Skill-mix innovation in primary and chronic care: mobilizing the health workforce
The Observatory Venice Summer School 2019 is a short, intensive course. It is a week of learning, interacting, studying, debating, and sharing experiences with other policy-makers, planners and professionals to understand, discuss and improve health workforce strategies and policies.
When: 21–27 July 2019
Who: The course is aimed at senior and mid-level policy-makers, civil servants and professionals.
If you are involved in steering health care services or are looking at development, training or the performance of the primary and chronic care health workforce at international, national or regional level – then the Observatory Venice Summer School is for you.
Objectives:
- Understanding definitions of skill-mix innovation and analysing skill-mix trends, drivers and outcomes in countries.
- Reviewing policy and other governance approaches for creating and implementing skill-mix innovation (e.g. regulation, education, payment policies).
- Assessing skill-mix innovation for integrated care (including the hospital interface).
- Preparing for future challenges and trends.
Why skill-mix innovation in primary and chronic care?
Skill-mix innovation is one strategy countries employ when implementing primary and chronic care reforms for health systems performance improvement and sustainability. European countries are committed to strengthening primary care as documented by the declarations of Alma Ata and Astana from 1978 and 2018. They also advance chronic care responding to the demographic changes and the challenging management of complex and costly multi-morbidities. They also seek to unburden the hospital sector from inappropriate use. In this regard skill-mix innovation in the health workforce plays a crucial role strengthening primary and chronic care.
- Strengthening primary and chronic care is one of the key strategies adopted by many European countries to improve health system performance and sustainability.
- One way to support this strategy is to make better use of the current and future health workforce through skill-mix innovation.
- This is particular relevant given the sheer size of the health workforce in Europe and the healthcare expenditure spent on health workers.
- There is also a shift from hospital-based care towards ambulatory care, especially primary and chronic care, for which health workforce issues have not yet received enough attention.
- The demographic challenge applies not only to the patient, but also to an ageing health workforce and a shrinking pool of labour market entrants.
- But ultimately, all health workforce innovations must be evaluated with regards to their contribution to health system performance.
Approach: The six-day course includes formal teaching, but has at its core the experiences of participants in practice. A highly participative approach emphasizes group work that cuts across themes, and so there are participant presentations,
round tables and panel discussions. It mobilizes the latest evidence and a multidisciplinary team of experts with a track record in the analysis, implementation and evaluation of defining, measuring and improving quality of care. Course participants
will also be able to share perspectives with and gain insights from key international organizations including the European Commission, OECD and WHO as well as relevant professional and governmental organizations and to engage in political dialogue
with senior policy-makers. They will be part of the Summer School tradition, which fosters evidence-based policy-making and encourages European health policy debate by raising key issues, sharing learning and building lasting networks.
MODULE A: Definitions of skill-mix innovation and trends that drive them in countries
This module provides the basis in terms of developing an understanding of definitions of skill-mix innovation and analysing key skill-mix trends, drivers and outcomes in countries:
MODULE B: Creating and implementing skill-mix innovation
This module addresses the challenges of developing and upscaling promising pilots or transferring skill-mix innovation from other countries and contexts:
- Implementation frameworks including strategies, political forcefields, barriers and facilitators
- Innovation-labs and innovation strategies
- Planning and forecasting for skill-mix innovation
- (Multi-disciplinary/sectoral) training for skill-mix innovations
- Regulating skill-mix innovation (level and detail of regulatory approaches and implications)
- Financing skill-mix innovation (payment and reimbursement policies, role of financial incentives)
MODULE C: Skill-mix and integrated care
This module deals with selected skill-mix innovation highly relevant to integrated care:
- Coordinating patients, professions, services and sectors
- Developing teams and team work
- Using digital health and skill-mix innovation
- Implementing skill-mix innovation for integrated care for patients with multimorbidity
MODULE D: Bringing it together and future trends
This module discusses the overall implications for healthcare organizations, countries and international organizations for their current and future policy-making:
- How can the various approaches be combined into a national/regional skill-mix strategy for primary and chronic care? Which factors contribute to successful implementation of such strategies?
- What are future trends, key challenges, and policy options towards improving the performance of the primary and chronic health workforce?
- How will demography, migration and mounting pressures on health system sustainability impact the primary and chronic care health workforce?
Accreditation: The Summer School has applied to the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education and it is expected that participation will count towards ongoing professional development in all EU Member
States.
Organization: the Summer School is organized by the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, the Veneto Region of Italy, the European Commission and World Health Organization (WHO).
Faculty: The Summer School will involve a group of expert lecturers and facilitators from international organizations and centres of expertise and will be led by
- Reinhard Busse European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and Berlin University of Technology as Director
- Matthias Wismar European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies as Co-Director
- Claudia B Maier Berlin University of Technology as Co-Director
Preparation:
- The course involves only limited preparation
- All materials will be available in due course at www.theobservatorysummerschool.org.
Other information:
The Summer School involves
- An active social programme to facilitate networking and provide opportunities to enjoy the magnificent setting of Venice
The European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies supports and promotes evidence-based health policy-making through the comprehensive and rigorous analysis of the dynamics of health care systems in Europe and beyond. It is a partnership that includes national governments and other authorities (Austria, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the Veneto Region of Italy and the French National Union of Health Insurance Funds), international organizations (the WHO Regional Office for Europe, European Commission) and academia (the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine).
The Observatory has three hubs and Summer School is organized by its Berlin hub which is hosted by the Berlin University of Technology.
The European Commission is the EU’s executive body. It represents the interests of the European Union as a whole (not the interests of individual countries). The Commission is committed to make Europe a healthier, safer place, where citizens can be confident that their interests are protected. It has been a partner of the European Observatory since 2009 and is promoting and facilitating exchange of best practice, and the preparation of elements for periodic monitoring and evaluation.
The Veneto Region seeks to ensure that empirical evidence and analysis reaches national and regional stakeholders and policy-makers. It is involved in comparing health care systems across EU Member States. The Veneto Region is active in the area of cross-border health care and plays a leading role in the EU in research and policy development. The Veneto Region, which has been a partner of the European Observatory since 2004, is hosting the Summer School because it is committed to providing a European platform for political debate on health matters, linking regional authorities to the EU debate.
The World Health Organization, Division of Health Systems and Public Health aims to assist Member States to design, adopt and implement comprehensive health and health systems policies, strategies and tools in line with the values of solidarity, equity and participation across the broad thematic areas of health systems governance, financing, services delivery and resource generation. The WHO EURO Office hosts the partnership of the Observatory. DSP and the Observatory work in close collaboration in a range of knowledge-brokering activities such as the development of policy briefs and dialogues to support decision making.
For more information and regular updates on the programme and lecturers: www.theobservatorysummerschool.org
