Care coordination

Why care coordination?

Acute care and ambulance care are both under pressure and something has to be done to manage this pressure. After all, acute care must continue to be able to provide an answer in the future to the increasing, changing and more complex health care demands of patients.

In 2017, Ambulancezorg Nederland developed a vision with the following long-term prospect:

‘In 2025, a patient with an acute health care need will turn to the regional access point for acute care. This access point will be operated by various individual care providers united in a regional acute care network. Where necessary, individual care providers will have waived some autonomy in the interests of the right care for the patient. The patient will be unaware of the underlying structures and arrangements. The patient’s care demand will be the starting point for the acute care coordinator, who will guide the patient as quickly as possible to the right care provider.

The ambulance sector sees care coordination as a possible means of ensuring that the pressure in acute care remains manageable. Care coordination is the key to achieving good care that is both patient-focused and future-proof. It is also a logistical solution to the logistical problem within acute primary healthcare.