A primary care network (PCN) organizes multiple primary health care facilities into a collaborative system working together to provide coordinated patient care. The PCN has a central primary care hub facility that supervises and supports satellite primary care spoke facilities throughout a defined geographic region.

This modified hub-and-spoke arrangement aims to expand patient access to primary services while also facilitating efficient referrals across the care continuum, including connections to hospitals. By linking together a referral hub clinic with several satellite clinics, the PCN structure creates an integrated care delivery network centered around primary care providers as the main coordinators of quality, comprehensive, first-contact care for patients within a community.

The goals are seamless information sharing and smooth patient transitions between the PCN’s affiliated sites. Overall, aligning primary care facilities into a PCN model aims to improve access, coordination, efficiency and accountability across a health region’s primary health care system.

The Measuring Networks of Care Programme conducts research on frameworks, tools, technologies that support health systems to bring to the surface robust evidence on the performance of primary care networks and effectiveness of primary care provider networks.