Table 1 Study objects within the research project and their functions in practice and research
From: Value-based healthcare translated: a complementary view of implementation
Study object | Group members | Role in practice | Rationale for study |
|---|---|---|---|
Project group | Two cooperating project leaders, one care developer, and administrative support | Led the local implementation project, developed material as decision basis, planned and coordinated pilot projects, and led meetings with the steering and reference groups and other stakeholders. | The core of the implementation process, where most of the actual work was done, and information and actual power was concentrated. |
Steering group | Seven members including the head of department, four first-line managers, one operations coordinator at department level, and one quality controller at division level. | Made all strategic decisions, based on the material produced by the projects group and discussions together with the reference group. | Constituted a managerial perspective from within the context and had important power over strategic decisions. |
Reference group | Twelve employees with different professions and from different units within the department, chosen to include as many perspectives as possible. | Gave feedback on decision basis material and discussed questions raised by the project group to help the project and steering groups to make strategic decisions. | Provided important information about the inner context and affected both the content and the process of implementation. |
Internal consultants | This hospital-level unit consisted of 6–10 consultants specialized in e.g. logistics, implementation, and quality assurance, trained in VBHC. Two consultants were involved in the project group for schizophrenia. | Controlled the implementation of VBHC initiative at hospital level, provided implementation support to project groups in different departments, and arranged joint meetings for all active project groups. | Important stakeholder, controlling the framework for implementation, hence constituting an important part of the outer context and also provided an outsider perspective assessing the level of success of the local implementation project. |