A business process model for integrated home care

Currently, Integrated Home Care (IHC) represents a good alternative for providing health and social care but, even if several research efforts have been made, the complexity of the domain implies further investigation. In particular, the lack of precision in defining activities, actors involved and goals have led some European countries including Italy to have low levels of coordination and integration of care delivery. In order to tackle this issue, this paper presents an analysis on existing IHC processes in Italy and, starting from the results of such an analysis, proposes an IHC process model represented by using the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN). The choice of BPMN relies on its flexibility that makes it preferable if compared to other similar languages. Indeed, it offers two levels of representation: the graphical notation, that makes it simple to understand, and modeling constructs to represent the message-based interactions and the event-based decisions, and then relevant features such as dynamics. Additionally, such a modeling allows early detection and resolution of critical issues. This work can be an essential previous step for further analysis and improvements of IHC processes, including the adoption of ICT.