Why should we try to integrate data from medical provider offices, community benefit organizations and public health agencies? The answer is we know that health depends on more than access to health care providers. Especially for those with lower incomes, reaching one’s full health potential often calls for multiple services in the community. 

Hardly a day goes by without primary care in the news, whether it’s a new payment model, a new assessment of the primary care crisis, or the beginning or end of another business venture. The value of primary care is clear: Robust evidence from many settings shows that increased engagement with primary care improves health outcomes and patient experience, and that increased investment in and access to primary care lowers total health care costs. Based on the definition of value as quality divided by cost, primary care delivers some of the highest value in health care.