Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Oct 20:12:115.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2296-12-115.

QUALICOPC, a multi-country study evaluating quality, costs and equity in primary care

Willemijn L A Schäfer  1 , Wienke G W Boerma, Dionne S Kringos, Jan De Maeseneer, Stefan Gress, Stephanie Heinemann, Danica Rotar-Pavlic, Chiara Seghieri, Igor Svab, Michael J Van den Berg, Milena Vainieri, Gert P Westert, Sara Willems, Peter P Groenewegen
Affiliations

QUALICOPC, a multi-country study evaluating quality, costs and equity in primary care

Willemijn L A Schäfer et al. BMC Fam Pract. .

Abstract

Background: The QUALICOPC (Quality and Costs of Primary Care in Europe) study aims to evaluate the performance of primary care systems in Europe in terms of quality, equity and costs. The study will provide an answer to the question what strong primary care systems entail and which effects primary care systems have on the performance of health care systems. QUALICOPC is funded by the European Commission under the "Seventh Framework Programme". In this article the background and design of the QUALICOPC study is described.

Methods/design: QUALICOPC started in 2010 and will run until 2013. Data will be collected in 31 European countries (27 EU countries, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey) and in Australia, Israel and New Zealand. This study uses a three level approach of data collection: the system, practice and patient. Surveys will be held among general practitioners (GPs) and their patients, providing evidence at the process and outcome level of primary care. These surveys aim to gain insight in the professional behaviour of GPs and the expectations and actions of their patients. An important aspect of this study is that each patient's questionnaire can be linked to their own GP's questionnaire. To gather data at the structure or national level, the study will use existing data sources such as the System of Health Accounts and the Primary Health Care Activity Monitor Europe (PHAMEU) database. Analyses of the data will be performed using multilevel models.

Discussion: By its design, in which different data sources are combined for comprehensive analyses, QUALICOPC will advance the state of the art in primary care research and contribute to the discussion on the merit of strengthening primary care systems and to evidence based health policy development.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Elements of the study and their inter-relations.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Existing data sources to be used in QUALICOPC.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Overview of the QUALICOPC study protocol.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. World Health Organisation. Developing the new European policy for health - Health 2020./07 110419. World Health Organisation; 2011.
    1. Health Council of the Netherlands. European Primary care. The Hague, Health Council of the Netherlands. 2004.
    1. Boerma WGW, Dubois CA. In: Primary care in the driver's seat? Organizational reform in European primary care. Saltman RB, Rico A, Boerma WGW, editor. Bershire: Open University Press; 2006. Mapping primary care accross Europe; pp. 22–49. - PubMed
    1. European Commission. FP 7 Cooperation Work Programme: Health. European Comission C(2008)4598 of 29 August 2008) 2009.
    1. Kringos DS, Boerma WG, Hutchinson A, van der Zee J, Groenewegen PP. The breadth of primary care: a systematic literature review of its core dimensions. BMC Health Serv Res. 2010;10:65. doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-10-65. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources