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Regional planning implementation and its impact on integration of a mental health care network
Author(s) -
Fleury Marie Josée,
Mercier Céline,
Denis JeanLouis
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
the international journal of health planning and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1099-1751
pISSN - 0749-6753
DOI - 10.1002/hpm.684
Subject(s) - plan (archaeology) , process (computing) , mental health , process management , business , service (business) , mental health service , health care , system integration , knowledge management , operations management , economic growth , computer science , medicine , marketing , engineering , geography , economics , archaeology , psychiatry , operating system
This article questions the effectiveness of a managerial tool in changing a health‐care system. The process of implementing regional planning and its impact on creating integrated service networks is examined, using a case study and a multi‐dimensional analytic model. This model highlights the influence of contextual, structural, cultural and dynamic factors on forming networks. The regional planning developed in the province of Québec (Canada), aimed at a major transformation of the mental health‐care system. In each district, organizations working with people who have serious mental disorders were mobilized to plan and implement a more coordinated, continuous and diversified supply of services, under the direction of a regional health body. This study outlines the limitations of regional planning as a tactic for transforming the system. It recommends instead developing more diversified integration strategies to further the process of forming integrated service networks within a complex system. In conclusion, a brief discussion deals with the difficulties related to the study of systemic change implementation. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.