Strengthening Primary Care

As American health care transitions toward value-based models of care and payment, successful employers, plans, and health systems are finding strong primary care to be absolutely essential. Yet the United States spends only 4-8% of health care dollars on primary care, compared to an average of approximately 12% among other industrialized countries – each of which spends substantially less per capita on health care than the United States. To build an American health care system that delivers better care at a lower cost, primary care must become a national health policy priority. Here’s how:

Build on what’s working

• Make Comprehensive Primary Care Plus and Independence at Home models available to practices across the country.
• Continue to improve Medicare’s Physician Fee Schedule’s support for chronic care management.
• Integrate payment streams and clinician training for primary care and behavioral health.
• Implement MACRA’s Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and Alternative Payment Model provisions.

Preserve existing investments in health centers & primary care workforce

• Provide long-term funding for the Community Health Center Fund.
• Sustain mandatory support for the National Health Service Corps & the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education programs.
• Maintain stable discretionary appropriations for healthcare workforce programs.

Recent Publications from NCHC on this topic:

Primary Care: Its Essential Role in a Value-Based Health Care System – As American health care transitions from volume to value, successful employers, plans, and health systems are finding strong primary care to be absolutely essential. Yet nationally, the United States spends only 4-8% of health care dollars on primary care, compared to an average of approximately 12% among other industrialized countries1 – each of which spends substantially less on health care than the United States. To build an American health care system that delivers better care at a lower cost, primary care must become a national health policy priority.

MedPage Today: Group Unveils National Primary Care Strategy – Payment models involving primary care should build on proven methods, be innovative and prevent patients from losing access, the National Coalition on Health Care said at a briefing Wednesday afternoon.

AAFP: Panelists: Payment Reform Must Emphasize Primary Care – New payment models and dedicated efforts to coordinate care are changing the delivery of health care, but more progress needs to be made, primary care physicians said at a recent National Coalition on Health Care forum on health policy.

Primary Care: High-Value Care for Underserved Communities – FACT SHEET Abstract As American health care transitions toward value-based models, successful employers, plans, and health systems are finding strong primary care to be absolutely essential. The United States spends only 4-8% of healthcare dollars on primary care, compared to an average of approximately 12% among other industrialized countries – each of which spends substantially […]

NCHC, Health Centers, Physicians Urge Congress to Avoid the 2017 Primary Care Cliff – WASHINGTON, DC – At a Capitol Hill forum yesterday, The National Coalition on Health Care (NCHC), The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), and three leading primary care physician societies urged Congress to avoid an approaching funding cliff for health centers and workforce programs. “Chronic disease is extremely costly. Primary care is the affordable […]

National Coalition on Health Care Calls on Senate to Take Alternative Course to Address Health Care Affordability – NCHC called on the Senate to pursue an alternative, bipartisan path forward on health care following the House of Representatives’ recent passage of HR 1628, the American Health Care Act (AHCA).

NCHC letter in support of the bipartisan Teaching Health Centers Graduate Medical Education Extension Act of 2017 – The National Coalition on Health Care letter to Representatives McMorris Rodgers and Tsongas in support of the bipartisan Teaching Health Centers Graduate Medical Education Extension Act of 2017.

National Coalition on Health Care Presses Congress for Bipartisan Solutions in Advance of Approaching Deadlines – In a letter sent to Congressional leaders on Tuesday, September 5, the National Coalition on Health Care called for common-sense, bipartisan solutions to address the looming cuts and deadlines impacting non-group insurance, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), primary care, and Medicare benefits and services.

After Debt Ceiling Deal, Congress Must Prevent Disruption to Nation’s Health System – Statement by John Rother, President and CEO of the National Coalition on Health Care, following House and Senate passage of legislation raising the debt ceiling, funding discretionary federal programs, and funding natural disaster relief   “With the debt ceiling deal, Congress may have averted major disruption to financial markets, but it must still act this month to […]

Primary Care: Rural and Urban Communities Face Significant Workforce Challenges – As American health care transitions toward value-based models, successful employers, plans, and health systems are finding strong primary care to be absolutely essential. The United States spends only 4-8% of health care dollars on primary care, compared to an average of approximately 12% among other industrialized countries1 – each of which spends substantially less overall on health care than the United States. To build an American health care system that delivers better care at a lower cost, primary care must become a national health policy priority.

Fierce Healthcare: Federal training, reducing physician burnout keys to tackling the primary care doctor shortage, NCHC panel says – Primary care will be hit especially hard by the physician shortage, but addressing burnout and keeping several key federal programs could help stem the flow of docs from family medicine, experts say.

MedPage Today: Another Deadline Looms: $$ for Doc Training – Healthcare training programs in underserved urban and rural areas may have to shut down if they are not reauthorized by the end of the month, leaders of several healthcare groups said Wednesday at an NCHC forum.

Medicare’s Latest Primary Care Initiative a Major Step Forward – April 2016