Primary Care COVID-19 Check-up: Physicians Remain Steady, but Challenges Mount

As coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccinations become available to more Americans, “Primary care is now a key means for getting shots in Americans’ arms, just as practices are facing pent-up patient demand for care and worsening mental health and social vulnerabilities,” said Ann Greiner, president and CEO of Primary Care Collaborative (PCC), in a recent press release on the latest PCC national survey of primary care physicians.

The PCC has been tracking primary care sentiment since the start of the pandemic, and over 650 primary care clinicians responded to the latest survey, conducted between April 9 and April 13, 2021. The survey reveals that while primary care physicians are keeping up with the influx of vaccinations, they also face worsening mental health, vacant clinician job openings, inadequate vaccine supplies, and more. In the slides below, find more survey results at-a-glance.