New web-based hub tracks investments in primary care

The Primary Care Collaborative, or PCC, has announced the launch of a web-based primary care investment hub that contains information on progress toward efforts to strengthen primary care and ultimately improve health.

In a press release, PCC reported that the hub, which was launched with the support of the Milbank Memorial Fund, features tracking and reports on states that have recently passed legislation or took administrative action to measure and increase primary care investment. The hub also contains research, resources and other updates on investment initiatives.

“We need to help organize the information so that people can sort it and get to what they’re looking for,” PCC President and CEO Ann Greiner told Healio. “That’s what this hub represents: a way to organize information that our partners have pulled together — those working in the states and information that we’ve promulgated — all in one spot so people can reference it when they’re trying to do this in their own states.”

The platform coincides with the organization’s efforts to fulfill the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s report on implementing high-quality primary care, which cites federal and state policies and laws as key levers to realize such care.

Greiner explained that the PCC’s newest tool allows for collaboration amongst physicians, clinicians and other stakeholders to achieve investment goals that would otherwise be difficult to reach singularly.

“A lot of times what happens is that there are primary care clinicians, often physicians, in a state who come to the realization that they can’t effectuate change just from their own practice, and they understand that if they want to make more substantive change they need to join with others and enact policy,” she said. “We have many, many examples of primary care doctors who have gone to their medical specialty society or contacted legislators or are physician legislators who have introduced bills to increase investment in primary care.”

The hub, Greiner said, represents a place where physicians and others who “are ready to exhibit that kind of leadership can learn more about what other states have done and be put in touch with leaders from other states.”

The hub’s implementation follows a primary care legislation lull that occurred over 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Greiner said there has been a recent resurgence, with eight states passing legislation in the past year and more expected. Currently, 15 states overall have enacted legislation to measure or increase primary care investments, three states have pending legislation and three states have a combination of both.

“We do anticipate more states coming online as they learn from other states that are similar to theirs and as they see growing momentum,” she said. “There are states that are really innovating to improve the health of the populations within their jurisdiction, and they see investing in primary care and changing how primary care is paid as a key lever to improving population health, reducing inequities in care and beginning to bend the cost curve.”

References:

• As state legislators gather, PCC launches new primary care investment information hub. https://www.pcpcc.org/2023/01/17/state-legislators-gather-pcc-launches-new-primary-care-investment-information-hub. Published Jan. 17, 2023. Accessed Jan. 23, 2023.
• Implementing high-quality primary care: Rebuilding the foundation of health care. https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/25983/chapter/1. Accessed Jan. 24, 2023.
• State primary care investment hub. https://www.pcpcc.org/primary-care-investment. Accessed Jan. 23, 2023.