Medicare Fee-For-Service Spending For Primary Care Ranges From 2% To 5%

Care provided by primary care professionals accounts for a small percentage of total spending among Medicare beneficiaries. Depending on whether “narrow” or “broad” definitions of primary care professionals and services are used, primary care spending represents 2.12% to 4.88% of fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare beneficiaries' total medical and prescription spending. The study classified primary care professionals according to a narrow definition that included only family practice, internal medicine, pediatric medicine, and general practice physicians, and a broad definition that included the professionals in the narrow, as well as nurse practitioners, physician assistants, geriatric medicine, and gynecology. Primary . . .