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The article provides an analysis of primary care in the United States compared to other high-income countries. It reveals that the U.S. has the lowest rates of adults with a longstanding relationship with a primary care provider and the lowest rates of home visits by physicians. The U.S. faces challenges in terms of access to care, continuity of care, comprehensiveness of care, and coordination of care. The article suggests that investing in primary care, growing the primary care workforce, and reforming payment for primary care are potential strategies to strengthen primary care in the U.S. It also emphasizes the need for better coordination between primary care physicians and other healthcare providers, reducing administrative requirements, and incentivizing communication between stakeholders. The information is based on the Commonwealth Fund's 2022 International Health Policy Survey of Primary Care Physicians. [Extracted from the article]

The highly regarded Austrian health system delivers good quality and easily accessible services, but is costly. Its governance and funding structure is highly fragmented and it makes too much use of inpatient care in hospitals. Entry and competition opportunities are de facto limited in most health markets. The system operates therefore on a supply-driven basis, and does not have clear mechanisms to optimize spending on a cost-benefit basis. Population lifestyles are also not supportive of good health outcomes and suffer important differences between social groups, raising risks for the future. This Chapter reviews Austrian authorities' responses to these challenges, and makes recommendations based on OECD countries' experiences. The suggested priorities are: i) more clearly assigning the performance, financing and spending responsibilities in the system, ii) enforcing a national capacity plan for publicly-funded inpatient and outpatient care, iii) introducing performance-based payment mechanisms in all services, iv) promoting the transition to "integrated care" by better balancing preventive, outpatient, inpatient, rehabilitation and long-term care, and v) better clarifying the medium-term fiscal outlook and scenarios of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greek health outcomes compare favourably with the OECD average. However, the health care system is seen as not working well by the population. One source of dissatisfaction is the high proportion of private household spending on health, including informal payments, while public health spending relative to GDP is one of the lowest in the OECD. This situation leads to inequities in access to certain medical services. Also, there is a weakening of efficiency of the system, which should be addressed sooner than later in view of a rising demand for medical services, which is going to intensify in the coming decades, and the need to keep government health care spending in check. This calls for reforms in four areas: i) reviewing the excessively fragmented structure of the health care system and its governance; ii) enhancing the quality of public primary health care services; iii) modernising hospital administration; and iv) further tightening control over pharmaceutical expenditure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]