this chapter seeks to build on the earlier review by detailing the case for primary care and providing policy recommendations to develop a stronger primary care sector barbara starfield the foremost expert on primary care states primary care is the provision of firstcontact personfocused ongoing care over time that meets the healthoriented needs of people referring only those too uncommon to maintain competence and coordinates care when people receive services at other levels of care a primary care team would do such things as offering health promotion and disease prevention delivering public health services such as vaccinations diagnosing common health problems like hypertension and depression referring and coordinating health care for patients managing their journey through the health system