Closing the primary care gap: How community health centers can address the nation’s primary care crisis (February 2023)

Summary

The estimated number of Americans who are medically disenfranchised—at risk of lacking access to primary care due to an inadequate supply in their local community—has nearly doubled since 2014. The insufficient number of primary care providers in the United States poses a serious public health threat, leaving nearly one-third of the population vulnerable to preventable chronic diseases and emerging threats like Covid-19 and influenza. This report describes America’s medically disenfranchised population and how, with expanded resources, Community Health Centers can begin to address gaps in primary care.