Commissioning and contracting for integrated care

Read the final report

Our report describes how clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England have been innovating with two broad models – the prime contract and alliance contract.

It draws on experiences from five geographical areas, covering different population and disease groups (cancer, end-of-life care, musculoskeletal services, mental health rehabilitation, and older people’s services).

• Read the report: Commissioning and contracting for integrated care

What were we doing in this project?

The project had three core objectives:

• describe and extract lessons from innovative approaches to commissioning and contracting
• examine emerging lessons, challenges and enablers around the adoption (both design and procurement) of these models for delivering integrated care
• identify the support needed (at a local and national level) to facilitate further development and overcome identified challenges.

Why were we interested in this project?

Previous work by The King’s Fund has argued for the important role that commissioning and contracting can play in stimulating new models of integrated care. Locally, there have been some efforts to develop such innovations and there is increasing interest across the country.

However, some initiatives to commission and contract for integrated care have encountered a number of barriers. It is vital that commissioners and providers can work together to establish commissioning and contracting arrangements at a local level that enable more integrated delivery of care for patients. We wanted to challenge some of the barriers and myths surrounding commissioning and contracting.

Main contacts for this piece of work

• Rachael Addicott
• Nicola Walsh