Who we are

Pim Valentijn

The years I initially worked as a healthcare professional educated me in the care issues of the times in which we live. Obstacles to multidisciplinary care like ineffective communication, delay in referrals, and lack of coordinated treatment were daily experiences. Through this everyday reality, I came to realize that teamwork and cooperation are essential to meeting the needs of people with complex diseases. Since this time, I have aspired to better understand how the interplay of patient, provider and organizational factors work and influence the quality of care. My experience has led me to design the Rainbow Model of Integrated Care (RMIC), during my doctoral research. For this model I received the Integrated Care Award from the International Foundation for Integrated Care. As a researcher, my focus is on assessing the added value of integrated delivery models in the interplay of social, primary, secondary and tertiary care. I am constantly searching for a way to translate scientific knowledge into practical tools for care providers, purchasers of care, policymakers and patients.

Fernando Pereira

I have a passion for promoting changes in healthcare that will help the lives of other people. Over more than one decade, I have been able to work and focus on several projects which aimed and achieved that, namely: system redesign, reimbursement redesign, research on value based health care, technology projects, implementation of an interdisciplinary strategy, patient focused projects, development of information and education, among others. I come from the services industry for chronic care, and I am a true believer that changes will only be consistent if seen from a multiple perspective, based on co-creation, and looking into all the levels involved: patients, care providers, policy makers, industry and Academia. Hence, I am true believer of “The Rainbow Model of Integrated Care”, as it facilitates the understanding of the complexity of achieving the Triple Aim in healthcare, at the same time that it makes it possible to approach this complexity on pragmatic ways, facilitating the building of consensus and the co-creation of new ways of working towards a patient centric healthcare system.

Bert Vrijhoef

Looking back on my career up till now, I realize that it centres around integration. It started with my doctoral research on professional integration including the reassignment of tasks between healthcare professionals. Then, I went on to research the integration of healthcare organizations and later the integration of disease-oriented healthcare. At present, I am researching population-based integrated healthcare. You can safely say that I have my fair share of experience in the field of integration. I understand the challenges integrating parties are faced with. My goal is to make these challenges more concrete; to give those involved the insights they need to further develop and connect on all levels, thereby facilitating further integration and eventually a higher level of healthcare.

Claus Biermann

In my career up till now, I have spent 25 years focusing on the creation, provision and evaluation of value for patients. While working as a medical professional and public health expert, I developed and validated quality of life questionnaires. Later on, during my time within the healthcare industry, many economic healthcare models were being developed in terms of outcome research. These integrated, population-focused models were theoretically discussed at the various stages in the disease care cycle, but not practically implemented in daily practice. Therefore, I developed corporate and national strategies for integrated healthcare and a new value-based healthcare model. I strongly believe that the ‘The Rainbow Model of Integrated Care’ delivers coherent multiple-perspective insights into value creation through the integration of care. Without doubt, it can be implemented successfully, not only by taking healthcare payers, providers, medical technology and patients into account, but also by establishing an economically viable and patient-centred healthcare system. I look forward to working together on improving people’s lives around the world.