Attributes of Advanced Primary Care

The Attributes of Advanced Primary Care characterize advanced primary care (APC), a practice that shifts the focus of primary care toward quality. The attributes are ways the Shared Principles of Primary Care can be applied and realized in practice.

The attributes were initially developed by the Primary Care Collaborative (PCC), the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions (National Alliance) and the Purchaser Business Group on Health (PBGH) and announced publicly on Dec. 1, 2020. In developing the attributes, the organizations saw them as a next step on the path to achieving APC. The attributes further develop the Shared Principles, created by over 100 organizations under the auspices of the PCC and FMAHealth and introduced in October 2017. To date, more than 350 organizations representing diverse healthcare stakeholders have adopted the Shared Principles. As employer groups, the National Alliance and PBGH have each developed employer-identified attributes of APC that were brought together by the PCC and aligned. The APC attributes document shows how each attribute aligns with each Shared Principle. In addition to being rooted in the Shared Principles, the set of attributes was developed out of the National Alliance’s “Improving Healthcare Value with Advanced Primary Care” and PBGH’s “Advanced Primary Care: Defining a Shared Standard.”

The attributes will evolve as other stakeholders in primary care learn about them and seek to apply them in their work to transform primary care delivery and payment. This process includes developing ways to assess if a primary care practice has achieved APC according to these attributes, including measures reported by and about patients, as input into purchasing and contracting decisions. To date, the following organizations have signed on to the attributes: