WIHI: Primary Care's (New) Pressures and Possibilities

Date: March 17, 2011

Featuring:

• Karen Boudreau, MD, FAAFP, Senior Vice President, Institute for Healthcare Improvement; Medical Director, IHI Continuum Portfolio
• Connie Davis, MN, RN, Geriatric Nurse Practitioner, IHI Faculty; ImpactBC Senior Faculty for Patients as Partners and Adjunct Faculty, University of British Columbia School of Nursing
• John H. Wasson, MD, Professor of Community and Family Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School
• Sheila Allison, Peer Coach, Patient Advisor, Patient Voices Network (BC, Canada); Volunteer Facilitator, University of Victoria Centre on Aging – Self-Management Program

Next to electronic health records (EHRs), there’s probably no other area of health care receiving as much attention these days as primary care. It’s easy to see why. Like EHRs, new and improved primary care models are considered ground zero for a system that’s better coordinated, integrated, and efficient. Hopes are high, especially in the US, that with a more robust and reliable infrastructure of primary care, there will be fewer dropped balls, fewer unnecessary referrals to expensive specialists, and less use of emergency departments for non-urgent care.

Sometimes it’s hard to assign one overarching phrase to all the activities now underway to help primary care practices make this strategic leap. That’s why WIHI host Madge Kaplan talks with four experts who have a good picture of what’s going on and, most importantly, can articulate today’s fundamental drivers for transforming primary care.

Sheila Allison’s work with Patient Voices Network in Canada represents the best of what patients and families can bring to the table to ensure that primary care redesign is truly patient-centered. Committed to improving chronic care, Connie Davis has been helping build bridges between clinicians, patients, and families for years. Drs. Karen Boudreau and John Wasson, who often work with Connie, round out the WIHI panel with their keen knowledge of how critical it is for clinical and quality leaders to “get primary care right” — especially as health care becomes less and less hospital-centric and more community oriented.

There are plenty of wrinkles, lots of noise, and head-spinning agendas surrounding primary care. This WIHI will help you get a handle on what you should be spending your time on and why.