Strengthening Primary Health Care: The Importance of Payment Reform

COVID-19 has placed additional burdens on our already-strained primary care system. Patients struggle to access care and frequently do not have their needs met, while primary care providers (PCPs) face increasing administrative burden and burnout. During the pandemic, fewer patients sought care while pandemic-related costs for practices increased, putting the primary care system at risk when we need it most. In a recent national survey of primary care providers, less than 30 percent of them said their practice was financially healthy and 29 percent knew of practices that had closed.