Introduction
Ageing populations with rising chronicity, fragmented services delivery resulting from split management of health and social services, provider dissatisfaction over the standard of care for elderly patients, and vulnerable population groups are amongst the major health challenges throughout Europe. To add to this, there are great disparities between the EU regions. The indicator of population healthy life years in new EU member states has been ten years below the EU old member states average. The existing hospital-centric model of care, weak gatekeeping at the primary level, and fragmented delivery of services with limited continuity of care for patients with chronic conditions are the critical contributors to below the average health outcomes in these countries.