Primary care: the driver in health care reform.

The changes occurring in the health care industry have resulted in a cost-quality competition that has not been present in the past. Because of this competition, managed care is a growing way of financing and providing health care to the people of the United States. Managed care depends heavily on competent primary care physicians. Because primary care physicians are in short supply, the status and financial rewards of primary care practice are increasing. The primary care physician will be the dominant force in medical practice in the immediate future. He or she is capable in a managed setting of resolving the perceived problems of the health care industry in responding to the drivers of health care reform. Costs are reduced while quality is maintained. Access to health care is improved, and fragmentation of health care is significantly lessened.