| The Quality and Costs of Primary Care in Europe (QUALICOPC) study aims to analyse |
| and compare how primary health care systems in 35 countries perform in terms of |
| quality, costs and equity. The researchers of this study are trying to give an answer to |
| the question what the benefits of primary care are and what effect the strength of a |
| primary care system has on the performance of health care systems. |
| Data have been collected in 31 European countries (26 EU countries, Iceland, Norway, |
| Turkey, Switzerland and Macedonia), Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Data |
| collection focused on three levels: the health care system, the GP practice and |
| patients. Data on the health care system are derived from existing sources, such as |
| the Primary Health Care Activity Monitor (PHAMEU) database [3]. New information |
| has been collected through surveys among GPs (seen as the main providers of |
| primary care) their patients and field workers visiting GP practices. Answers to the |
| questionnaires provide insight into the professional behaviour of GPs and the |
| experiences of patients. |
| The study is co-funded by the European Commission under the so-called “Seventh |
| Framework Programme”, and is carried out by a consortium of six research institutes |
| from Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Slovenia. The study is coordinated |
| by NIVEL, the Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research. |
| Source: [4, 5] |
