Open AccessAre We There Yet? Seizing the Moment to Integrate Medicine and Public Health
Author(s) -
F. Douglas Scutchfield,
J. Lloyd Michener,
Stephen B. Thacker
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2012.300724
Subject(s) - public health , health care , government (linguistics) , international health , primary care , health policy , medicine , public relations , business , environmental health , nursing , political science , family medicine , law , linguistics , philosophy
Multiple promising but unsustainable attempts have been made to maintain programs integrating primary care and public health since the middle of the last century. During the 1960s, social justice movements expanded access to primary care and began to integrate primary care with public health concepts both to meet community needs for medical care and to begin to address the social determinants of health. Two decades later, the managed care movement offered opportunities for integration of primary care and public health as many employers and government payers attempted to control health costs and bring disease prevention strategies in line with payment mechanisms. Today, we again have the opportunity to align primary care with public health to improve the community's health.