Horizon 2030: Meeting California’s Primary Care Workforce Needs

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Conducted by PHI’s California Health Workforce Alliance and undertaken for the California Primary Care Association (CPCA), this report examines emerging issues, challenges, and opportunities to build primary care workforce and capacity in the state of California. CPCA commissioned this inquiry to inform proactive solutions to the growing shortages of primary care providers and the corresponding impact on health access, quality, and cost.

At current utilization, California will need an estimated 8,243 additional primary care physicians by 2030, or 32% of its current workforce Petterson, Cai, Moore, & Bazemore, 2013. A critical challenge will be ensuring sufficient primary care access for the growing number of Californians covered by Medi-Cal. Findings from the key informant interviews and literature review emphasize that primary care workforce shortages are a product of a complex array of barriers and that strengthening capacity on a scale large enough to address emerging needs requires multifaceted solutions and systems change. They also stress that more coordinated, definitive action is needed to implement policy and practice innovations that address key barriers and optimally leverage resources to create meaningful increases in primary care capacity.

Download the full report.

Horizon 2030 offers a sobering analysis of California’s primary care workforce today while detailing key opportunities to meet the workforce needs of tomorrow. The findings of this report provide a stark reminder that the primary care workforce shortage has reached a critical point and will continue to devolve if California doesn’t take immediate steps to address our unmet needs.

To get California back on track, Horizon 2030 provides a clear roadmap that is full of common sense solutions. It has become clear to health centers across California that we cannot deliver on the promise of healthcare access if we do not have a robust workforce capable of providing the timely, culturally competent, high quality care that patients deserve.