Advancing integrated care and its evaluation by means of a universal typology

Health systems around the globe implement integrated care interventions to address the Triple Aim of simultaneously improving population health, patient experiences and cost-efficiency. However, the underlying definitions and conceptualisations of integrated care often differ considerably, which makes uniform measurement and comparison difficult. Rather than agreeing on one definition of integrated care, we argue that a universal typology of integrated care interventions should be developed to enable the comparison of interventions that are based on different understandings of integrated care. This universal typology should combine rankable and intangible components with unrankable and tangible sub-components, and be conceptually sound and flexible. The content of the typology should be developed by an international consortium of relevant stakeholders.