Massachusetts Grapples With Primary care Shortage Despite National Training Expansion
BOSTON – May 24,2025 – The primary care shortage crisis in Massachusetts is worsening despite national efforts. the story begins with a detailed overview of the access crisis, highlighting long wait times. This shortage has been made worse by an aging workforce and a deficit in family medicine residency slots. The article covers various factors that contribute to the challenges.
Massachusetts Grapples With Primary Care Shortage Despite National Training Expansion
Boston faces a significant primary care access crisis, with wait times for new patients reaching at least 40 days, twice as long as in 15 other studied cities. This shortage is exacerbated by the impending retirement of a substantial portion of the primary care workforce.
National Training Expansion: A Drop in the bucket?
Nationally, primary-care training slots, including family medicine, pediatrics, and internal medicine, increased by 877 positions this year, offering up to 20,300 positions. While this increase is welcome, its impact on Massachusetts’ specific challenges remains limited.
Did you know? Massachusetts has more physicians per capita than any other state in the U.S., yet struggles with primary care access.
Despite the high number of physicians in the state, only 22% of Massachusetts medical school graduates were providing primary care six to eight years after graduation, as of 2023.
The family Medicine Imperative
Not all primary-care training programs are equal in producing practicing primary-care physicians.A recent study highlights the disparity:
- 97% of family-medicine residents conclude their training in primary care.
- Only 54% of pediatric residents do so.
- A mere 35% of internal medicine residents end up in primary care.
given their comprehensive training, family-medicine physicians are crucial for addressing the primary care shortage. They are equipped to care for patients across the lifespan, from prenatal to geriatric care.
Massachusetts Lagging in Family Medicine Training
While family medicine accounted for 13.4% of first-year residency positions nationally, Massachusetts offers only 3.9% of its first-year residency slots in family medicine. This discrepancy is concerning, considering that 68.7% of family-medicine graduates continue to work in the state where they trained after graduation.
Pro Tip: States that invest in family medicine residency programs are more likely to retain those physicians and improve primary care access.
The Academic support gap
A significant barrier to expanding family-medicine training in Massachusetts is the lack of academic medical support. With the exception of Boston Medical Centre, Boston’s academic medical centers lack family-medicine departments, where the majority of graduate medical education occurs.
The duty for training primary-care and family-medicine doctors often falls on community-based institutions. Though, these institutions face challenges such as tight profit margins, limited infrastructure, and funding disparities.
A Call to Action: Strengthening Family Medicine in Massachusetts
To address the primary-care crisis, Massachusetts needs to prioritize state-level partnerships between academic institutions and community-based organizations, particularly community health centers.These partnerships should focus on developing infrastructure and funding for new family-medicine residency programs.
academic medical centers must integrate investments in family medicine into their primary-care investment plans.Legislators should also reinstate Medicaid Graduate Medical education funding targeted to support family-medicine training programs.Massachusetts is currently one of only seven states without such funding.
Making Family Medicine More Lasting
To attract more medical students to family medicine, healthcare leaders, educators, and policymakers must work to make the job more sustainable. This includes:
- Statewide policies increasing reimbursements for family-medicine services.
- Streamlining healthcare metrics for wich family-medicine physicians are accountable.
- Reducing administrative burdens through the use of AI for tasks such as completing forms and managing electronic medical records.
Legislative and Executive Efforts
Massachusetts is taking steps to address the primary care crisis. Gov. Maura Healey has prioritized primary care reforms. The Legislature has developed the Primary Care Task Force,focusing on access,delivery,and financial sustainability.Legislative hearings have been held on senator Cindy Friedman’s Primary Care for You bill.
However, immediate action is needed. Legislators, payers, hospitals, and community health centers must collaborate to strengthen and grow the family-medicine workforce, build a stronger pipeline, and invest in a healthcare system that promotes a healthier Commonwealth.
