How to achieve optimal organization of primary care service delivery at system level: lessons from Europe.

OBJECTIVE: To measure the relative efficiency of primary care (PC) in turning their structures into services delivery and turning their services delivery into quality outcomes.
DESIGN: Cross-sectional study based on the dataset of the Primary Healthcare Activity Monitor for Europe project. Two Data Envelopment ANALYSIS: models were run to compare the relative technical efficiency. A sensitivity analysis of the resulting efficiency scores was performed.
SETTING: PC systems in 22 European countries in 2009/2010. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Model 1 included data on PC governance, workforce development and economic conditions as inputs and access, coordination, continuity and comprehensiveness of care as outputs. Model 2 included the previous process dimensions as inputs and quality indicators as outputs.
RESULTS: There is relatively reasonable efficiency in all countries at delivering as many as possible PC processes at a given level of PC structure. It is particularly important to invest in economic conditions to achieve an efficient structure-process balance. Only five countries have fully efficient PC systems in turning their services delivery into high quality outcomes, using a similar combination of access, continuity and comprehensiveness, although they differ on the adoption of coordination of services. There is a large variation in efficiency levels obtained by countries with inefficient PC in turning their services delivery into quality outcomes.
CONCLUSIONS: Maximizing the individual functions of PC without taking into account the coherence within the health-care system is not sufficient from a policymaker's point of view when aiming to achieve efficiency.