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Do you have a primary care provider? If you experienced strange symptoms tomorrow, and couldn’t pinpoint the cause, who would you make an appointment with?

Primary care goes by many names. Family care providers, internists, GPs, pediatricians, geriatricians, gerontologists, OB-GYNs, nurse practitioners and physician assistants – they are all primary care providers.

If you have a primary care provider, be thankful. If you don’t have one you see on a regular basis, even if it’s only once every few years, then you need to establish a relationship with one right now. If you don’t, and you need one as soon as next year, you won’t be able to find one who will take you as a new patient.
Why not?

The Primary Care Shortage
Estimates tell us that across the United States, we are short 16,000 primary care physicians. That deficit is expected to grow to 35,000 to 44,000 primary care providers by 2025.

An Aging Population
As the baby-boomer population ages, people who have been able to avoid the need for medical care for decades find their bodies breaking down as they get older. They may never have needed a doctor before – but they do now. They have begun to fill providers’ schedules.

Advances in Medical Science
Medical science has helped us live longer. Years ago, a man might have died of a heart attack at age 50. Today he will more likely survive that heart attack, and as he lives into his 80s with heart disease, he may develop cancer, too. We get older with several, compounded medical problems. Those problems are best coordinated by a primary care physician, requiring additional visits, and fuller schedules.
                                                       
Don’t Forget Health Care Reform
Of course, universal health care, no matter what structure it takes, will only exacerbate the problem of making an appointment with a primary care physician. Millions more people will be able to access care, but no more doctors will be readily available. Massachusetts, where universal health care became law over a year ago, has been feeling this pinch already.

For these reasons and more – if you don’t have a primary care provider, find one today. Ask your friends for names of doctors they like. Then make an appointment for a check-up, even if you believe nothing is wrong with you.

Establish that relationship. It’s a positive step toward your future health and care.

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Learn more about primary care and why you need to find a primary care doctor right away.