Whitehouse Holds Hearing Highlighting How Strengthening Primary Care Would Improve Patient Health, Reduce Costs

U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, held a hearing titled “How Primary Care Improves Health Care Efficiency,” to highlight how strengthening primary care can deliver better health care, lower costs, and improve outcomes for patients.  The U.S. spends more on health care as a share of its GDP than peer countries, but U.S. life expectancy is below that of its peers—and it is falling.

At the hearing, Chairman Whitehouse introduced a discussion draft of a bill that considers polices to encourage the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to accelerate its efforts to support high-quality primary care and improve pay for primary care providers in Medicare.