Primary Care Collaborative (PCC) recently published a press release on new data by the Larry A. Green Center, in collaboration with PCC and 3rd Conversation, showing that primary care is playing a deeper role in vaccination efforts.
According to the release, “And as new strategies are tried to convince significant numbers of unvaccinated Americans to get the shot, the importance of primary care using their trusted relationships with the public to provide outreach and education regarding the vaccine is becoming clearer, with President Biden and his administration stressing primary care’s role.”
Further, “In a survey conducted July 9-13, 2021, more than half (52 percent) of practices reported receiving enough or more than enough vaccines for their patients, and 31 percent are partnering with local organizations or government to prioritize people for vaccination.”
Now that the supply of vaccinations is flowing to primary care, clinicians are finding that the challenge lies with getting the shots into patients’ arms. “More than half of the survey’s respondents—53 percent—note that hesitancy among unvaccinated patients is high and hard to counter.”
Additionally, the survey asked clinicians about stress levels. “Primary care practices have seen an easing of stress recently after the intense surges of COVID cases in 2020 and early 2021. A large majority of respondents—76 percent—rank the strain on their practice from COVID-19-related changes and pressures on the low or moderate end of the scale (1, 2, or 3 on a 5-point scale). However, more than one in three (36 percent) say they are constantly lethargic, find it hard to find joy in anything, and/or struggle at times to maintain clear thinking.”
That said, “The fatigue reflected in the survey data shows potential threats to the primary care workforce or the existence of the sector itself. Forty percent of respondents say they worry that primary care will be gone in five years, and 21 percent say they expect to leave primary care within three years.”
Christine Bechtel, co-founder of 3rd Conversation, a community of patients and clinicians, was quoted saying that “Primary care is the front door to the healthcare system for most Americans, and the door is coming off its hinges. The fact that 40 percent of clinicians are worried about the future of primary care is of deep concern, and it’s time for new public policies that value primary care for the common good that it is. Policymakers need look no further than the recent National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report on primary care, which provides a road map to primary care’s future.”
The release states the responses in the survey came from “702 respondents from 46 states and three territories. Specialization: 69 percent family medicine; six percent pediatrics; 14 percent internal medicine; four percent geriatrics; seven percent other. Clinician type: 71 percent MD; six percent DO; 14 percent NP; three percent PA; six percent other. Settings: 22 percent community health centers or similar; 20 percent rural. Practice size: 29 percent had one to three clinicians; 44 percent had 10 or more clinicians. Ownership: 30 percent self-owned; 39 percent system-owned, six percent government; five percent membership-based.”
PCC was founded in 2006 and is a not-for-profit multi-stakeholder membership organization dedicated to advancing an effective and efficient health system built on a strong foundation of primary care and the patient-centered medical home.
The Larry A. Green Center for the Advancement of Primary Healthcare for the Public Good is a research group founded by Rebecca Etz, Ph.D. at Virginia Commonwealth University and Kurt Stange, M.D., Ph.D. at Case Western Reserve University.
3rd Conversation is a national initiative reimagining the future of healthcare by reinventing the clinician-patient relationship for the modern era. 3rd Conversation is powered by X4 Health and funding support is provided by the Morris-Singer Foundation and the New York State Health Foundation.
