The JADECARE Policy Board was established in 2021 to further support successful design and implementation of local Good Practices in Next Adopters’ sites from the focus of sustainability; to further reinforce capacities of National and/or regional care authorities in order to organize and deliver digitally-enabled integrated person centred care based on lessons learnt, including integration in policies; and to co-create EU added value of the JADECARE Joint Action.
The Policy Board brings together representatives of different National health authorities and other institutions which were recognised by Next Adopters as relevant in bridging the gap between the local pilot implementation settings and their regional/national policy levels. This approach helps to develop solutions for policymaker’s decision-making, based on sound evidence from JADECARE and on constructive exchange of information among the Policy Board members.
Currently, members from 19 European countries are participating in the Policy Board, with representatives of the European Patient Forum (EPF), DG SANTE and HaDEA acting as observers.
OBJECTIVES
The Policy Board has two main advisory roles:
- Alignment of Local Good Practices to national, regional and/ or local policies, strategies, plans and/or program, such as the broader context of legal framework, potential political/ policy support, funding stability, strategic partnerships and strategic planning and to national, regional and/or local leadership;
- Identifying and building up potential EU added value of JADECARE such as implementing EU legislation, achieving economies of scale, promoting best practice, benchmarking for decision making, considering cross-border issues, enabling (or supporting) movement of people and/or networking.
To provide meaningful support in terms of implementation, the Policy Board members from countries with partners involved as implementers were proposed by the Next Adopter team themselves, are therefore included in their local networks or even act as members of their local implementation teams. On the other hand, Policy Board members from countries that do not participate in JADECARE as Next Adopters are providing valuable experiences and support from the perspective of digitally-enabled integrated and person-centred care. Additionally, they might use the knowledge and results developed in JADECARE from which their respective healthcare systems can benefit (as is the focus of the Second Policy board meeting – see below).
THE ROLE AND RESULTS OF THE JADECARE POLICY BOARD MEETINGS AND POLICY DIALOGUES
Besides being active in their local networks with Next Adopters by following and supporting the implementation process and strengthening the practice sustainability potential, all Policy Board members are participating at annual (overall three) Policy Board meetings over the project duration (2021, 2022 and 2023) organised by the NIJZ and AGENAS. The meetings are dedicated to showcase and discuss concrete experiences during each stage of the implementation process with a focus on practice sustainability, experiences with similar practices outside JADECARE and the impact this Joint Action has on partner countries that are not directly involved as implementers but are using the results to further the capacity of their local healthcare systems in the field of integrated care.
Separate to the meetings are Policy Dialogues, structured and moderated discussions between Policy Board members only, with an aim to develop concrete recommendations, lessons learnt and steps to reinforce the capacity of health authorities to successfully address the health system transformation, in particular the transition to digitally-enabled, integrated, person-centred care, and to co-create EU added value.
The first Policy Board meeting and Policy Dialogue results, November 4th 2021
The first annual meeting of the JADECARE Policy Board with a Policy Dialogue was convened on November 4th 2021, reflecting on core elements of sustainability which are important to support context-adapted implementation of good practices as well as their integration into national policies.
The main aims of the meeting were to outline the current work, objectives and expectations in JADECARE, to showcase the concrete examples of sustainability planning process in Next Adopter practices and practices outside JADECARE related to the field, and to present the participating Policy Board members.
The examples indicated, that important first steps have already been made in assuring the sustainability of Next Adopters’ practices by establishing valuable connections with the respective policy makers, linking good practices to the wider regional/national policies and strategies relevant to integrated care and nurturing the culture of collaboration among a wide variety of stakeholders.
The meeting was followed by Policy Dialogue with the aim to reinforce the capacity of health authorities to successfully address the health system transformation, in particular the transition to digitally-enabled, integrated, person-centred care with particular interest to “Capacity building for sustainability: learning from original good practices and champions among Next Adopters in JADECARE”.
The Policy Dialogue resulted in the identification of key principles and recommended steps (summarized in the box below) in sustainability planning process of Next Adopters that will help to inform their Sustainability strategy and Sustainability action plan development prior to conclusion of this Joint Action.
Recommendations and key principles to assure sustainability of JADECARE good practices
The presented key principles and recommended steps are targeted primarily to Next Adopters (and in the second step to potentially relevant stakeholders) to support the practice sustainability, follow and expand the JADECARE sustainability framework, in which policy framework, sustainability ownership and culture of collaboration were identified as the three core elements of sustainability.
In order to facilitate sustainability of local good practices, JADECARE Policy Board proposed to operate at several different levels, that includes engagement of Next Adopters, Policy Board members and JADECARE consortium as a whole:
POLICY ENVIRONMENT
- Exploration of funding opportunities: it is important for Next Adopters and the relevant policy level representatives to engage in the local good practices design, implementation and monitoring in order to link the practice to the country’s and/or broader relevant funding opportunities. Thus, practices should be aligned with the national strategies, policies and financing schemes. Alternatively, Next Adopters can benefit from tools and mechanisms provided by the EU Commission (e.g. EU4Health Programme, Horizon Europe), which enables them to take further the innovations developed in this Joint Action.
- Showcasing strong evidence: Next Adopters should be transparent in communicating with policy makers about the progress of their practice development and implementation, presenting and thus communicating results and impacts of the intervention. Next Adopters can also identify the gaps in relevant national strategies that their practices address. These are key drivers to gather support and inform policy change.
- Policy dialogues at the local/regional/national level: expanding the previous recommendation, policy makers can be practically engaged through organisation of local, regional and/or national policy dialogues producing clear outcomes. This can help to build shared sustainability ownership and to nurture culture of collaboration.
SUSTAINABILITY OWNERSHIP
- Building a co-creation approach: to create a sense of shared ownership, the practices should engage a wide variety of stakeholders, including the users of the practices. Their engagement builds a better understanding of the context where the practice is being implemented and its alignment to the local needs, priorities and resources. The co-creation approach includes active engagement of patients and citizens as partners in developing frameworks and solutions tailored to their needs.
- Defining and understanding the levels of ownership: the implemented practices can be complex and many actors can be responsible for its continuity. Sustainability ownership (e.g. technical, scientific, human/social, financial, etc.) should be defined at organisational, local, regional and national level, negotiated with the policy makers, as well as with the other ownership-stakeholders, and subsequently aligned with national strategies, governance models, financial flows and incentives. The ownership should be adaptable as practices evolve and change over time.
CULTURE OF COLLABORATION
- Shared values and vision: Next Adopters and their networks should strive to identify/establish shared values and a common vision through community engagement. Key stakeholders should openly discuss their motivations, non-negotiables and expectations.
- Learning from past experiences: as JADECARE Consortium we should communicate with people who have experiences from similar Joint Actions and bring their knowledge into JADECARE’s work with Next Adopters.
- Creating a common language: in Next Adopter settings numerous stakeholders are involved in the practice development and implementation or are being affected by it. It is important to communicate clear and simple messages to which all can relate.
- Training, education and capacity building: within JADECARE we might also develop visual materials (e.g. videos) that could present the JADECARE results and be used to communicate with wider audience, including the policy makers of participating Member States.
- “Culture eats strategy for breakfast every day”: It is important both at the level of JADECARE consortium as well as at the level of Next Adopter sites to be attentive to the contextual and cultural specifics, understanding the local readiness for change and building mutual trust. Indeed, “change happens at the speed of trust”.