Primary Care Collaborative: Medicaid is key lever to improving physician pay, patient outcomes, health equity

The Primary Care Collaborative (PCC) was founded in 2006 with a mission to promote better care, better health, lower costs, greater joy for clinicians and staff, and greater health equity, which is known as the "Quintuple Aim." In late August, PCC released a report titled "Access & Equity in Medicaid: Robust Primary Care is a Must," which outlines eight strategies to improve primary care and physician compensation in order to achieve better patient outcomes. The report emphasizes the undervalued role of primary care in the U.S. healthcare system, especially in serving Medicaid beneficiaries who are often underserved.

The eight strategies identified in the report are as follows:

1. Report and increase the share of Medicaid spending going to primary care.
2. Increase payment to primary care clinicians.
3. Support behavioral health and primary care integration.
4. Pursue population-based payment models.
5. Stratify data and incorporate health equity quality incentives into payment models.
6. Increase federal funding for community health centers and create new access points.
7. Pay for community health workers.
8. Encourage Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) attributes, including care coordination.

The interview with PCC President and CEO Ann Greiner highlights the importance of primary care in addressing health equity and the critical role of Medicaid, given its size and the population it serves, which includes lower-income individuals and people of color. The strategies proposed in the report aim to improve primary care delivery and reimbursement to better serve patients and reduce healthcare disparities.

Ann Greiner also emphasizes the need for policymakers to collaborate with primary care physicians to bring about the necessary policy changes to strengthen and reimagine primary care, acknowledging the challenges that primary care physicians face in their roles and expressing gratitude for their essential work in the healthcare system.