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Brief: Progress in implementing the recommendations in the Blueprint for Complex Care

Complex care is a growing field that seeks to improve health and well-being for people with complex health and social needs — those with multiple medical, behavioral health, and social needs that intersect to drive poor health and well-being outcomes. Effectively addressing the root causes of poor health cannot be achieved by individual organizations alone. Doing so requires a coordinated effort across many organizations, communities, and states to align common goals. For over five years, a diverse and growing community of providers, payers, consumers, policymakers, researchers, and administrators have been working independently and in coordination to advance the complex care field.

Released in 2018, The Blueprint for Complex Care, a joint project of the Camden Coalition’s National Center for Complex Health and Social Needs, the Center for Health Care Strategies, and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, provides a strategic plan to support these multidisciplinary innovations and accelerate opportunities to improve care for individuals with complex health and social needs. The document contains 11 recommendations for strategic next steps, organized under the Strong Field Framework. This brief presents notable achievements in advancing these recommendations since the Blueprint’s release and highlights additional activities for the next phase of advancing the field of complex care.