Dive Brief:
- A new report by healthcare information site Vitals concludes that adults under age 30 are more than twice as likely not to have a PCP as their elders.
- The researchers found that 41% percent of people aged 18-29 used urgent care centers or retail health clinics.
- While young adults are more prone to using alternate primary care sites, people of all age groups said that using urgent care or retail clinics was acceptable.
Dive Insight:
Depending on who you are, this might or might not look like good news. Looked at one way, it's good to see young adults developing a tolerance for alternate primary care sites that may cost less -- especially retail clinics --- as this wrings costs out of the system. On the other hand, favoring these channels deprives young adults of a stable relationship which might help pick up problems as they arise. It seems that we're going to have to find a way to integrate clinics of all kinds into a neighborhood model that links all caregivers.