Revitalizing Primary Care, Part 2: Hopes for the Future

Abstract

Part 1 of this essay argued that the root causes of primary care’s problems lie in (1) the low percent of national health expenditures dedicated to primary care and (2) overly large patient panels that clinicians without a team are unable to manage, leading to widespread burnout and poor patient access. Part 2 explores policies and practice changes that could solve or mitigate these primary care problems.

Initiatives attempting to improve primary care are discussed. Diffuse multi-component initiatives—patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs), accountable care organizations (ACOs), and Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+)—have had limited success in addressing primary care’s core problems. More focused initiatives—care management, open access, and telehealth—offer more promise.

To truly revitalize primary care, 2 fundamental changes are needed: (1) a substantially greater percent of health expenditures dedicated to primary care, and (2) the building of powerful teams that add capacity to care for large panels while reducing burnout.

Part 2 of the essay reviews 3 approaches to increasing primary care spending: state-level legislation, eliminating Medicare’s disparity between primary care and procedural specialty reimbursement, and efforts by health systems. The final section of Part 2 addresses the building of powerful core and interprofessional teams.