Will Increasing Primary Care Spending Alone Save Money?

Primary care, defined as core functions that patients receive from their usual source of care, is an essential component of health care and is associated with better-quality care, patient experience, and outcomes including lower mortality.¹ Observational studies have also linked primary care to lower levels of spending.² However, from a policy perspective, a key question is whether increasing primary care spending by a state or the nation would slow the growth of total health care spending.