A primary care physician for every American, science panel urges
Noam N. Levey
The federal government must aggressively bolster primary care and connect more Americans with a dedicated source of care, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine warn in a major report that sounds the alarm about an endangered foundation of the U.S. health system.
The urgently worded report, which comes as internists, family doctors and pediatricians nationwide struggle with the economic fallout of the pandemic, calls for a broad recognition that primary care is a “common good” akin to public education.
The authors recommend that all Americans select a primary care provider or be assigned one, a landmark step that could reorient how care is delivered in the nation’s fragmented medical system.