can be revitalized

Primary care is under supported in the United States.

In this New England Journal of Medicine commentary, we make the case for an investment plan for primary care that could include oversight, tools, and resources for rebuilding primary care, with clear accountability vested in a single council and an overarching goal of achieving health equity.

In addition to leadership and accountability, the U.S. government can help revitalize primary care by taking steps to support the Primary Care Extension Program. Cohen, Grumbach and Phillips suggest, in “The value of funding a primary care extension program in the United States,” that the Primary Care Extension program can work synergistically with payment reform, workforce development, and the development of advanced electronic infrastructure to assist primary care practices with workforce redesign and technology implementation as well as create better community linkages that can strengthen vitally important practices - particularly smaller practices - and help them implement advanced primary care approaches and remain viable in a tumultuous health care environment.

To actualize these recommendations and ensure that primary care is treated as a common good (and not a commodity), we must to band together. Grumbach calls us to act. Patients, community members, primary care workers and others must create a social movement to ensure that there is person-centered, primary care for all in the US.

One important and immediate step we can take today — establish a Federal Emergency Primary Care Support Fund. As Sullivan, Etz, Gonzalez et al. show, immediate action is needed; primary care clinicians are experiencing severe staff shortages, financial stress and mental exhaustion, which translates into difficulty providing accessible care.