Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) lays out vision for primary care

In an effort to help move the future of healthcare toward being “person-centered, team based, and aligned with the community,” the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) has released its Shared Principles of Primary Care. PCPCC worked with Family Medicine for America’s Health (FMA Health) to develop the principles, collaborating on the goal of advancing healthcare in the United States.

PCPCC states that these shared principles are “critical to both advancing policy that strengthens primary care in both the public and private sectors, and enhancing the practice and delivery of primary care within the healthcare system.” The PCPCC shared principles urge primary care to be:

  • Person & Family Centered – primary care is focused on all aspects of the patient, including “physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual well being, as well as cultural, linguistic and social needs.”
  • Continuous – primary care physicians develop quality and sustaining relationships with patients to ensure continuity of care, through to their end of life decisions.
  • Comprehensive & Equitable – partner with “health and community-based organizations to promote population health and health equity, including making inequities visible and identifying avenues for solution.”
  • Team Based & Collaborative – healthcare professionals work together with each other and with patients and their family members toward the goal of quality outcomes for the patients.
  • Coordinated & Integrated – the primary care team works with everyone involved in the patient’s care, proactively communicating and navigating care plan options, to “achieve better health and seamless care delivery across the lifespan.”
  • Accessible – primary care is accessible to all, regardless of status, background, or potential barriers; access to health information is also available to all patients.
  • High Value – the primary care team delivers “exceptionally positive experiences” for patients and their families as well as for providers and practice staff.

The PCPCC plans to use these shared principles in their advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill. More importantly, they envision organizations using these principles to ensure “a vibrant future of primary care.”