The HHS’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) https://hhs.gov/ash requests input from persons, communities, healthcare providers, purchasers and payers, educators, researchers, and the public on how the government can strengthen primary healthcare in the U.S.
The problem is that primary healthcare is under-resourced, the workforce is shrinking, the workforce well-being is in peril, and many practices face reimbursement challenges that may result in financial instability.
The HHS Initiative to Strengthen Primary Health Care’s (The Initiative) first task is to develop an initial HHS plan for strengthening primary healthcare that will delineate specific actions that HHS agencies and offices need to take to achieve the aims within the current legislation and funding environment.
In addition, the plan will continue to focus on strengthening primary health, develop plans to build on the initial plans, and also monitor progress and impact. OASH seeks information on successful approaches and innovations that can improve primary healthcare payment, delivery models, service integration, access, workforce education, training and well-being, digital and primary care measurement and research, and importantly ideas on addressing health equity.
For the HHS Request published (June 27, 2022) in the Federal Register, requesting the RFI titled HHS Initiative to Strengthen Primary Health Care, go to https://govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2022-06-27/pdf/2022-13632.pdf.
Comments must be received via email to OASHPrimaryHealthCare@hhs.gov no later than August 1, 2022. Questions can be directed to the OASH Primary Health Care Team at OSHPrimaryHealthCare@hhs.gov or call Sarah Boateng at (202) 401-7003.