Integrating public health & primary care: a framework for seamless collaboration.

Abstract

Integration between public health and primary care is rising on the health policy agenda but the terms and concepts involved can be confusing. This article reviews the relevant literature and presents a new framework to help policymakers think through what they are aiming to achieve and why. We unpack different degrees and types of integration and show how they fit together. We argue that the merger of public health and primary care into a single entity with one aim, budget, and one multidisciplinary team isn't necessarily the desired end-point for most health systems, but that seamless collaboration will likely improve patient and health system outcomes, save resources, and improve population outcomes. We recommend that efforts to foster better collaboration should take an activity-based approach, promoting alignment of teams, training, budgets, values and culture around specific tasks, and in proportion to need.