The ecology of Multidisciplinary group practice in primary care: Multilevel governance

Abstract

The professional healthcare services in primary care are provided in many countries by multiprofessional health centers. In France, few frontline health professionals practice within similar structures. Nevertheless, the promotion of such multiprofessional organizations is a major priority and a key component of Health policies, strongly linked to the reform of hospital services. The aim of the current issue is to study the implementation of Multidisciplinary group practices (Maisons de santé pluri-professionnelles MSP) under two different but complementary aspects. The first concerns the internal governance of those centers in a public policies’ analysis approach. The second is related to the dynamics of professional groups in the theoretical perspective of linked ecologies. The six original research articles included in this issue focus on the following issues: the role played by the French Federation of Multidisciplinary Health Houses (Fédération Française des Maisons et Pôles de Santé, known by the acronym FFMPS) (Vezinat); the implementation of a training program (so called Pacte) dedicated to PC team coordinators as a new form of regulation of primary care activities (Schweyer), the monitoring of the creation of MSP by consulting firms (Bourgeois), the strengths and weaknesses of four multidisciplinary group practices or how working in a team while adjusting to policies (Fournier), the role of pharmacists in primary care (Buttard, Macé, Morvan, Peyron) and the patients and informal caregivers point of view on interdisciplinary primary care networks (Fernandez, Leborgne-Uguen, Pedrot).