The Kaiser Family Foundation Reports on the Shortage of Primary Care Professionals

KFF released a background brief on the need for more primary care professionals in the United States health care market. Primary care professionals include general practitioners, family physicians and pediatricians and often include nurse practitioners, physician assistants among others. The brief notes, "care delivered with an orientation toward primary care has been found to be associated with more effective, equitable, and efficient health services; residents of countries more oriented to primary care report better health at lower costs."

Because very few physicians today choose to enter primary care, sixty million Americans lack adequate access to primary care. The problem stands to grow worse. Fifty years ago half of all doctors were in primary care but today, only 8% of medical school graduates enter family medicine.

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