Millbank Memorial Fund 2/22/2023

Abstract

The 2021 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) report Implementing High-Quality Primary Care: Rebuilding the Foundation of Health Care proposed the development of a scorecard to better monitor and ensure accountability for progress toward high-quality primary care in the United States. This first national primary care scorecard finds a chronic lack of adequate support for the implementation of high-quality primary care in the United States across all measures, although performance varies across states. The scorecard finds:

1. Financing: The United States is systemically underinvesting in primary care.
2. Workforce: The primary care physician workforce is shrinking and gaps in access to care appear to be growing.
3. Access: The percentage of adults reporting they do not have a usual source of care is increasing.
4. Training: Too few physicians are being trained in community settings, where most primary care takes place.
5. Research: There is almost no federal funding available for primary care research.

Given declining life expectancy, racial and ethnic health disparities, the current epidemic of mental health needs, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and other nationwide issues that primary care can help address, these findings represent an urgent call to policymakers and other stakeholders. It is time to accelerate adoption of policies that will demonstrably increase investment in high-quality primary care, create a robust primary care workforce, and enable analysis and learning around the impact of primary care.

The Health of US Primary Care Baseline Scorecard Data Dashboard

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