How Primary Care Is Being Disrupted: A Video Primer

How patients are seeing their doctor is changing, and that could shape access to and quality of care for decades to come.

More than 100 million Americans don’t have regular access to primary care, a number that has nearly doubled since 2014. Yet demand for primary care is up, spurred partly by record enrollment in Affordable Care Act plans. Under pressure from increased demand, consolidation, and changing patient expectations, the model of care no longer means visiting the same doctor for decades.

KFF Health News senior correspondent Julie Appleby breaks down what is happening — and what it means for patients.

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Hannah Norman Video producer and animator Oona Zenda Illustrator and creative director

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

<h1>How Primary Care Is Being Disrupted: A Video Primer</h1>
<div>	<span class="byline">Julie Appleby, KFF Health News and Hannah Norman, KFF Health News and Oona Zenda</span>
		<time class="posted-on" datetime="2024-04-01T05:00:00-04:00">
			April 1, 2024		</time>
		</div>
<p>How patients are seeing their doctor is changing, and that could shape access to and quality of care for decades to come.</p><p>More than 100 million Americans don’t have regular access to primary care, a number that has nearly doubled since 2014. Yet demand for primary care is up, spurred partly by record enrollment in Affordable Care Act plans. Under pressure from increased demand, consolidation, and changing patient expectations, the model of care no longer means visiting the same doctor for decades.</p><p>KFF Health News senior correspondent Julie Appleby breaks down what is happening — and what it means for patients.</p>		<h3>		Credits	</h3>							Hannah Norman	Video producer and animator																Oona Zenda	Illustrator and creative director													<ul><li><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/primary-care-disrupted-video-primer/?share=x">				Click to share on X (Opens in new window)				X			</a></li><li><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/primary-care-disrupted-video-primer/?share=facebook">				Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)				Facebook			</a></li><li><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/primary-care-disrupted-video-primer/?share=linkedin">				Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)				LinkedIn			</a></li><li><a href="mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%20How%20Primary%20Care%20Is%20Being%20Disrupted%3A%20A%20Video%20Primer&body=https%3A%2F%2Fkffhealthnews.org%2FMTgzMjYyNQ&share=email">				Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)				Email			</a></li><li><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/primary-care-disrupted-video-primer/#print?share=print">				Click to print (Opens in new window)				Print			</a></li><li>				<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/primary-care-disrupted-video-primer/view/republish/">					Republish This Story				</a>			</li></ul><em><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/about-us">KFF Health News</a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about <a href="https://www.kff.org/about-us">KFF</a>.</em><p><a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/morning-briefing/">Subscribe</a> to KFF Health News' free Morning Briefing.</p><p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/primary-care-disrupted-video-primer/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://kffhealthnews.org">KFF Health News</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://kffhealthnews.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/kffhealthnews-icon.png?w=150" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://kffhealthnews.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=1832625&amp;ga4=G-J74WWTKFM0" style="width:1px;height:1px;"></p>

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