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

Study questions effectiveness of physician associates in primary care and anesthetic roles

Researchers say they can find no convincing evidence that physician associates add value in UK primary care or that anesthetic associates add value in anesthetics, and some evidence suggested that they do not.

7 Mar 2025

Breakthrough discovery offers hope for more effective malaria treatment

Antimalarial drug resistance is a pressing issue in combating the spread of malaria worldwide. In a new study, researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) discovered a key process where malarial parasites take up a human blood cell enzyme, which could provide a new approach for antimalarial treatment.

6 Mar 2025

Misdiagnosis of autoimmune diseases leads to long-term patient impact

A 'chasm of misunderstanding and miscommunication' is often experienced between clinicians and patients, leading to autoimmune diseases such as lupus and vasculitis being wrongly diagnosed as psychiatric or psychosomatic conditions, with a profound and lasting impact on patients, researchers have found.

4 Mar 2025

One-third of older Canadians face nutrition risks and health concerns

One-third of Canadian adults aged 55 or older are nutritionally at risk, potentially leading to increased hospital stays, more emergency visits and physician consultations for possible infections, a new study found.

4 Mar 2025

One-hour glucose tolerance test could revolutionize postpartum diabetes screening

Caring for a baby is a full-time job, often causing new mothers to overlook their own health needs. This situation is exemplified by the low compliance with postpartum glucose screening among women who had gestational diabetes-a condition that significantly increases their risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.

3 Mar 2025

Urgent action needed to address emergency and surgical care gaps

Integrated emergency, critical, and surgical care must be strengthened and scaled up globally, warn authors of a new paper (1) published in the March issue of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

3 Mar 2025

States facing doctor shortages ease licensing rules for foreign-trained physicians

A growing number of states have made it easier for doctors who trained in other countries to get medical licenses, a shift supporters say could ease physician shortages in rural areas.

3 Mar 2025

A runner was hit by a car, then by a surprise ambulance bill

Jagdish Whitten was on a run in July 2023 when a car hit him as he crossed a busy San Francisco street. Whitten, then 25, described doing "a little flip" over the vehicle and landing in the street before getting himself to the curb.

28 Feb 2025

Wealth disparities impact telehealth access for mental health care

A new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that mental health visits for patients with depression from high-wealth neighborhoods in Maryland were significantly more likely to happen via telehealth compared to patients with depression from low-wealth neighborhoods in Maryland from mid-2021 through mid-2024.

27 Feb 2025

Genetic study demonstrates fat-selective weight loss with GLP-1 agonist use

Diabetes and obesity have become pressing health issues worldwide. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, a class of medications widely used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2D), have shown significant effectiveness in both lowering blood sugar levels and aiding weight loss due to their unique pharmacological mechanisms.

25 Feb 2025

Study finds variations in prostate cancer detection across GP practices

A largescale study has found huge variation between GP practices on whether they are likely to pick up prostate cancer using a blood test.

24 Feb 2025

Telehealth and primary care providers deliver effective diabetes treatment

Researchers at The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital, have found that people with diabetes can achieve the same positive results using advanced insulin technology when trained by their primary care providers (PCPs) or through telehealth as they would by seeing a specialist in person.

24 Feb 2025

Telemedicine adoption leads to fewer low-value medical tests

Low-value care-medical tests and procedures that provide little to no benefit to patients-contributes to excess medical spending and both direct and cascading harms to patients.

24 Feb 2025

Why over 5 billion people still lack access to life-saving medical oxygen

The Lancet Global Health Commission highlights severe inequities in medical oxygen access, urging systemic reforms to ensure universal availability and affordability.

23 Feb 2025

AI 'scribe' technology decreases documentation burden for clinicians

When doctors teamed with an artificial intelligence tool that "listened" in and took notes on patient visits, the tool significantly decreased the time providers spent interacting with patients' notes instead of with the patients themselves.

22 Feb 2025

FDA-approved devices used to treat cardiovascular diseases

Heart disease, also called cardiovascular disease, can have serious consequences. It's the leading cause of death for adults in the U.S. Medical devices approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, such as pacemakers and defibrillators, have extended and improved the lives of millions of people living with heart disease.

21 Feb 2025