The Article in Brief

How Can Primary Care Cross the Quality Chasm? A Report From the NAPCRG Committee on Advancing the Science of Family Medicine

Leif I. Solberg and colleagues

Background To bridge the gap between knowledge and practice in primary care, primary care leaders and clinicians must make changes in concepts, attitudes, and practical issues. These changes include admitting that there are quality problems in primary care that require attention and action; a focus on "optimizing health and health care through research and quality improvement (QI)," instead of "translating research into practice"; developing more partnerships among clinicians, researchers, and care delivery leaders for "engaged scholarship" in research and QI; an emphasis by funders and researchers on the problems of patients and support of practical time frames and research designs; and dissemination and implementation of lessons from QI and practical research.