Harvard Medical School Center for Primary Care

At the Center, our mission is to transform primary care. We envision high value health systems built on a foundation of strong primary care, and are committed to leading progress towards that goal. Our work focuses on the following areas:

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Through our programs in innovation and entrepreneurship, we have worked to collaborate with and train entrepreneurial individuals and teams creating solutions to the most pressing problems in primary care. By infusing enthusiasm and excitement into the primary care innovation space, the Center has breathed new life into the future of primary care at Harvard and helped empower the leaders that will shape the landscape of the industry. In one year, the Center’s innovation work generated two new companies and distributed $119,000 in seed funding.

Education

The Center offers innovative curricula for students, primary care teams, and practice leaders on primary care skills and competencies, innovation, entrepreneurship, teamwork, and leadership. The Center also hosts multiple events each year designed to demonstrate the importance, relevance, and salience of primary care for the community in and around Harvard, thereby strengthening our community and increasing the prominence of the Center. More than 110 students have participated in the Center’s leadership elective and 332 scholarships and grants have been distributed to HMS students.

Original Research

The Center’s original work contributes to the growing body of research on improving primary care practice and education. We develop and share tools that support practice innovation through changes in payment, care processes, or team function. The Center is also creating case studies on exemplary primary care organizations which serve as teaching tools within current programs. To date, the Center has created 44 original publications and 12 original case studies.

Systems Transformation

Since the first days of the Center we have used learning collaboratives to strengthen primary care teams and systems. These collaboratives share best practices, provide coaching, and drive improvement. We also are tackling some of the most vexing challenges facing today’s primary care teams. With the application of new solutions, we are building a better way of delivering primary care for teams and patients. Our collaboratives have delivered 26,363 quality improvement training hours.

Students

The Center for Primary Care Student Leadership Committee (SLC) grew out of the student group that was instrumental in advocating for the creation of the Center. The SLC’s purpose is to empower and train HMS students to become leaders in primary care practice, education, research, advocacy, and community engagement. Each year, student interest in the SLC grows, with nearly 50 applicants applying in recent years.