Towards logic models for the analysis and evaluation of the criticalities in chronic patients' care paths

Purpose -The aim of the present research has been to verify how the introduction of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can have positive implications in a territorial context, where the Healthcare Organizations (HCOs) are characterized by limited organizational independence and lack of individual statutory autonomy, with a following limited level of integration between the involved parties (healthcare operators, managers, and patients) and an uneven management of data and of information-sharing. Design/methodology/approach- An investigation based upon the combining of quantitative and qualitative methods for information-gathering and data-analysis was conducted. A case study approach was implemented with the aim of enhancing General Practitioners’ (GPs’) performance levels through an evaluation monitoring and by controlling Care Paths dynamics. Findings - The realization of the Target Care Path for chronic–degenerative pathologies in the Local Health Trust “Naples 4” in Campania Region (Italy), made possible to get to the identification of a suitable framework able to modifying, through the implementation of ICT tools, the communications dynamics and the interaction/integration for those actors involved in a patient’s care path; the main implications deal with the creation of an information structure for an effective circulation and exchange of specific, individual and complete clinical data, promoting the figure of the General Practitioner as the process owner of care path (CP). Originality/value - Healthcare markets are currently experiencing an acceleration of technological developments; the study tried to show how the appropriate adoption of new technologies can lead to improvements for the quality of care, managing at the same time the consequent rising costs in the sector.