Assessing primary care in Austria: room for improvement

Stigler, Florian L; Starfield, Bárbara; Sprenger, Martin; Salzer, Helmut J. F.; Campbell, Stephen

doi:10.1093/fampra/cms067

Cited by 19 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The framework has been administered in many countries including the United Kingdom, Denmark, The Netherlands, Japan, Australia, Sweden, the United States, Austria, and Germany [27]. Starfield’s framework of primary care encompasses both health system and practice characteristics [26].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Primary healthcare system and practice characteristics in Singapore

2014

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It is crucial to adapt and improve the (primary) health care systems of countries to prepare for future patient profiles and their related needs. The main aim of this study was to acquire a comprehensive overview of the perceptions of primary care experts in Singapore about the state of primary care in Singapore, and to compare this with the state of primary care in other countries. Notwithstanding ranked 2nd in terms of efficiency of health care, Singapore is facing significant health care challenges. Emails were sent to 85 experts, where they were asked to rate Singapore’s primary care system based on nine internationally adopted health system characteristics and six practice characteristics (response rate = 29%). The primary care system in Singapore received an average of 10.9 out of 30 possible points. Lowest ratings were given to: earnings of primary care physicians compared to specialists, requirement for 24 hr accessibility of primary care services, standard of family medicine in academic departments, reflection of community served by practices in patient lists, and the access to specialists without needing to be referred by primary care physicians. Singapore was categorized as a ‘low’ primary care country according to the experts.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Primary healthcare system and practice characteristics in Singapore

2014

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“…Typically, management of PHC reflects the health policy regulations in a country, including the required level of ability for communicating and implementing the relevant evidence from research into practice. Worldwide, great efforts are made to strengthen management systems through assessment, education, and training for developing a comprehensive and integrated approach for quality of services provision in PHC [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alignment of Perceived Competencies and Perceived Job Tasks among Primary Care Managers

et al. 2019

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In this study we aimed to explore how managers in primary health care (PHC) organizations assess their managerial knowledge and skills, as well as the importance of these competencies for their job, and to identify whether there is an alignment between these two perceptions; therefore, whether there is a need for management competency improvement. With this study, we tried to address a high demand for information about health managers, especially in health systems in low- and middle-income countries. In a sample of 58 primary health care centers (n = 106 managers) in Serbia, we used a basic managerial competency matrix consisting of the following six competencies—communication, team-building, planning and priority-setting, performance assessment, problem-solving, and leading. Managerial perception of the importance of their job tasks differs by educational level and managerial position. The best alignment between the importance of knowledge and skills was for communication and leading. The study pointed out that managers were aware of the necessity to improve their level of managerial competencies, particularly in the domains of planning and priority-setting, performance assessment, and problem solving. The study highlights the need for formal managerial education for managers in PHC settings and commitment to continuously evaluate and improve management competencies in order to better manage PHC.

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“…Eine weitere Studie zeigte in der Bewertung mittels eines zuvor in 18 OECD Ländern eingesetzten Assessment Tools [5] eine vergleichsweise geringe Güte des Primärversorgungssystems in Österreich und ein großes Verbesserungspotenzial z. B. im Hinblick auf eine adäquate akademische Vertretung der Allgemeinmedizin oder eine ausreichende Anzahl von Allgemeinmedizinern im niedergelassenen Bereich [6]. Ein zentrales Anliegen der aktuellen Gesundheitsreform in Österreich ist daher die Stärkung der Primärversorgung nach internationalem Vorbild, festgeschrieben in dem von Bund, Ländern und Sozialversicherungen beschlossenen Reformkonzept "Das Team rund um den Hausarzt" [7].…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Qualitätsindikatoren für Primary-Health-Care-Einrichtungen in Österreich

et al. 2017

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The strengthening of primary health care is one major goal of the current national health reform in Austria. In this context, a new interdisciplinary concept was developed in 2014 that defines structures and requirements for future primary health care facilities. The aim of this project was the development of quality indicators for the evaluation of the scheduled primary health care facilities in Austria, which are in accordance with the new Austrian concept. We used the RAND/NPCRDC method for the development and selection of the quality indicators. We conducted systematic literature searches for existing measures in international databases for quality indicators as well as in bibliographic databases. All retrieved measures were evaluated and rated by an expert panel in a 2-step process regarding relevance and feasibility. Overall, the literature searches yielded 281 potentially relevant quality indicators, which were summarized to 65 different quality measures for primary health care. Out of these, the panel rated and accepted 30 measures as relevant and feasible for use in Austria. Five of these indicators were structure measures, 14 were process measures and the remaining 11 were outcome measures. Based on the Austrian primary health care concept, the ﬁnal set of quality indicators was grouped in the 5 following domains: Access to primary health care (5), quality of care (15), continuity of care (5), coordination of care (4), and safety (1). This set of quality measures largely covers the four defined functions of primary health care. It enables standardized evaluation of primary health care facilities in Austria regarding the implementation of the Austrian primary health care concept as well as improvement in healthcare of the population.

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Assessing primary care in Austria: room for improvement

Abstract: This study provides the first evidence concerning primary care in Austria, benchmarking it as weak and in need of development. The practicable application of an existing assessment tool can be encouraging for other countries to generate evidence about their primary care system as well.

Cited by 19 publications

References 8 publications

Primary healthcare system and practice characteristics in Singapore

Primary healthcare system and practice characteristics in Singapore

Alignment of Perceived Competencies and Perceived Job Tasks among Primary Care Managers

Qualitätsindikatoren für Primary-Health-Care-Einrichtungen in Österreich

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