Primary Care Isn’t What It Used To Be

What exactly is "primary care"? A few years ago, Marci Nielsen, Ph.D., then-Chief Executive Officer of Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative, described the "key elements" of primary care as "assess, prescribe, and refer" in her keynote presentation, The Evolution Of Patient-Centered Care & The Future Of Integration In Health Care at one of our executive institutes. The (American Academy of Family Physicians) AAFP definition of primary care is a little more expansive—"Primary care is that care provided by physicians specifically trained for … comprehensive first contact and continuing care for persons with any undiagnosed sign, symptom, or . . .