Patients with multimorbidity have complex health needs but, due to the current traditional disease-oriented approach, they face a highly fragmented form of care that leads to inefficient, ineffective, and possibly harmful clinical interventions. There is limited evidence on available integrated and multidimensional care pathways for multimorbid patients. An expert consensus meeting was held to develop a framework for care of multimorbid patients that can be applied across Europe, within a project funded by the European Union; the Joint Action on Chronic Diseases and Promoting Healthy Ageing across the Life Cycle (JA-CHRODIS). The experts included a diverse group representing care providers and patients, and included general practitioners, family medicine physicians, neurologists, geriatricians, internists, cardiologists, endocrinologists, diabetologists, epidemiologists, psychologists, and representatives from patient organizations. Sixteen components across five domains were identified (Delivery of Care; Decision Support; Self Management Support; Information Systems and Technology; and Social and Community Resources). The description and aim of each component are described in these guidelines, along with a summary of key characteristics and relevance to multimorbid patients. Due to the lack of evidence-based recommendations specific to multimorbid patients, this care model needs to be assessed and validated in different European settings to examine specifically how multimorbid patients will benefit from this care model, and whether certain components have more importance than others.

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Considering the growing challenges associated with aging in all European countries, there is an urgent need to build a robust international comparative evidence base that can inform the development of policies to target improved palliative care in care homes. By describing this research protocol, we hope to inform international research in care homes on how to perform representative end-of-life care research in these settings and better understand which systems are associated with better outcomes.

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