Wayne Altman, professor and chair of family medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, presented his proposal to fix Massachusetts’ primary care system in Newton’s Programs and Services Committee meeting on Wednesday.

Altman’s proposal, “Primary Care for You” (PC4You), addresses the system’s inadequate investment in primary care.

“Primary care access is abysmal,” Altman said. “Good luck if you lose your primary care doctor, trying to find a new one. Even if you have a primary care doctor, good luck trying to get an appointment. The supply is inadequate.”

Many of the current doctors are retiring early, leaving the field, or working fewer hours, according to Altman. He added that there are fewer medical students choosing to go into primary care, meaning the workforce is shrinking faster than it’s growing.

“Of the 700 medical students that graduated last month, 4 percent went to family medicine,” Altman said. “Just 4 percent.”

Altman explained that since many are without access to primary care, they visit the emergency room for non-emergencies. The influx of people to the emergency room drives up healthcare costs.

“The amount of money that families, employers, employees, and municipalities are contributing to health care is going up at a dramatically higher rate than inflation or median household income,” said Altman.

He emphasized that the increased amount of emergency room visits puts strain on hospitals, leading to overcrowding and overall inefficiency. 

“It turns out that about 40 percent, at least, of emergency department visits didn’t need to be there,” Altman said. “I went to the emergency room at Lahey a couple of years ago. There were 85 people in the waiting room waiting to be seen.”

Altman stressed that the lack of a sufficient number of primary care physicians contributes to widening the health disparities. People who lack consistent access to doctors will delay treatment, leading to worse health outcomes.

“I like to call this the primary care triple superpower,” Altman said. “Primary care is the only aspect of healthcare that improves health and increases equity while lowering the overall cost of care.”

He highlighted that even though primary care brings many benefits to people, there seems to be little to no investment by the United States when compared to its peer nations.

“We only invest in Massachusetts, and nationwide, about five or six cents of every dollar on primary healthcare,” Altman said. “Dollar on primary care for our peer nations, 15 cents for every dollar is invested with way better outcomes.”

To help in solving these issues with primary care, the committee voted on a motion to endorse state bills that support this access to necessary care. Bills H.2537, S.867, and H.1370 focus on primary care access and addressing the rising costs of care.

“Doubling primary care investment, paying primary care clinicians per patient instead of per visit, no copays and no deductibles with primary care,” Altman said. “Financially incentivizing better primary care, removing health insurance from primary care, and the establishment of the Massachusetts Primary Care Task Force.”