Thoughts from Keynoting PrimaryCare22

Last week, Primary Care For America, a collaborative of 13 primary care-focused organizations – of which Elation is a founding member and the only tech company represented – held a first of its kind event called PrimaryCare22 in our Nation’s capital. 

Kyna and I were to travel there together, but I was grounded with covid (I’m fine!). So, Kyna went alone. The event was a small in-person contingent, by invitation only, as well as virtual attendance, free and open to everyone. We had extra tickets and invited some customers to attend.

There were many experts available to talk about various issues critical to primary care at this moment including Cityblock’s Chief Health Officer, Dr. Kameron Matthews. According to Kam, “Innovation isn’t always the big, shiny, new approach. Sometimes it’s just thinking about something in a new way.”  Cityblock Health is breaking the mold of traditional healthcare delivery models, eliminating barriers to access by meeting patients where they are – whether that is in their homes or on a park bench – and addressing complex social needs through highly trained, physician-led, multidisciplinary teams. 

I enjoyed listening to Dr. Farzad Mostashari interviewing Liz Fowler from CMMI. He strongly advocated for making primary care free to patients (although he noted, CMS would have to make up the difference in PCP revenue). I tend to agree with him – primary care should be a common good like the public library or fire rescue services.

The final talk of the event was Kyna’s as she had been invited to give the closing keynote focusing on the Future of Primary Care – where do we go?  

Her talk was empowering and her comments got picked up by Medical Economics in “Primary care physicians should demand better technology for patient care.” It’s worth reading, although don’t take my word for it. There have been many quotes from Kyna’a keynote picked up on social media and spread across Twitter. Some of my favorites:

On value-based care:

On the opportunity of a lifetime:

On a primary care led healthcare system:

I’m tremendously proud and so grateful for the work we get to do at Elation every day. We are fortunate to have tireless, courageous leadership with passion and dedication for a better healthcare system built on a strong foundation of high value primary care.

At Elation, we are all an essential component of this hard work, and we, each in our own corners of the organization with our individual roles, are working to make a difference for primary care everywhere. We are together in the fight of our lives for the heart of American healthcare. 

Join the movement and follow along at www.primarycareforamerica.org.

Sara J. Pastoor, MD, MHA is Elation's Director of Primary Care Advancement and leader in primary care advocacy. Dr. Pastoor is a board certified and clinically active family medicine physician. Her experience as a primary care innovator spans a career in military medicine, academic medicine, private practice, and employer-sponsored delivery models. She received her MD from Rosalind Franklin University of Health Sciences and MHA from Trinity University.