Back to basics: A mediation analysis approach to addressing the fundamental questions of integrated care evaluations

Abstract

Integrated care has risen to the top of the healthcare agenda in many high income countries in response to populations living longer with chronic conditions. The shifting demographics have led to a call for health system redesign with greater emphasis on long term care continuity (Hughes et al., 2020;Nolte & Pitchforth, 2014). Economics research on the topic dates back at least 20 years when the potential impact of horizontal and vertical integration of care was studied prompted by the rise of managed care (Cutler et al.