Patterns and Prospects for the Implementation of Person-Centered Primary Care and People-Centered Public Health

Abstract

Primary care and public health have a shared goal of health improvement for each person and their populations. Public health is the science and art of promoting health, preventing disease and prolonging life (adding life to years and years to life) through the organized efforts of society. Public health needs to be person- and people- centered taking into account the biomedical, social, cultural, psychological, and spiritual elements that are crucial to understanding the whole person and the community at large. This paper provides a review of the International College of Person Centred Medicine’s Declarations, which have formed a platform for the development of the ICPCM’s London Declaration on Primary Care and Public Health. Person-Centered Primary Health Care is by its very nature integrative by involving a broad knowledge of all sectors of health care and a strong understanding of community resources and other social determinants of health. Through trusted and healing relationships, a person-centered approach with people over time can achieve the required integration and coordination of care that leads to better health, effective health care and lower cost. Systems of care need to be built around primary care as the core foundational element to ensure that all people are seen and helped at the right time, by the right providers, for the right reasons, and in the right locations.  By integrating primary, secondary, tertiary, preventive, and end-of-life care, we will collectively produce healthier persons, healthier people, and healthier nations. The London Declaration sets out a 10-point plan to achieve this by establishing a shared goal of improvement in the health and well being of the population through person and people centered primary care and public health.