PCPCC Applauds Delaware Report Recommending Increased Investment in Primary Care
Washington, DC -- The Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) applauds Delaware’s Primary Care Reform Collaborative (Collaborative) for its recommendations to invest more in primary care to meet the medical, behavioral, and social determinants of health of Delaware’s diverse patient population. These recommendations, if adopted, have the potential to help transform the health care system in Delaware and enhance value.
The Collaborative suggests the following recommendations:
The Collaborative suggests the following recommendations:
- Delaware should incrementally increase primary care spending to eventually account for 12 percent of total health care spending.
- The increase in primary care spending should include an upfront investment in infrastructure, increase the use of health information technology, support team-based care, and grow value-based incentive payments.
- This mandate does not call for an increase in Delaware’s total health care spending and thus may result in constraints on increases for other health care costs.
- Enforcement will occur through legislative statute or a regulatory enforcement authority, either in a new or existing agency.
- The Collaborative will continue to work with stakeholders to enhance participation in value-based payment models, further initiatives to increase and sustain primary care workforce, and integrate Women’s Health and Behavioral Health within a primary care team model.
“The Collaborative's recommendations underscore Delaware's leadership in strengthening primary care,” said Ann Greiner, president and Chief Executive Officer of the PCPCC. “Research shows that advanced primary care reduces unnecessary specialist referrals, hospitalizations, and emergency room visits with better health outcomes for patients.”
“We know to improve health care in Delaware we must improve our system of primary care,” said Dr. Kara Odom Walker, Cabinet Secretary for the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services. “In order to strengthen our primary care workforce, we must invest in that care and find ways to incentivize front-line providers to perform as coordinated teams that are ultimately accountable for population health.”
The Collaborative consists of diverse state leaders and aims to develop annual recommendations to strengthen primary care in Delaware by collecting input from stakeholders in both the health care and patient communities, as well as from other model states. The Collaborative was created in August 2018 after Governor John Carney Jr. signed into law Senate Bill 227, legislation designed to strengthen primary care services and payment.
“We know to improve health care in Delaware we must improve our system of primary care,” said Dr. Kara Odom Walker, Cabinet Secretary for the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services. “In order to strengthen our primary care workforce, we must invest in that care and find ways to incentivize front-line providers to perform as coordinated teams that are ultimately accountable for population health.”
The Collaborative consists of diverse state leaders and aims to develop annual recommendations to strengthen primary care in Delaware by collecting input from stakeholders in both the health care and patient communities, as well as from other model states. The Collaborative was created in August 2018 after Governor John Carney Jr. signed into law Senate Bill 227, legislation designed to strengthen primary care services and payment.
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The Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative
Founded in 2006, the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) is a not-for-profit multi-stakeholder membership organization dedicated to advancing an effective and efficient health system built on a strong foundation of primary care and the patient-centered medical home. Representing a broad group of public and private organizations, PCPCC’s mission is to unify and engage diverse stakeholders in promoting policies and sharing best practices that support growth of high-performing primary care and achieve the “Quadruple Aim”: better care, better health, lower costs, and greater joy for clinicians and staff in delivery of care.
PCPCC is and will position itself as an advocacy organization—a coalition that serves as a “driver of change,” educating and advocating for ideas, concepts, policies, and programs that advance the goals of high-performing primary care as the foundation of our health care system. For more information about PCPCC, visit www.pcpcc.org.
For more information on nationwide primary care investment efforts, visit www.pcpcc.org/primary-care-investment.
MEDIA CONTACT
Allison Gross
(202) 417-2075
agross@pcpcc.org
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Collaborative Report - January 2019.pdf | 6.97 MB |
