Reviving Primary Care

The quality of health care in the US depends on the patient's ability to pay and his or her insurance cover, at an annual cost of $3600 per head of population. In the UK, the quality of care costs less at an annual cost of $1000 per head of population, although care is sometimes delayed through a lack of resources. This book compares the two systems from the viewpoint of primary care, identifying some models of excellence from which both can benefit. It draws on the experience of the NHS reforms in the UK and the political imperative to control costs and improve the service in the US.

John Fry was Britain's most distinguished general practitioner and known throughout the world for his writings about comparative primary care. Donald Light is an American sociologist internationally known for his work on comparative health care systems. He is a professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and an adjunct senior fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. Jonathan Rodnick is a leading practitioner and professor at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, where he chairs the Department of Family and Community Medicine. Peter Orton is Immediate Past-President of the General Practice Section, The Royal Society of Medicine, and a general practitioner, Hatfield Heath, Essex.