, patients, and caregivers from around the world, who are engaged in the design and delivery of integrated health and social care. The conference is designed as a space for continued learning and collaboration and as an opportunity to exchange knowledge and grow connections with colleagues internationally.

NACIC2021 is co-designed with patients and caregivers and achieves Patients Included designation.

The strategic advisory and scientific committee for this conference has been established from North American and international experts who are leading in the field of Integrated Care. They are now accepting paper submissions on research, policy, practice or education and specifically relating to the Conference Themes and the 9 Pillars of Integrated Care until Monday, 31 May. The full abstract should be limited to 500 words. All accepted abstracts will be published in the International Journal of Integrated Care and recordings of presentations and workshops and all digital posters will be connected to the Knowledge Tree.

Each abstract submitter is asked to choose one of the Conference Themes and which of the 9 pillars that their paper is most relevant to, understanding there will be overlap. This system will enable the programme committee and Special Interest Group leads to group papers together in a way that works best for delegates to navigate the programme and maximize the learning opportunities.Special consideration is given to papers that can demonstrate active people involvement in either or all of design, implementation and evaluation!

As NACIC2021 is a virtual offering, presenters will be asked to pre-record their content. The conference will make those recordings available to delegates to access in their own time. During the live sessions, successful authors will be asked to reduce the time of their presentation to key points, and sessions will be run interactively hosted by one or two chairs who will lead a discussion with paper presenters for 90 minutes. This is much more enjoyable for the viewer and we hope to encourage more engagement from the audience for presenters by using this format. Workshops will also be designed with the virtual audience in mind and our scientific coordinator will work with workshop leaders to ensure their session is appropriately designed to make the best use of digital technology and provides the best learning experience for attendees. For our digital poster display, we will include dedicated times for digital poster viewing.

Abstract guidelines
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The International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Niamh Lennox-Chhugani as Chief Executive Officer with effect from 22 March 2021. Niamh has been a strong advocate for integrated care since the early 1990s and has 30 years of experience in health and care as a clinician, manager, academic, and advisor. Her work has spanned the public and not-for-profit sectors as well as management consulting.

In welcoming Niamh, Philip Davies, Chair of IFIC said ‘The IFIC Board undertook an extensive search to identify our next CEO. Niamh stood out among a very strong field as offering a compelling blend of leadership skills and technical knowledge of contemporary issues in integrated care. The COVID-19 pandemic is a further reminder of the need for better coordinated and more collaborative approaches to health and social care. The appointment of a new CEO will further strengthen IFIC’s role in leading the global movement for change in pursuit of that goal.’

Dr. Lennox-Chhugani, commenting on her appointment, added, ‘I am hugely excited about all that taking on this role means. There is no doubt in my mind that this is an energising role in an organisation I admire and one that is focused on a cause about which I care deeply. I look forward to bringing my leadership experience to bear in the values-led movement for change that is IFIC. What lies ahead for IFIC is not without its challenges, but the team and Board are so committed to what IFIC stands for, I see only opportunities ahead.’

The International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC) is a not-for-profit educational network whose vision is that people, families, and communities benefit from person-centered integrated care and support to maximise their health, wellbeing, and independence. The goal of the Foundation is to act as the leading voice on and advocate of integrated care through proactive collaboration with its wide range of beneficiaries. By bringing these various perspectives together, IFIC seeks to provide a unique forum for knowledge exchange with the ultimate aim of maximising the health and wellbeing of people and communities while improving the overall effectiveness and sustainability of health and care systems.