Trends and Prospects in Primary Health Care Service

Dear Colleagues,

The practice of primary healthcare is undergoing unprecedented transformation. Some call it a revolution. Whereas primary care physicians used to be solely reimbursed for services delivered during the office visit, with the growing movement towards value-based payment, providers are now being rewarded for preventive services delivered to patients between office visits. In other words, value-based reimbursement is rapidly transforming the role of the primary care physician. Primary care practices are now expected to focus on managing the health of populations, providing higher-quality care, emphasizing preventive care, and reducing costs. Primary care providers are also increasingly being called upon to address the social needs of patients alongside clinical needs to increase health equity and achieve the triple aim of improving patient outcomes, promoting population health, and reducing costs. In this new environment, some primary care providers are also receiving capital from payers to develop a robust infrastructure for interdisciplinary, team-based, person-centered care of patients with chronic conditions, and targeted use of resources for patients who need them most.

During these times of rapid change and uncertainty, leaders in the field have called for a thoughtful redesign of primary care services based on certain core principles:

• Reward for value, including non-visit-based care from payers.
• Focus on relationships that will increasingly be fostered by teams and technology, with patients and non-physicians assuming an ever-increasing role in healthcare.
• Focus on higher-acuity and higher-complexity presentations by generalist physicians and primary care teams.
• Focus on whole-person care, including health behaviors as well as vision, hearing, dental, and social services.
• New approaches to primary care workforce education and training to adapt to the new value-based design principles.

Within the context of this rapidly changing primary healthcare landscape, we welcome submissions on a range of topics relevant to Trends and Prospects in Primary Healthcare Services, including, but not limited to, the following:

• The primary care workforce.
• The Triple Aim and the Quadruple Aim of primary care.
• Population health and primary care.
• New models of primary care delivery, including the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH).
• Value-based payment models, including the Accountable Care Organization (ACO).
• The rise of consumerism in primary care, including retail healthcare and concierge care.
• The changing role of technology in primary care, including Telehealth, Wearable Devices, and Remote Patient Monitoring.
• Person-centered care and shared decision-making in primary care.
• The changing role of leadership in primary care.
• The role of patient engagement and empowerment in self-management of chronic conditions.
• Linking preventive services to primary health care to manage chronic illness.
• Linking primary care to community resources to improve transitions in care.
• Integration of mental health into primary care.
• Integration of Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) into primary care delivery.
• The role of measurement and metrics in primary care delivery.
• The impact of Practice-Based Research Networks (PBRNs) in primary care.
• New approaches to educating and training the primary care workforce. 

All types of submissions, including original research articles, reviews, communications, and case reports, are welcome for this Special Issue. IJERPH operates a single-blind peer review, meaning that the author does not know the identity of the reviewer, but the reviewer knows the identity of the author. Authors can recommend potential reviewers. Journal editors will check to make sure that there are no conflicts of interest before contacting those reviewers and will not consider those with competing interests. Reviewers are asked to declare any conflicts of interest. Authors can also enter the names of potential peer reviewers they wish to exclude from consideration in the peer review of their manuscript during the initial submission process. The editorial team will respect these requests so long as this does not interfere with the objective and thorough assessment of the submission.

I look forward to receiving your submissions for this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Pavani Rangachari
Guest Editor

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• primary care
• population health
• value-based care
• consumerism
• telehealth
• remote patient monitoring
• leadership
• social determinants of health
• person-centered care
• healthcare redesign