The role of primary health care in incentivizing policy outcomes: lessons from the U.K. experience

Abstract

This paper discuss the role of primary health care in the health care system. We look at the role of primary care, in particular its role in disease management for chronic disease, which is the major concern for older people. Then we look at two incentivizing policies that have been tried in the UK for improving system efficiency in terms of cost containment and quality improvement. The first policy is the “Fundholding budgets for general practice”; the second is the “Pay-for-Performance in primary care”. This paper concludes that the development of primary care is a policy area well worth considering as a means of sustaining the healthcare system challenged by population ageing and economic resource limitation, but with cautions about the pitfalls that can arise in this area.