Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC), in line with World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), has highlighted how primary healthcare is overcoming the challenges of treating elders with complex conditions.
PHCC highlighted the important factors in order to ensure integrated healthcare within their health centre through accountable care that aims to achieve low-cost, high-quality population health; patient empowerment– a core element of PHCC’s services, to empower patients with the knowledge, tools and skills and care delivery innovations – delivering care services through a dedicated family medicine model which will be implemented in all health centres by May 2019.
It offers all patients an assigned physician as a main point of contact for care, early detection and management of chronic conditions.
PHCC noted that the ageing population and the growing prevalence of chronic conditions increase the requirement for more integration and continuity; this can be impacted by fragmented supply of health and emergency or secondary care being used for conditions that can be treated at primary care.
Accountable Care looks to achieve low-cost, high-quality population health, also known as “high-value health systems.” The SMART screening programme has led to an increase in referrals to PHCC for behavioural interventions in people at high risk with 1738 (21%) in Dietetics; 1377 (17%) for Health Educators; 427 (5%) in Wellness Services; 1421 (17%) in cancer screening services and 189 (2%) in mental health psychology clinics.
From January-September 2018, PHCC has screened over 9,000 people and feedback from patients has been very positive with 92% were very satisfied with their experience of the service provided.
Dr Samya Abdullah, executive director of operations at PHCC, commented, “PHCC, over the years has focused majorly on capacity building and human capability, offering multi-disciplinary support to patients, developing information management and evaluation, as well as the implementation of Cerner Clinical Information System in both primary and secondary care which has enabled population health management.”
PHCC aims to achieve an improved integration of services between community, primary, hospitals and specialist centres, as well as the enhancement of planned pathways across the different levels of healthcare to ensure that the right treatment is provided.
