Making sense of integrated care systems

Title: Making sense of integrated care systems, integrated care partnerships and accountable care organisations in the NHS in England

A policy briefing is available for LKS staff to share in their organisations.  Produced by the JET Library at Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.  Feel free to reproduce it (with acknowledgement).

What does this mean for libraries? 

• Share this resource with colleagues who are involved in the creation of integrated care systems, integrated care partnerships, accountable care systems and accountable care organisations.
• There may be an opportunity to deliver evidence and knowledge to managers, commissioners and transformation teams as health care services undergo this change.
• As organisational boundaries blur and take a ‘whole population’ approach, LKS may be required to adapt their service delivery models accordingly.
• If healthcare moves away from a competitive structure and towards a collaborative one, there will be many opportunities relating to knowledge management that could support the sharing and dissemination of good practice, innovation and organisational knowledge.
• LKS will have to consider how the negotiation and procurement of resources needs to adapt to reflect the changes in organisational structures.
• There is a clear role for technology in supporting the emergence of integrated care systems and Accountable Care Organisations that presents an opportunity for digitally enabled LKS.

Source: King’s Fund

Link to main document 

Date of publication: February 2018

Summary of driver:  Crucially, this document indicates that the first wave of 10 “shadow accountable care systems” being supported by NHS England have been renamed Integrated Care Systems. This name describes more accurately the work being carried out. The long read outlines that integrated care is being tackled differently in different places and a variety of terms are being used. For the purpose of this document, the following are defined as being the main 3 approaches to integrated care:

• Integrated care systems (ICSs)
• Integrated care partnerships (ICPs)
• Accountable care organisations (ACOs)

The document also outlines the new care models, provides an update on the 10 integrated care systems, discusses the controversy around ACOs and privatisation, future developments and concludes by providing support for the approach.

Tagged: Accountable Care Organisation, Accountable Care Systems, ACOs, ICPs, Integrated care