Interprofessional Collaborative Practice Models in Chronic Disease Management

Abstract

Interprofessional collaboration in health has become essential to providing high-quality care, decreased costs, and improved outcomes. Patient-centered care requires synthesis of all the components of primary and specialty medicine to address patient needs. For individuals living with chronic diseases, this model is even more critical to obtain better health outcomes. Studies have shown shown that oral health and systemic disease are correlated as it relates to disease development and progression. Thus, inclusion of oral health in many of the existing and new collaborative models could result in better management of chronic illnesses and improve overall health outcomes.

Keywords: Chronic disease; Cooperative behavior; Health care reform; Interprofessional relations; Mouth disease; Oral health; Patient-centered care; Primary health care.