Community-oriented primary care (COPC) and the affordable care act: an opportunity to meet the demands of an evolving health care system.

Abstract

Community-oriented primary care (COPC) is a model of health care delivery that tightly integrates primary care and public health. This model of care, applied around the globe, could be more widely adopted in the United States as clinical delivery systems respond to the growing demand for population health management, which has been driven largely by various provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). For that purpose, there is need for changes in capacitating health professionals and changes in organizational structures that will address the needs and health priorities of the population, considering individual care management in the context of population health for a defined population. This article presents how the Affordable Care Act is an appropriate framework for COPC to succeed and the way forward to develop COPC through practical alternatives for the delivery of primary care within a population context.