Why Investing in Primary Care Is a Key Part of the Solution for Our Healthcare Crisis

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The healthcare system is broken — but that doesn’t surprise you. That fact is so agreed upon now that you probably tuned out before you finished that sentence. Benefits leaders are well aware, having found that out as they see their organization’s healthcare costs go up…and up…and up. What we really need now — is a fix. Luckily, we have one: primary care, but it’s being neglected and is suffering as a result.
 
But before discussing the fix, it’s worth asking, “How is the U.S. healthcare system doing? Poorly. The Peter G. Peterson Foundation’s U.S. Healthcare Spending infographic shows that U.S. healthcare spending is nearly twice that of other wealthy countries, but our outcomes are often worse. Our life expectancy is falling, government spending on healthcare is up, and workers and employers are paying more in contributions to premiums and total premiums for family coverage¹.

So, everyone is paying more, but we’re getting unhealthier. What’s the fix? Would you be surprised if the answer is something that has been around since the 1960s? The answer is primary care. Primary care is the only healthcare service where the higher its use and the more we invest in it, the better the health outcomes and the lower the costs. It is a fundamental public good.

But it’s in decline. The number of people in the U.S. without sufficient access to primary care is increasing. In fact, 80 million Americans report insufficient access to primary care, including 28.7% of adults and 13.6% of children who do not have a “usual source of healthcare”.⁷

To sum up, the U.S. spends more yet has worse outcomes. Primary care is part of the solution, but it is in decline. So, what do we do? We need to invest more in primary care to revitalize a key element of healthcare.

Patients with good primary care access report better physical health (+8%) and mental health (+10%) than those without.² Patients who visit primary care physicians (PCPs) regularly and have continuity with the same PCP have 16% lower hospitalizations & 15% lower costs. ^{3, 4} Every 10 additional PCPs per 100,000 population increases life expectancy by 2 months and reduces cardiovascular, cancer, and respiratory mortality risk by 0.9-1.4%.^5,6

We need to invest more in primary care. Primary care can address many healthcare needs on its own, and is a key support for more complex diagnoses, especially when the care model focuses on holistic health, such as mental health, wellness, and referral management.

More specifically, we need to invest in the model of advanced primary care. Advanced primary care, built on a framework of improving access and experience for both patients and providers, can transform the health of employer populations. For instance, at Marathon Health, we have a 90% provider retention rate. While burnout is reaching crisis levels in traditional healthcare, our providers stay the course, allowing them to build deeper relationships with their patients and provide better care.

Empowering our care teams is one of the most important steps to revitalizing primary care.

We’ve also seen our advanced primary care model lead to improved health outcomes, less reliance on medications and specialists, reduced healthcare spending, and better experiences for everyone involved.

We believe better experiences, improved outcomes, and significant healthcare cost reduction will come with investments in advanced primary care. Learn more about how our model works at Marathon Health and how you can start investing in the health and future of your organization.

Sources
¹ KFF Employer Health Benefits Survey, 2018-2024; Kaiser/HRET Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Benefits, 1999-2017
² The Health of US Primary Care: 2024 Scorecard Report; https://www.milbank.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Milbank-Scorecard-2024-ACCESS_v06.pdf
³ Health Serv Res. 2002 Jun;37(3):529–550
⁴ The Annals of Family Medicine Nov 2018, 16 (6) 492-497
⁵ JAMA Intern Med 2019 Apr 1;179(4):506-514.
⁶ JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(8):e2329991
⁷ American Journal of Public Health, 91(9), 1313-1319.

Nirav Vakharia, MD, serves as Chief Health Officer and is responsible for the clinical strategy development and management of Marathon Health’s population health model of care.