Primary Care and Public Health Partnerships in the Era of COVID-19: Collaborating to Improve Preparedness, Build Resilience, and Address Inequities

The COVID-19 pandemic has buffeted the primary care and public health systems in the United States, straining already overburdened resources and services in ways that threaten response efforts and exacerbate racial and economic disparities and injustice. The pandemic has also demonstrated that barriers to collaboration and communication between the primary care and public health systems threaten the health and well-being of the U.S. population.

Integrating primary care and public health services has been an aim of transformation efforts for many years, with better coordination and collaboration seen as important pathways to improving the population’s health. Despite examples of successful integration, progress toward this goal has been slow. Chronic underfunding of public health activities and of primary care services, among other challenges, have hampered efforts.

Mathematica held a webinar on Thursday, March 25, 2021, from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. ET for a discussion among our panel of experts about lessons learned at the federal, state, and local levels to identify specific opportunities for action that strengthen primary care and public health partnerships, address health inequities, improve preparedness, and build more resilient systems.

Speakers included the following:

• Oscar Alleyne, Dr.P.H., M.P.H., National Association of County and City Health Officials
• David Meyers, M.D., Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
• Jewel Mullen, M.D., M.P.H., M.P.A., University of Texas Medical School
• Diane Rittenhouse, M.D., Mathematica