Primary Care Access for All: A Roadmap for Addressing the Primary Care Crisis in Rhode Island

Primary care in Rhode Island is in crisis. The dearth of primary care providers is already affecting access to services and the situation is likely to worsen unless major steps are taken. There are inadequate numbers of trainees in primary care medical residencies, nurse practitioner (NP) and physician assistant (PA) training programs who plan to practice primary care in our state. The Care Transformation Collaborative of RI (CTC-RI) has assembled a broadly representative task force of physicians, NPs, PAs, and others to build a strong and robust primary care delivery system across the state that recruits, trains, retains, and sustains primary care providers. Study Methods and Design: Program directors from all primary care medical residencies, NP, and PA programs were asked to provide data on their programs, including the number of new trainees per year, total enrollment, and information on recent year graduates, including the total number, the number entering primary care, and the number entering primary care who plan to practice in RI.

Of the 106 graduates from primary care residencies in RI in academic year 2002-23, only 15 (14%) planned to provide primary care in Rhode Island. Similarly, of the 144 NP and PA graduates in primary care programs, only 48 (33%) planned to provide primary care in the state.

Given the high rate of primary care provider burnout, reduction in patient care hours, and retirement, primary care access will be further eroded unless major steps are taken. The CTC-RI Task Force on Primary Care Provider Workforce has produced a strategic roadmap to address these issues.