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.

Effective Communication in Primary Care Teams

Strategies to Improve Shortage of Primary Health Care

Benefits of Primary Health Care

Benefits of Primary Care Intervention

Multidisciplinary Primary Care Teams

Choosing a Primary Care Provider

Latest Primary Care News and Research

Study reveals significant gaps in MMR vaccine knowledge among ER patients

Measles remains one of the most contagious infectious diseases, spread through coughing and sneezing, with even small declines in vaccination coverage leading to outbreaks. As of 2026, California has reported its highest annual measles case count in seven years. In response to this growing concern, researchers have begun examining gaps in measles-related knowledge and vaccination coverage.

20 Apr 2026

Short-term and cumulative exposure to air pollution tied to increased migraine activity

Air pollution is associated with increased migraine activity, according to a study published on April 15, 2026, in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

17 Apr 2026

Therapy access could tackle joblessness

Expanding access to NHS Talking Therapies may help reduce the long-term economic inactivity faced by people with entrenched mental health problems, University of Manchester researchers say.

17 Apr 2026

Older adults show high willingness for Alzheimer’s blood tests

Northwestern University psychologist Andrea Russell sees older adults with early cognitive impairment riddled with anxiety. Some worry a missed word or forgotten appointment could signal Alzheimer's disease.

15 Apr 2026

New RNA sequencing method improves rare disease diagnosis

Researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) developed a new RNA sequencing strategy that can reveal how genetic variants disrupt gene function and improve the diagnosis of rare diseases.

15 Apr 2026

Rural Nebraska dialysis unit closes despite the state’s $219M in rural health funding

The sun was just warming the horizon as Mark Pieper left his house near his cattle ranch on a crisp February morning.

15 Apr 2026

Behavioral design project aims to reduce benzodiazepine overuse

The widespread use of benzodiazepines - better known as sleeping pills or anxiety medication - among the population has become a serious public health issue.

14 Apr 2026

Retail pharmacies fill less than 2% of mifepristone orders

Just a fraction of prescriptions for the abortion pill mifepristone were filled at brick-and-mortar retail pharmacies after federal drug regulators lifted longstanding dispensing limits, according to a new USC study in JAMA.

13 Apr 2026

How to make a high-deductible health plan work for you

An elementary school teacher chose a low-price health insurance plan but soon realized she wasn't clear about what it would mean for her family's finances.

13 Apr 2026

Community health centers maintained care continuity during COVID-19 pandemic

As the COVID-19 pandemic upended virtually every aspect of people's lives, one critical question loomed large for millions of low-income and underserved healthcare patients: Would they still be able to see their own doctor?

13 Apr 2026

Dietitians report widely different strategies for FODMAP food reintroduction in IBS

A national survey of 145 registered dietitians found wide variation in how the low FODMAP diet’s reintroduction phase is delivered, especially in dosing, timing, sequencing, and follow-up. The findings suggest that clearer, evidence-based protocols could improve consistency while still allowing individualized care.

12 Apr 2026

Tulane study shows team approach improves hypertension treatment success

High blood pressure is treatable through medications and lifestyle changes but remains a leading cause of death in the United States.

9 Apr 2026

Flu vaccines protect children well across Europe, but H3N2 remains harder to stop

Influenza vaccination provided strong real-world protection for children in European primary care across two seasons, with overall vaccine effectiveness of 68% in 2022–2023 and 71% in 2023–2024. Protection was highest against influenza B and H1N1, while H3N2 showed lower and more variable effectiveness, supporting the need for higher uptake and continued monitoring.

8 Apr 2026

New obesity definition could delay treatment and widen health gaps

The Lancet obesity framework aims to improve risk assessment but risks delaying treatment and deepening health inequities, according to recent evaluations.

7 Apr 2026

Remote monitoring technology helps Brooklyn resident manage high blood pressure

When 57-year-old Brooklyn resident Timothy Rhonda visited Park Ridge Family Health Center at NYU Langone with dangerously high blood pressure, he worried he might once again end up in the hospital.

6 Apr 2026

Immigrant seniors lose Medicare coverage despite paying for it

Rosa María Carranza leaned forward to hold a 3-year-old's back as the girl climbed a rock in the forested hills of northeast Oakland.

6 Apr 2026

Study finds gaps in preventive care for women with diabetes

Physicians are less likely to provide preventive care such as conception counseling and some cancer screenings to women with diabetes than they do for women without the disease, a UCLA-led study suggests.

3 Apr 2026

Semaglutide for weight loss was linked to a sharp drop in alcohol use in this case report

A 2026 case report describes a 34-year-old man with obesity and alcohol use disorder whose semaglutide treatment for weight loss was associated with a marked drop in drinking over 10 months, with his AUDIT score falling from 27 to 7 and alcohol use dropping from about 15 drinks per week to half a beer per month. The authors frame this as a promising but preliminary finding that adds to growing evidence on GLP-1 drugs and alcohol use, while also stressing that this was a single case and that better AUD screening in family medicine remains important.

2 Apr 2026

Sleep apnea raises risk of cardiovascular events and death

New research to be presented at this year's European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2026, Istanbul, Turkey, 12-15 May) shows that those living with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) have a 71% higher risk of cardiovascular events (CVEs) or death from any cause (all-cause mortality) compared with those not living with OSA.

2 Apr 2026

Northumbria University spinout earns CE mark for breath sampling device

A medical device company spun out of Northumbria University has reached a significant milestone — receiving CE marking for a breath sampling platform that peer-reviewed research has demonstrated can reliably collect saliva-free exhaled breath condensates (EBC) from the deep lung, making it the first technology of its type to achieve this distinction.

2 Apr 2026