The workshop starts with short presentations of the VOPD/iHAC Policy Brief, experience from 45 iHAC Model Regions and projects and presentation of two local examples from South Karelia, Finland and Bornholm Denmark.

During the workshop the next steps will be discussed based on Key Messages presented in the Policy Breif “Governance – for successful integrated healthcare and care with distance spanning solutions”;

• By focusing on the three governance components – how to facilitate communication and knowledge sharing; how to establish shared goals, and how to establish and/or increase trust – local and regional authorities can improve the implementation and integration of distance spanning solutions.
• Governance is necessary but not sufficient alone – the context-specific factors such as organizational readiness and leadership as well as other organizational characteristics must be taken into account as the starting point and also along the way. There can be major variation according to size and structure of the locations even within one country. A key factor is capacity to implement change; especially for this, organizational readiness and strong leadership are needed.
• Other critical factors also play an essential role. These comprise diverse factors such as inclusivity and accessibility, monitoring and evaluation, and – to an increasing degree – sustainability and environmental impacts. The relation of those factors to each of the core components of governance should be considered.
• Governance, its core components and organizational readiness and leadership resonate with the key messages of the entire iHAC project. It is necessary to:
• embrace the digital – show visionary, collaborative leadership to integrate healthcare and care services
• network, come together and collaborate, and identify how integrated healthcare and care, supported by distance spanning solutions, delivers to the global agendas
• understand that the time to act is now (well, it was actually yesterday).