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“You wouldn’t call primary care the ‘sexiest’ career choice in medicine,” says Dr. Andrew Morris-Singer, a Boston-based primary care physician and co-founder of Primary Care Progress.  “But we’re going to change that.”

The “we” Dr. Morris-Singer is referring to is PCP.  PCP or Primary Care Progress is a small nonprofit founded in response to a 2009 announcement from Harvard Medical School that the school intended to suspend funding for their Primary Care Division. The move immediately sparked protests from students, faculty and Boston’s medical community, which crystallized in the formation of Primary Care Progress.  Founded by Dr. Morris-Singer and Dr. Andrew Ellner (currently interim co-director of  Harvard’s Center for Primary Care), the mission of PCP is to revitalize primary care.  According to Morris Singer, there are many ways to tackle primary care’s many problems—and certainly addressing an imbalanced pay structure would be a big win.  But Morris Singer didn’t think the nation could afford to wait for that change.  “That’s top down change that we just don’t have time to wait for,” he says. 

Singer’s strategy was to move into the areas he and his co-founders (all primary care providers) could change, i.e restoring primary care’s image, building its community, inspiring innovation and repairing the primary care workforce pipeline.

In lieu of the top-down route, PCP takes a more direct grassroots approach to change.    Its field organizing model engages clinicians, trainees and educators across the primary care spectrum (Family Medicine, Pediatrics and Internal Medicine) through locally-based activities but with the larger goal of creating a national community of like-minded primary care advocates who energize and inspire one another. 

PCP’s approach to transforming primary care delivery depends largely on local collaborations made through a network of chapters.  There are currently thirteen PCP chapters around the country, in places as diverse at Baylor College of Medicine, Bryn Mawr College and Stanford.  The chapters, which are often based at an academic institution, present an opportunity for the local primary care community to collaborate and learn from each other.  Chapters often hold events such as primary care panels, town halls, or a Primary Care Innovation Collaborative (PCIC).  One of PCPs most popular programs, the PCIC program matches local trainees with local practicing clinicians to team up on possible innovations or efficiencies in care delivery. The projects are often small but concrete ways to improve care in their clinical practices.  The beauty of the PCIC model is that it combines the enthusiasm and energy of the trainee with the expertise and clinical knowledge of the seasoned clinicians, often a perfect storm for innovation.

Demand has been big.  In 2011, PCP brought on an Executive Director as well as several full-time and part-time staff in the areas of policy, field organizing and media. The team is structured to offer a full spectrum of organizing, communications, and strategy support to its members so they can become the advocates of change in their school, community or clinic.

PCP is also building its online community through a newly launched website that offers opportunity for the community to voice concerns and opinions, and connect through forums and blogs such as Progress Notes, a guest-written blog about primary care issues.   In Fall 2011, PCP launched Insight, a new quarterly electronic newsletter about clinical innovation, written by and for primary care leaders. The organization has plans for a mentorship database, a video innovation series and a leadership summit.

The goal of transforming primary care may be big, but it’s not daunting to Morris-Singer.  “The more we work with the future primary care clinicians in this country, the more hope I have,” says Morris Singer.  “These are truly inspired, energized and talented leaders.  Primary care is in good hands.”