POPULATION HEALTH: Community-oriented primary care

The concept of community-oriented primary care (COPC) was developed in the 1940s by South African physicians Sidney and Emily Kark, who combined concepts of primary care, public health, and epidemiology in their work first on a Zulu tribal reserve and later in Israel.   COPC is defined as “a continuous process by which primary care is provided to a defined community on the basis of its assessed health needs through the planned integration of public health practice with the delivery of primary care services.”  This article traces the history of COPC, defines the concept, identifies barriers to its adoption, and notes the relationship to the concepts of population health.

Source: Mullan, F., and Epstein, L.  Community-oriented primary care: new relevance in a changing world.  American Journal of Public Health;92(11):1748-1755, Nov. 2002.  Click here for access to full text: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3221479/pdf/0921748.pdf  Posted by AHA Resource Center (312) 422-2050, rc@aha.org