Here, There, Primary Care

Primary care is reaching its breaking point. Brick-and-mortar locations are becoming as rare as a doctor with legible handwriting and retail health clinics continue to struggle to find their footing. Primary care practices are grappling with a growing labor shortage, rising costs, burnout, and the pressure to adopt value-based care models. Medical students are ditching family, pediatric and internal medicine specialties, lured by the siren song, and bigger paycheck, promised by more specialized fields and tech-forward concierge clinics. The result? More primary care deserts on the map, disproportionately impacting our most vulnerable populations. What’s the solution? Can AI save us from a future where your annual physical is conducted by a vending machine? Perhaps, or maybe the solution is hiding in plain sight, with expanded roles for PAs and nurse practitioners, and specialty care clinics and grocers jumping in to fill the gap. It may not look like your mother’s primary care, but if we are closing gaps and providing for patients, it’s good with us!