Description
Governments worldwide are prioritizing primary care in their health system reform efforts, with significant variations in their approaches and impacts. Health systems with a dominant medical model of primary care, e.g., in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, strive to improve quality and access to regular, longitudinal primary care, shifting providers to work together in multi-professional teams, and better connecting primary care with the rest of the health system. In contrast, health systems that have evolved from a more community orientation, e.g., Brazil, leverage a more diverse primary and community care workforce in terms of training and specialization, and use a range of strategies to address quality and access challenges.
We are inviting proposals for papers describing and/or comparing reform efforts, as well as uncovering the mechanisms, or underlying theories of action, that help understand why and in which contexts the reforms have (or have not) achieved their intended system impacts.
Questions of interest include but are not limited to: how have different reform efforts produced behavioral changes among the complex mix of health care providers, organizations, and other stakeholders during and after implementation? How do some policy levers or instruments trigger mechanisms that open up more space for innovation than others? Have any jurisdictions achieved primary care reform at scale and why? How might we draw learnings through comparative analysis of primary care reforms that accounts for differing system dynamics and historical trajectories?