The results of a recent national survey of primary care clinicians show that primary care’s capacity to triage and treat patients with COVID-19 and other health issues is seriously compromised.
These results come as the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines gets slowly underway while, simultaneously, the virus rages out of control across the country. The survey, conducted in mid-December by the Larry A. Green Center, a research organization, in collaboration with the Primary Care Collaborative and 3rd Conversation, reveals that, while primary care is critical to the vaccines’ distribution, only 5% of practices have a full plan for vaccine distribution.
“If there’s one thing we know for sure about primary care, it’s that it has the trusted relationships with patients that will be essential to achieving the level of vaccination rates that will end this pandemic,” said Christine Bechtel, co-founder of 3rd Conversation, a community of patients and clinicians. “But if federal, state and local leaders don’t act soon to collaborate with primary care and bolster their capacity to vaccinate, we will be in deep trouble,” she said.
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