Healthcare Quality News

The New England Healthcare Institute (NEHI) has released a report outlining strategies for improving the quality and availability of primary care. Growing numbers of aging and chronicially ill paitents, shortage of primary care physicians, and ill-designed reimbursement models all contribute to the shortage.

NEHI notes that the report is intended to highlight the range of root causes of the current crisis in primary care and identify a set of innovations that could enhance the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of primary care and discusses important issues related to changes required in health professional education.

Highlights:

• Drivers of the crisis in primary care include demand side issues of aging and chronic illness and supply side issues of limits to the primary care workforce, and overall drivers of an income/reimbursement gap along with provider satisfaction.

• Consequences include poor patient access and satisfaction

• Innovations at work include changes in service delivery, site of care, workforce, reimbursement, and medical education

(SOURCES: Advisory Board Daily Briefing, http://advisory.com, May 29, 2009; New England Healthcare Institute, http://nehi.net, accessed June 4, 2009)