The Evolving Family Medicine Team.

Area of Science:

• Primary Care Medicine
• Health Services Research
• Healthcare Team Dynamics

Background:

• Healthcare transformation and payment reforms underscore the importance of team-based primary care.
• Limited data exists on the evolving composition of primary care teams over time.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate changes in the inter-professional team composition of primary care practices.
• To analyze trends in family physician collaboration with various healthcare professionals.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of survey data from Family Physicians (FPs) conducted between 2014 and 2018.
• Tracking the presence and proportion of inter-professional team members working with FPs.

Main Results:

• Family physicians consistently work with inter-professional team members.
• A slow but steady increase was observed in the proportion of FPs collaborating with nurses, behaviorists, clinical pharmacists, and social workers.
• These findings suggest gradual shifts in primary care team structures.

Conclusions:

• Primary care team composition is undergoing gradual evolution.
• The findings support the continued integration of diverse healthcare professionals into primary care settings.
• Further research is warranted to understand the long-term impact of these team composition changes.