Do All Roads Lead to Rome?

The call for better joined-up service delivery, particularly to those suffering from chronic conditions, traces back as far as into the 1950s. However, a disjointed care provision split into multiple service silos prevails. In the present chapter, the authors present lessons from practice, particularly from two recent pilot projects, INDEPENDENT and SmartCare, to show what can be achieved through the use of ICT-supported, integrated care and to show how it can be achieved under given framework conditions. The guiding question is which roads will actually lead to Rome and which will not. By simply adding ICT to current care practices one will most likely not end up with better care. Rather, the authors argue that a multi-pronged innovation approach needs to be pursued, one that simultaneously pays attention to the stakeholders involved, to the particular working models of the different care actors, and to the technologies to be employed. Using such an approach is shown to considerably increase the likelihood of achieving positive impacts on different levels, even if risks and uncertainty cannot be completely avoided.