The State of Primary Care in 2026: What Patient Experience Data Reveals

For more than 30 years of practicing medicine, I’ve believed that primary care is the vital foundation of good health.

But in today’s environment, many primary care physicians are asked to do more with less, and the experience can fall short.  I saw that tension firsthand during nearly two decades in traditional practice. High patient volume and 10- to 15-minute visits often made it difficult to protect the fundamentals: access, time, and prevention.

That challenge is why I co-founded PartnerMD in 2003. Today, we are one of the largest concierge medicine practices in the country, with more than 30 physicians caring for over 12,000 patients across six offices.

And after three decades in medicine, it’s clear the gap between what primary care should be and what many people experience is growing.

To better understand how often those fundamentals show up in real-world primary care, PartnerMD conducted the Primary Care Check-Up, an online self-assessment completed by more than 500 people.

The results were sobering. The average overall score was 45 out of 100. When asked on a scale of 1-10 if they would recommend their doctor to family or friends, the average answer was just 4.8.

Reviewing the findings through the lens of three decades in medicine, four takeaways stood out:

1. Access is foundational to good medicine.

2. Time determines how well physicians know their patients.

3. Wellness and prevention require more than good intentions.

4. Long-term health goals are rarely central to care, but they should be. 

Each of these areas is central to good primary care, and each deserves closer examination.

1. Access is foundational to good medicine.

In nearly two decades of traditional practice, I saw how quickly primary care becomes reactive when patients cannot get in soon enough or reach their doctor when something changes.

The key point is simple. If access is delayed, care is delayed, and outcomes suffer. The Check-Up data shows that access remains a significant challenge.

• 53 percent of respondents wait at least one week to see their doctor, and 27 percent wait longer than two weeks.

• Even after arriving for an appointment, 76 percent report waits of ten minutes or more before seeing their physician.

Outside regular office hours, access becomes even more limited. 62 percent of respondents report having no way to reach their doctor after hours if a concern arises.

From a physician’s perspective, delayed access often means addressing problems later than ideal, when they are more complex and harder to manage. Timely access is not a convenience. It is a prerequisite for effective primary care.

At PartnerMD, access is intentionally designed differently. Same-day or next-day visits are available for acute needs, in-office waiting is minimal, and members have direct, 24/7 access to a PartnerMD physician.

The goal is simple: make timely care the expectation, not the exception.

2. Time determines how well physicians know their patients.

Only 24 percent of respondents report visits lasting 20 minutes or more, and 68 percent say their appointments feel rushed at least sometimes.

Just 16 percent believe their doctor knows them extremely well, and only 14 percent feel very confident they are receiving the best possible care.

Those numbers point to a simple truth. Primary care works best when physicians have the opportunity to know their patients over time. That familiarity allows us to recognize patterns and tailor care to the individual rather than the diagnosis.

In traditional primary care, that time is often in short supply.

I remember the constant tension of trying to stay on schedule while knowing a patient needed more attention. Earlier in my career, I wanted that depth with every patient, but the pace of traditional practice often made it difficult.

At PartnerMD, protected time is designed into the model. Appointments are scheduled for 30 minutes. Annual physicals are scheduled for 90 minutes. Physician panels are capped at 450 patients so doctors can truly know the people they care for.

Because without protected time, even the most dedicated physicians are limited in how well they can care for their patients.

3. Wellness and prevention require more than good intentions.

One of the most frustrating aspects of traditional primary care is how difficult it can be to consistently prioritize wellness and prevention. I could often identify a patient’s risk early, but without time and support, those preventive conversations were too easy to postpone.

The Check-Up data reflects this challenge clearly. Prevention and long-term care received the lowest average score in the assessment, at 30 out of 100.

Nearly six in ten respondents say their doctor offers no wellness resources, and only 18 percent describe their most recent annual physical as extremely thorough.

Physicians understand the importance of identifying risk early, but the system often leaves little room to act on that knowledge.

Preventive care should extend beyond the exam room. That's why we've always included health coaching and wellness guidance as part of our membership.

Our health coaches partner with physicians and patients to turn priorities into an actionable plan, support habit change with regular touchpoints, and keep prevention moving forward between visits.

Without consistent attention to prevention, opportunities to reduce risk early and guide long-term health decisions are often missed.

4. Long-term health goals are rarely central to care, but they should be.

According to the Primary Care Check-Up, just 12 percent of respondents say they frequently discuss long-term health goals or lifestyle changes with their doctor.

That number matters because the clearest distinction between reactive and predictive care is whether long-term goals are discussed regularly. Those conversations are where primary care becomes truly individualized. They help shape a plan before problems develop, not after.

From my perspective as a physician, this represents one of the most significant gaps in how primary care is delivered today.

At PartnerMD, long-term goal planning is treated as a core part of primary care. We define goals, build a plan, and revisit it regularly so care stays proactive and aligned with where patients want to go.

What the Data Confirms for Physicians

Taken together, the Primary Care Check-Up reveals a consistent pattern. Limited access, constrained time, gaps in wellness resources, and infrequent goal-setting make it difficult for primary care to fulfill its full potential.

These findings confirm what I struggled with for years in traditional practice. They do not reflect a lack of physician commitment. They reflect structural constraints that make it harder to deliver the kind of care patients and physicians both want.

When those constraints are addressed, primary care can function as it was intended. A trusted relationship. A proactive guide. And a foundation for long-term health.

To explore the full findings, category-level results, and detailed methodology, download the complete 2026 State of Primary Care Report.

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