IntroductionIntegrated care is an effective means of coping with the increasingly complex healthcare needs of elderly and alleviating pressure on national pension services. WHO regards integrated care as a method of providing high-quality healthcare and advocates integrated care based on digital technology. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, information and communication technology (ICT) has become a facilitator for the successful implementation of integrated care by providing a platform for information sharing, team communication and resource integration. This scoping review aims to assess internationally published evidence concerning experiences and practice of ICT-based implementation of integrated care for older people.Methods and analysisThe study will follow the research framework developed by Arksey and O’Malley for scoping reviews. We will conduct a systematic search of the literature published from January 2000 to March 2022 via electronic databases, grey literature databases, websites of key organisations and project funding sources, key journals and reference lists included in selected papers, employ the Joanna Briggs Institute Literature Quality Assessment Tool to assess the quality of the included literature and apply thematic analysis to sort and summarise the content of the included studies. This study will begin in March 2022 and will be completed in December 2022.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval for this scoping review was granted by the Academic Committee of Zhengzhou University (ZZUIRB2021-155). This study will summarise the modes of operation and effects, barriers and facilitators of ICT-based implementation of integrated care for older people. We propose to recruit older people and integrated care service providers in rural primary healthcare centres and use a structured process of concept mapping to consult and discuss the results of our scoping review to construct an integrated care model and service pathway for older adults that is appropriate to the Chinese social context.

Background: Integrated care is an important initiative to respond positively to the ageing of society and information and communication technology(ICT) plays an important role in facilitating the integration of functional and normative health and social care. The scoping review aims to synthesize evidence on the experience and practice of ICT-based implementation of integrated care for older adults. Methods: This study followed the research framework developed by Arksey and O’malley for the scoping review and systematically searched for relevant studies published between 1 January 2000 and 30 March 2022 from nine electronic databases, three specialist journals, three key institutional websites, 11 integrated care project websites, google scholar and references of the studies to be included. Two reviewers independently screened and extracted data and used thematic analysis to sort out and summarize the core elements, hindrances and facilitators of ICT-based integrated care. Results: A total of 77 studies were included in this study, including 36 ICT-based practice models of integrated care with seven core elements of implementation including single entry point, comprehensive geriatric assessment, personalized care planning, multidisciplinary case conferences, coordinated care, case management and patient empowerment, which generally had a positive effect on improving quality of life, caregiver burden and primary care resource utilization for older adults, but effectiveness evaluations remained Heterogeneity exists. The barriers and facilitators to ICT-based implementation of integrated care were grouped into four themes: demand-side factors, provider factors, technology factors and system factors. Conclusion: The implementation of ICT-based integrated care for the elderly is expected to improve the health status of both the supply and demand of services, but there is still a need to strengthen the supply of human resources, team training and collaboration, ICT systems and financial support in order to promote the wider use of ICT in integrated care.