2026/01/01 by Eduardo Satué-de-Velasco, Ana Mateos-Lardiés, Verónica Ausina-Márquez +1 · 1 voice
Business, Management and Accounting · Health Professions · Social Sciences · #Healthcare Systems and Technology #Interprofessional Education and Collaboration #Labor Law and Work Dynamics
paper · doi:10.1016/j.gaceta.2026.102616
openalex publication_date 2026/01/01 · openalex created_date 2026/07/04 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/19
Embedded in Spanish neighborhoods and towns, there are hundreds of thousands of self-employed healthcare professionals who provide services within the private sector. In the absence of an official term, they are referred to here as "self-employed community healthcare professionals", as they practice within a community setting with a high degree of proximity to patients, participate to varying extents in health promotion activities, and operate independently from large organizations. Healthcare provision, whether public or private, has an impact on patients. It would therefore be reasonable for a regulated exchange of information to exist, allowing, when necessary and in accordance with the legal framework, collaboration for their benefit. In this context, it is important to better understand the reality of healthcare services delivered by self-employed professionals and the extent to which coordination with public healthcare exists, if any. Although the available knowledge about these services is limited, in most cases there is a low degree of coordination and/or collaboration with other healthcare professionals, both public and private. Despite the millions of interventions carried out, very few are captured within the electronic health record of the Spanish National Health System, resulting in two parallel and largely disconnected systems coexisting within the same territory, with minimal coordination as patients move between them. Pilot initiatives and statements from some professional groups suggest the need to integrate communication and collaboration systems to optimize patient care.