Primary Care

Primary care is the initial point of contact between a patient and the healthcare system that provides individuals with access to the information and resources they need for optimal health outcomes.

What is Primary Care?

Primary care is the initial point of contact between a patient and the healthcare system that provides individuals with access to the information and resources they need for optimal health outcomes.

Choosing a Primary Care Provider

Benefits of Primary Health Care

Strategies to Improve Shortage of Primary Health Care

Benefits of Primary Care Intervention

Multidisciplinary Primary Care Teams

Effective Communication in Primary Care Teams

Latest Primary Care News and Research

Innovative testing protocol reduces the lengthy wait for IBD diagnosis

Patients with suspected inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) could benefit from better testing protocols that would reduce the need and lengthy wait for potentially unnecessary colonoscopies, a new study has found.

16 Apr 2024

SARS-COV-2 infection not linked to increased risk of asthma development in pediatric patients

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many families worried about the long-term effects posed by the SARS-COV-2 virus.

13 Apr 2024

Vosoritide's first phase 2 study shows increased growth in children with hypochondroplasia

Vosoritide's first global phase 2 study showed an average increased growth rate of 1.8 cm per year in children with hypochondroplasia, a genetic cause of short stature in children, according to researchers from Children's National Hospital.

13 Apr 2024

Older adults embrace non-traditional medical care, poll finds

When today's older adults were growing up, urgent care centers and clinics inside retail stores didn't exist. But most of them have now embraced these non-traditional sites for getting medical care, a new national poll finds.

13 Apr 2024

Global increase in deaths from viral hepatitis revealed in WHO report

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) 2024 Global Hepatitis Report, the number of lives lost due to viral hepatitis is increasing.

10 Apr 2024

PHMC Health Center on Cedar: A new hub for community health in West Philadelphia

Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC), a nonprofit public health institute that creates and sustains healthier communities, has opened the PHMC Health Center on Cedar, a federally qualified health center (FQHC) located inside the PHMC Public Health Campus on Cedar at 54th Street and Cedar Avenue in West Philadelphia.

9 Apr 2024

Poor oral health linked to negative long-term systemic health outcomes

Those who report having poor oral health are as likely to have negative long-term systemic health outcomes as those previously diagnosed with periodontal disease, or gum disease, according to a new Tufts University School of Dental Medicine study published in The Journal of the American Dental Association.

8 Apr 2024

Healthy eating, physical activity, and medication: Type 2 diabetes patients' willingness to engage varies

The willingness to engage in various management options for T2D among recently diagnosed patients.

8 Apr 2024

Study evaluates the feasibility of discontinuing CLL specialist care

A study published today in Blood Advances showed that among patients in Denmark who had slow-growing chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) with no symptoms and a low risk for ever needing treatment, those who stopped seeing their doctors for specialized follow-up had fewer hospital visits, fewer infections, and similar survival after three years compared to those who continued to undergo specialized follow-up.

4 Apr 2024

Researchers call for policy changes to address perinatal mental health disparities

A team of researchers is calling for comprehensive changes to U.S. health care and social policies to improve diagnosis and treatment of perinatal mental health conditions and mitigate the dramatic disparities that put women of color at significantly greater risks of morbidity and mortality compared with white women.

3 Apr 2024

Healthcare professionals struggle to address childhood obesity due to training gap

Doctors are feeling unable to tackle growing problem of childhood obesity due to a lack of training and capacity according to new research.

2 Apr 2024

More patients are losing their doctors — and trust in the primary care system

First, her favorite doctor in Providence, Rhode Island, retired. Then her other doctor at a health center a few miles away left the practice.

2 Apr 2024

Rapid increase seen in the diagnosis and treatment of perinatal mental health problems

Mental health issues during pregnancy or the first year of parenthood have a much greater chance of getting detected and treated now than just over a decade ago, a trio of new studies suggests.

1 Apr 2024

Kennedy Krieger Institute sheds light on autism management in Pediatric Clinics journal

Researchers at Kennedy Krieger Institute are sharing their expertise on autism spectrum disorder in a medical journal reaching thousands of pediatric professionals worldwide.

1 Apr 2024

Hospitals cash in on a private equity-backed trend: Concierge physician care

Nonprofit hospitals created largely to serve the poor are adding concierge physician practices, charging patients annual membership fees of $2,000 or more for easier access to their doctors.

1 Apr 2024

How primary care is being disrupted: A video primer

How patients are seeing their doctor is changing, and that could shape access to and quality of care for decades to come.

1 Apr 2024

Green environments linked to lower depression and anxiety risk, study finds

Comprehensive study found that prolonged exposure to green environments is associated with a reduced risk of developing depression and anxiety, suggesting air pollution as a significant pathway for this protective effect.

31 Mar 2024

Study explores factors contributing to rural-urban difference in cervical cancer screening

Study reveals English proficiency, income, and area-level unemployment are among the influential factors and highlights need for tailored interventions to increase screening rates.

30 Mar 2024

Prescribing AUD medication at hospital discharge lowers risk of readmission

For adults hospitalized for alcohol-related reasons, receiving a prescription for an alcohol use disorder (AUD) medication at the time of discharge may lower their risk of return to hospital within 30 days of discharge, including emergency room visits and readmissions.

29 Mar 2024

Your doctor or your insurer? Little-known rules may ease the choice in Medicare Advantage

Bart Klion, 95, and his wife, Barbara, faced a tough choice in January: The upstate New York couple learned that this year they could keep either their private, Medicare Advantage insurance plan — or their doctors at Saratoga Hospital.

29 Mar 2024