primary care

American  

noun

1. medical care by a physician, or other healthcare professional, who is the patient's first contact with the healthcare system and who may recommend a specialist if necessary.

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Other Word Forms

• primary-care
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of primary care

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

If the department doesn’t reverse course, it will undoubtedly squeeze the pipeline of nurse practitioners and other advanced-degree nurses critical to filling gaps in primary care and rural areas.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 16, 2026

The new guidelines call for doctors—from primary care to cardiology—to screen patients for metabolic risk factors and kidney function routinely.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 9, 2026

But co-pays are higher for bronze plans — $60 for primary care visits versus $50 for silver plan visits.

From Los Angeles Times • May 28, 2026

Researchers say the updated PREDIMED-Plus strategy could be used by primary care providers as a sustainable and cost efficient way to help prevent type 2 diabetes on a broad scale.

From Science Daily • May 19, 2026

We’ve had people come in saying they want to sue some specialist, and we’ll say, ‘We don’t think that doctor was negligent. We think it’s your primary care doctor who was at fault.’

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell