Abstract

In Chile, 70% of the population aged 15 years and over lives with multimorbidity, that is, with the presence of two or more chronic conditions simultaneously. The classic approach to chronicity by programs in primary health care, with a focus on the disease, is expressed in fragmented care, ineffective and far removed from the principles of person-centeredness, comprehensiveness and continuity of care promoted by the Comprehensive Family and Community Health Care Model (MAIS). The People-Centered Integrated Care Strategy for the Promotion, Prevention and Management of Chronicity in the Context of Multimorbidity (ECICEP) is a response to this problem. Chronic multimorbidity represents a major challenge in the redesign from fragmented care to comprehensive person-centered care. It implies a process of change management, in which it is necessary to raise awareness of the urgency and sense of change, stratify the population according to risk, train health teams, reorganize administrative (scheduling, clinical records) and clinical processes (admission and comprehensive control, consensual care plans, care management, remote follow-up, self-management), as well as promoting leadership and accompaniment of change, networking and intersectoral coordination. This process requires political will, with a sense of urgency of change and gradualness, so that its installation is efficient and respectful. For this reason, the process begins with highly complex patients, who are at the greatest risk of avoidable hospitalizations and other complications.