Improving Linkages and Referrals to the Broader Health System : For Equitable Care Amidst Rapid Growth and Urbanization
In the fragmented care systems of rapidly growing cities, patients can get lost in the shuffle. A cornucopia of providers is spread across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, making it difficult to track patients and ensure referral complet...
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| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2019
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/844361560324435589/Improving-Linkages-and-Referrals-to-the-Broader-Health-System-for-Equitable-Care-Amidst-Rapid-Growth-and-Urbanization http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31855 |
| Summary: | In the fragmented care systems of
rapidly growing cities, patients can get lost in the
shuffle. A cornucopia of providers is spread across the
public, private, and nonprofit sectors, making it difficult
to track patients and ensure referral completion. Health
systems may also lack human and infrastructure resources to
meet demand for higher levels of care; where resources are
constrained, the few available specialists and
underdeveloped emergency medical services may mostly cater
to the wealthy, fuelling health inequities. At the same
time, perceptions of low-quality in primary care services
can lead patients to go directly to hospitals for minor
maladies or injuries. Functional referral systems in urban
areas of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) will need
to ensure prompt and appropriate transfer to higher-level
care, supplemented by primary care strengthening to prevent
costly and inefficient self-referrals. |
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