Core attributes, high-performance functional mechanism and policy implications of general practice / 中国卫生政策研究

ABSTRACT

General practice is the core of primary care, and it has become the fundamental part of some high-valued health care system. The function-orientated definition of primary care comprise of five core attributes, which are first-contact, accessibility, continuity, coordination and comprehensiveness of service. This paper started from the definition of general practice and sought to clarify and summarize the definitions, contents and functions of its five core attributes;meanwhile, the high-performance functional mechanism of health care system was also explored. On this basis, four suggestions are put forward The basic medical health care system should be renamed primary care system;Five core attributes of primary care should be emphasized when strengthening the primary care system; the primary care system should be improved, and the key points are the number of general practitioners (GPs), payment system, primary care purchasing, educational system of GPs and etc.;The management system and service process should be developed which would benefit the implementation of the core attributes of primary care at an organizational level.