Becker's Healthcare October 30, 2024
Norfolk, Va.-based Sentara Health is implementing a new primary care model that it expects will significantly expand access to care.
The team-based, physician-led model pairs one physician with two advanced practice providers and offloads administrative tasks to other supportive roles, such as medical assistants and clinical pharmacists. Each APP added to the team is estimated to expand primary care capacity by 70%.
That estimate comes from a simple calculation: Primary care physicians at the health system typically care for around 1,500 unique patients, while APPs manage about 1,100. Adding the two equals 2,600, marking a 70% increase, Steven Pearman, MD, vice president and chief medical officer of primary care at Sentara, told Becker’s.
“There will always be a need for...
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