HHS assistant secretary: Action plan for primary health care is ‘proceeding really well’
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
WASHINGTON — HHS officials are working on an action plan that will improve access to primary care and support the integration of behavioral, environmental, oral and reproductive health care services.
During the Primary Care Collaborative’s annual conference, Admiral Rachel L. Levine, MD, assistant secretary for health at HHS, said the action plan builds on a report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) that outlines recommendations for rebuilding the foundation of primary health care.
The NASEM report established five objectives to strengthen primary care in the United States:
- pay primary care teams to care for people, not just to deliver services;
- ensure the availability of high-quality primary care for every patient and family;
- train primary care teams in medically underserved areas;
- create technology that better serves patients, families and interprofessional care teams; and
- ensure the implementation of high-quality primary care in the United States.
HHS is using these objectives as a framework for its action plan, but Levine said they intend to “go even beyond that” by “looking at other components and coordination and integration of care” to address issues such as the overdose epidemic and the mental health crisis among children and adolescents.
The agency is also working on a dashboard that will monitor progress toward high-quality primary health care based on the level of integration of clinical services, Judith Steinberg, MD, MPH, senior adviser to the HHS assistant secretary and chief medical officer of the HHS’ Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy, said during the conference.
“If we are going to take some action, we need to know the impact of that action,” Steinberg said. “We’re thinking about the whole of integration of public health, social services, etc. We need an HHS dashboard that measures health in that perspective. We are in the process of identifying measures for which data are already being collected and then identifying the gaps to make sure this is a robust dashboard.”
To ensure the action plan is successful, HHS is collaborating with other agencies such as the Health Resources and Services Administration, CDC, CMS and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, as well as other stakeholders, including primary care providers and patients, Levine said.
A critical component of the action plan will be payment reform, Levine said. CMS is exploring different value-based models and efforts to advance the Medicare Shared Savings Model, which moves “away from volume and toward value and outcomes.”
“Our vision and mission are to have whole person-centered care, family-centered care, health equity and equitable access, and primary health care that supports health and well-being for both patients and providers,” Levine said.
The full action plan will be released in 2023, she added.
“We are taking time to review and vet things ... taking time to listen to PCPs and communities,” Levine said. “The HHS action plan for primary health care is proceeding really well.”