Ensuring Adequacy of the Primary Care Workforce: A Public Health Issue

Every useful function of primary care in modern society is predicated on an adequate primary care workforce. Where insufficient numbers of physicians and other health care professionals practice in primary care, the functions of primary care break down, creating negative downstream consequences for society across multiple different measures of health. In the United States, primary care medicine has existed in a shortage state since before the 1950s. This article examines the primary care shortage in its modern context, considering contributors to the primary care shortage, consequences of the shortage, diversity issues, assessment, and regional variation.