Why Choosing a Primary Care Provider is Critical to Your Health

Primary Care, Primary Importance

Many adults don’t think they need to see a doctor unless they’re sick, but regular visits with a primary care provider (PCP) is important for your health and well-being and can save you from future trips to the hospital.

“Primary care is foundational to health,” says Kevin Volkema, DO, MBA, primary care physician at Valley Health Primary Care | Greenwood. “Having a consistent provider over time allows for a better understanding of who you are as a person, your health, your history, and your preferences. This consistency builds trust, which develops into actual comprehensive, longitudinal care.”

Primary care is commonly the first contact and the entry point into a health care system. Typically, patients choose their PCP and then visit them for non-life-threatening care, ideally throughout a patient’s life.

Your Primary Care Physician can:

• Provide or recommend preventive care, such as screenings
• Address both acute and chronic medical problems
• Identify health problems before they become serious
• Refer you to a specialist if you need specialty care

So, what should you look for when choosing a primary care physician?

“It starts with respect, communication, empathy, and trust,” Dr. Volkema says. “These are foundational for the therapeutic relationship between an individual and their PCP. Prioritizing prevention is incredibly important, too. A good PCP will be proactive with screenings, lifestyle counseling, and health education. There is so much that can be done to prevent, or at least delay, chronic disease.”

Finding a PCP who is continually learning and evolving with the latest evidence and practice guidelines is also important.

“Having a primary care provider will help you live a longer and healthier life, so you can do the things that you enjoy doing,” Dr. Volkema says. “Studies have consistently shown that communities with more primary care providers and higher primary care investment have longer, healthier lives and decreased healthcare costs.”

Ready to find a Primary Care Provider?

Visit valleyhealthlink.com/findadoctor and select from Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, or Pediatrics.