Recently the European Forum for Primary Care (EFPC) started a discussion group at LinkedIn on Primary Care that is called ‘Primary Care Forum.’ This discussion group will function as a vehicle to initiate discussions on sub-themes that are relevant for the European Forum for Primary Care.
The coordinator of the EFPC will manage this discussion group and will also be able to invite, approve and block any potential member. Soon after this discussion group will have a critical mass of members, it will launch a first question/discussion theme. Probably one of the first themes will be:
Patient choice in primary care: reality or illusion?
Questions
What kind of choices within primary care services do patients have in your country? Do they have to subscribe to a provider, a practice, a broader consortium? Moreover, is this limited to one discipline or to more disciplines? What are the ‘degrees of freedom’ once they are ‘on the list’?
Are there any changes in the last decade regarding the possibility for patients to choose between primary care providers, practices … in your country?
What are the drivers for linking patients to providers, practices? Are they administrative, financial, or related to quality?
If patients are completely free in their choice between primary care providers, how is the continuity and coordination of care secured in your country?
Should the possibility to choose between primary care providers, practices increase or decrease? Why?
It is hoped that this medium will draw members and non-members into a discussion on precious subjects that will allow us to make use of the results in responses to European Commission consultations and articles in European journals. It is also hoped that many European Primary Care experts will support this initiative and will join the Primary Care Forum at LinkedIn.
The European Forum for Primary Care welcomes the Wonca World conference in May 2010 in Mexico, under the general theme ‘Millennium Development Goals: the contribution of family medicine.’ This conference will be a great opportunity for family medicine to demonstrate its social accountability worldwide, operating in the context of a comprehensive patient centred and community oriented primary health care system. The members of the European Forum will participate actively in this important conference.