For example, while Medicare serves people of all incomes, Medicaid serves populations with low income and a disproportionate share of people of color, who often have complex health conditions and social needs. While how we pay is critical, what we pay is also important. Our core payment principles need to shift so that they support the goals of improving health, eliminating health disparities, and reducing the total cost of care. ![]() We cannot transform primary care without payment reform across all payers-Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial. Pay more-and differently-to achieve more equitable outcomes. Consideration of health equity could then guide decisions about partnerships, investments, care delivery, and payment reforms.Ģ. ![]() To strengthen primary care and advance health equity, we need to establish equity as an explicit goal, and center equity in all efforts to promote the maximum level of health possible for all people. The current health care system has conflicting priorities that, taken together, have weakened the primary care infrastructure, and widened health inequities. We highlight four actions discussed during the webinar that can help strengthen primary care and advance equity.ġ. Such a shift would regard primary care as a common good to be promoted by responsible public policy and supported by private-sector action, as proposed in a recent report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). Our group agreed that a paradigm shift is needed in how primary care is viewed, funded, and delivered. In a recent webinar, we discussed how to strengthen primary care by centering equity and reducing longstanding disparities in access, experience of care, and health outcomes. For decades, the primary care system has struggled with systemic underinvestment, a shrinking workforce, gaps in access to care, skewed payment systems, and severe underfunding of primary care research. It is the most fair, accessible, and cost-efficient way for people, regardless of race, ethnicity, or income, to enter the health care system and obtain services that meet their needs. High-quality primary care plays an essential role in improving health and advancing equity.
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