Primary Care with Troyen Brennan

Troyen Brennan (Harvard University) joins the Infectious Historians to chat about his recent book which reflects on primary care in the United States. The conversation begins with an historical perspective, tracing the development of specializations within the practice of medicine from the mid-20th century onward and then specifically looking at how the primary care system changed over time. Troyen outlines the advantages and disadvantages with primary care practitioners, ranging from their workload to their pay, before discussing some of the incentives in the primary care system. Troyen also examines the extent to which primary care is influenced by changes in the federal and state governments, highlighting some of the major differences between states within the United States. Additional topics that were covered include the impact of Covid on the primary care system and, looking forward, some potential suggestions to improve the primary care system.