Primary Care Health Discussion Paper
Do you believe primary care must be the foundation to any viable health care system? Why or why not? Provide examples of where this is true (in other countries).
Primary care refers to a whole-society approach to health targeted at ensuring the highest possible levels of well-being and health, and their equitable distribution by focusing on the needs of people as early as possible along with continuum from health promotion and prevention to treatment, palliative care and rehabilitation (World Health Organization, 2021). Primary care is the foundation of any viable health care system as it is essential to achieving universal health coverage. In fact, it addresses the health needs of patients at all community levels to include education, promotion, prevention, and integrating care. In addition, it improves the performance of the health system by lowering overall costs even as it improves access and health. Health care systems that have strong primary care foundations also report greater socioeconomic equity, fewer unnecessary hospital admissions, higher patient satisfaction, better population health, and lower health costs. Strong primary care systems are seen in the Netherlands, Denmark and UK (van Weel & Kidd, 2018)Primary Care Health Discussion Paper.
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Furthermore, why do you think the U.S. has struggled with this concept for so many years?
The US struggles with the concept of primary care. That is because the US health system is reliant on market forces. Its market approach to health care has limited primary care financing, protection and organization thus making it difficult for the system to present a robust and stable primary care base. The system delivers primary care through three specialties: general pediatrics, general internal medicine, and primary medicine. However, these generalist specialties suffer from brief visits and inflexible appointment schedules that do not satisfy the provider or patient, administrative burdens, and lack of respect in the academic circles. In addition, the system is plagued by a hospitalist movement that is of the ideas that the primary care physicians should hand over primary care to generalists in hospitals as this is financially lucrative for the hospital. These issues along with erosion of scope of practice, poor reimbursement, high stress, long hours, and dissatisfaction among providers have caused the US to struggle with the concept of primary care (Fong, 2021).
References
Fong, K. (2021, Sept. 28). The U.S. Health Care System Isn’t Built for Primary Care. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2021/09/the-u-s-health-care-system-isnt-built-for-primary-care
van Weel, C., & Kidd, M. R. (2018). Why strengthening primary health care is essential to achieving universal health coverage. CMAJ, 190(15), E463-466. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.170784
World Health Organization (2021, April 1). Primary health care. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/primary-health-care
Primary Care Health Discussion Paper
Do you believe primary care must be the foundation to any viable health care system? Why or why not? Provide examples of where this is true (in other countries). Furthermore, why do you think the U.S. has struggled with this concept for so many years? Include reliable and recent references. Primary Care Health Discussion Paper