Primary Care and Public Health – Both Essential for National Health Security and Population Health

The COVID-19 pandemic was a stress test that revealed critical weaknesses in the foundation of the US health care delivery system, which left unresolved will ultimately lead to catastrophic population health consequences. Primary care and public health are the most fragile and important parts of that foundation. Collapse of either of these disciplines would lead to cascading failures harming the health of individuals and the health security of the nation. Primary care and public health are inextricably entwined as the cornerstones of health security and population health, and there is an urgent need to adequately fund both. As policy makers debate the importance of enhanced funding for either primary care or public health it would be good to consider the ways in which these disciplines are critical to securing the health of the nation as well as the ways in which they complement one another. Funding for both opens the door for greater integration that could build on the nascent synergies resulting in even stronger, more efficient and more sustainable foundation for the overall health care delivery system. Every day and in every corner of the world primary care and public health are already relying on each other in many ways. However, this relationship most often functions without formal acknowledgment. To better understand this intimate relationship, it is useful to first describe the core components of each.