Publications

Using the most up to date data available, we present the first edition of the Family Medicine Factbook, a curated series of basic analyses intended to provide a broad perspective on family medicine and family physicians themselves. We hope that patients, physicians, payors, policymakers, and advocates will benefit from learning more about this keystone specialty of U.S. primary care, gaining a better understanding of the physicians’ geographic distribution, the populations served and services provided, their team-based care leadership and the challenges faced in the course of their work. We welcome your feedback, as we hope this is but the first in a series of data-driven insights into the contributions of the family medicine workforce.

Higher continuity of care has consistently been linked to better patient outcomes, and health care systems should consider ways to better the practice, according to researchers. Continuity of care — the ongoing relationship between patients and their physicians and a core attribute of high-quality primary care — plays an essential role in positive outcomes, Andrew Bazemore, MD, MPH, senior vice president of research and policy for the American Board of Family Medicine, and colleagues wrote in Annals of Family Medicine. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of these continuous, trusting relationships as disinformation and patient distrust spread, they added.

While the roll-up of private medical practices isn’t new, the growing scale of these buyouts is likely to lead to a host of other changes in the way U.S. families interact with their doctors. What’s at stake is no less than how Americans will get their primary care—and whether they’ll have trusted healthcare teams capable of helping them with their whole health needs (e.g., physical, mental, social), including but not limited to acute, chronic, and prevention care issues.