Primary care saves lives, leads to improved individual and community health, and is unequivocally central to health equity. Primary care is the only part of the health system that has been proven to lengthen lives and reduce population level health disparities and reduces overall health care costs. Yet, we continue to undervalue and underfund it, and the effects are felt most acutely by marginalized communities.

Pending legislation in the New York State legislature would initiate the first step in a transformational process to reorient New York’s health system towards primary care, encouraging investment in the care that works best for people and communities. A7230A (Gottfried)/S6534B (Rivera) would convene a collaborative of expert stakeholders to gather data, determine the best path towards centering primary care and make recommendations to the legislature to increase the proportion of health care spending that goes to primary care in New York State.

The Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC) hosted a Legislative Briefing with legislative cosponsors Assemblyman Richard Gottfried and Senator Gustavo Rivera, and PCDC CEO, Louise Cohen, as they shared critical information about how primary care matters both as a response to COVID and beyond, how investing in primary care helps communities and is essential to health equity, and why A7230A/S6534B is a critical first step towards increasing access to primary care for all New Yorkers.

The event also featured Dr. John Rugge, Founder of Hudson Headwaters Health Network and Dr. Pascale Kersaint, Chief Medical Officer at Brooklyn Plaza Medical Center as they shared their perspectives on how primary care providers make a difference in their communities, challenges providers face, and how we can support them and their communities better by investing in primary care.