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George Rust, MD, MPH, Mollie Melbourne, MPH, MEP, Benedict I. Truman, MD, MPH, Elvan Daniels, MD, MPH, Yvonne Fry-Johnson, MD, MSCR and Thomas Curtin, MD

George Rust, Elvan Daniels, and Yvonne Fry-Johnson are with the National Center for Primary Care, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA. Mollie Melbourne and Thomas Curtin are with the National Association of Community Health Centers, Bethesda, MD. Benedict I. Truman is with the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta.

Correspondence: Correspondence should be sent to George Rust, MD, National Center for Primary Care, Morehouse School of Medicine, 720 Westview Dr, Atlanta, GA 30310 (e-mail: grust{at}msm.edu). Reprints can be ordered at http://www.ajph.org by clicking on the "Reprints/Eprints" link.

An influenza pandemic would have a disproportionately adverse impact on minority populations, the poor, the uninsured, and those living in underserved communities. Primary care practices serving the underserved would face special challenges in an influenza pandemic.

Although not a formalized system, components of the primary care safety net include federally qualified health centers, public hospital clinics, volunteer or free clinics, and some local public health units. In the event of an influenza pandemic, the primary care safety net is needed to treat vulnerable populations and to provide health care surge capacity to prevent the overwhelming of hospital emergency departments.

We examined the strength, capacity, and preparedness of key components of the primary care safety net in responding to pandemic influenza.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. S. Hutchins, B. I. Truman, T. L. Merlin, and S. C. Redd Protecting Vulnerable Populations From Pandemic Influenza in the United States: A Strategic Imperative Am J Public Health, October 1, 2009; 99(S2): S243 - S248. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]