August 23, 2024

Moving from Fee for Service to Prospective Payment in Primary Care: Advanced Primary Care: The Future of Primary Care – Part 18 The message is clear: Investing in primary care is a powerful and effective strategy to improve healthcare outcomes, reduce costs, and promote equity. Decades of research have consistently shown that enhanced primary care leads to: Focusing efforts and resources on primary care rather than trying to reduce spending on sub-specialty and hospital-based care is a more efficient approach. Strengthened primary care has a ripple effect, improving the entire healthcare system by forcing downstream players to adapt and improve their practices. This shift can lead to significant reductions in the administrative super-structure and overall costs. Attempting to reduce costs by focusing on sub-specialty and hospital care is arriving at the dance too late. By the time patients require these high-level services, the opportunity to avoid, mitigate, or reverse disease has often passed. Here’s why: For employers, investing in primary care can result in better health for their employees, effectively providing a pay raise and increasing payments to shareholders. We have the evidence to support these claims. The data is clear: enhancing primary care is the key to a healthier, more equitable, and cost-effective healthcare system. Scott Conard, MD              Michael Tuggy, MD                       Susan Lindstrom         Laurence Bauer, MSW, MEd [email protected]     [email protected]   [email protected]   [email protected]