Historically, there has been little coordination across the multiple settings, providers and treatments of care.
In addition, the treatments are often complicated, making it difficult for patients to comply with treatment protocols.
Effective medical care usually requires longer visits to the doctor’s office than is common in acute care.
Moreover, in treating illnesses, the same intervention, whether medical or behavioral, may differ in effectiveness depending on when in the course of the illness the intervention is suggested.
Fragmentation of care is a risk for patients, because frequently multiple conditions coexist.
Necessary interventions can require input from multiple specialists that may not usually work together, and to be effective, they require close, careful coordination.
As a consequence, patients with various conditions can fare poorly in the current acute-care model of care delivery.