Dear Participants of the 10th International Conference of Integrated Care,
I wish you all a warm welcome to the city of Tampere and to the Tampere University Hospital. The Tampere University Hospital is the second largest hospital in Finland. Its mission is to provide specialised health care services for 0.5 million people living in the Tampere Region and advanced tertiary level services for the wider catchment area covering 1.2 million people. The total number of patients exceeds annually 150,000. The current number of employees is 7200 and the total operating revenue is €600 million per year. The organization is owned by 24 municipalities which also pay the major part of all costs.
The Tampere University Hospital is considered to be a forerunner in Finnish health care in terms of finding new innovative ways to meet its responsibilities for its owner municipalities as well as for the other hospital districts. Of several systemic innovations within the University Hospital we like to mention the Laboratory Centre, Coxa Hospital for joint replacement services, Heart Center, Imaging Centre and Mänttä Health District as a center for integrated services. In addition to these business level innovations, we have identified a chain of management system innovations at corporate level that have set the scene for the business level developments.
Primary care is an essential element of any health care delivery system in Finland. Primary care involves a set of services which include preventive care and screening. While primary care addresses common health problems, it is necessary for every individual. At our organization, value-based care delivery units mean, for instance, integrated practice units which we call ‘focus hospitals’ inside the University Hospital. In this context, primary care has an important role of the locus for initial diagnosis and guiding patients to the appropriate focus hospitals. The focus hospitals include the specialties and services necessary during the cycle of care, including those needed to anticipate and to treat common co-occurrences and complications. Good co-operation between primary, secondary and tertiary level health care organizations is elementary to deliver fast track and high level services to patients.
To cope with upcoming tasks in medicine, public health care and financial challenges, we have to be open-minded about new innovative ideas in health care. The Conferences of the International Network of Integrated Care are one of the best forums to all of us to obtain valuable take home messages. I wish all participants a motivating and stimulating exchange of information and ideas during the Conference.