Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine

Measuring Primary Care Capacity: Unique Patients Seen per Year and Implications for Workforce Shortages Background: There is a growing primary care workforce shortage. Primary care physicians (PCPs) already have a broad scope of work yet face increasing demands on their time and pressure to see more pat...

Primary care physicians (PCPs) have a broad scope of work yet face increasing demands on their time and pressure to see more patients. This analysis aims to update PCP workforce shortage estimates by assessing the number of unique patients seen per year www.jabfm.org/content/38/6...

Sustaining Diabetes Shared Medical Appointments After a Pragmatic Trial Purpose: The purpose of this study is to gain understanding on factors identified by primary care practice members as impacting sustainability of diabetes Shared Medical Appointments (SMAs) after part...

Diabetes Shared Medical Appointments have benefits beyond improvement in clinical diabetes outcomes, though sustainability can be challenging. Researchers point to policy change, payment innovation, and novel reimbursement models to enhance the sustainability of SMAs www.jabfm.org/content/38/5...

Physician and Practice Characteristics Associated with Family Physician Panel Size Purpose: Understanding primary care panel sizes is crucial as US policy makers and workforce planners wrestle with both primary care shortage and rising clinician burnout. We aimed to investigate phys...

Understanding primary care panel size is crucial in addressing primary care shortage and clinician burnout. Research highlights the importance of individual and practice-level factors in workforce planning & policy development to optimize care delivery & manage workload www.jabfm.org/content/38/5...

Implementing a QILC grounded in health equity resulted in increased screening and documented contraceptive use in all participating clinics. Interventions to improve contraceptive access should be grounded in historic and social understanding of reproductive health care www.jabfm.org/content/38/5...

Screening for Firearm Violence Exposure in Adolescents and Young Adults Introduction: Firearm violence now accounts for more than 45,000 deaths annually in America, making it the leading cause of death in the pediatric population. Despite this, primary care clinicians (PC...

Firearm violence is the leading cause of death in America's pediatric population and PCC's are positioned to identify future firearm violence risk. Researchers evaluated the viability of asking adolescents SaFETy score screening questions in a PC setting www.jabfm.org/content/38/5...

Degree of Behavioral Health Integration and Patient Outcomes Background: Primary care practices with greater integration of behavioral health care have better patient-reported outcomes. We sought to identify whether there is a threshold effect in the relationsh...

Primary care practices with greater integration of behavioral health have better patient-reported outcomes. Researchers sought to identify whether there is a threshold effect in the relationship between the degree of IBH & patient-reported outcomes www.jabfm.org/content/38/5...

Is the Availability of Immediate Inpatient Postpartum Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) Associated with a Decrease in Rapid Repeat Pregnancy? Introduction: Immediate postpartum long-acting reversible contraception (IPP-LARC) after delivery may decrease rapid repeat pregnancy (RRP). RRP is associated with preterm birth, small for gestational...

Researchers found a positive association between the availability of immediate postpartum long-acting reversible contraception (IPP-LARC) and rapid repeat pregnancy, highlighting the need for greater health system engagement for promoting IPP-LARC.
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Applications for the ABFM Research and Editing Fellowship are now open! Click the link to learn more about this incredible opportunity and how to apply. Applications close February 21, 2026. www.jabfm.org/content/abfm...

Researchers in this study found period poverty to be greater than perceived and varied in how it manifests in different demographic areas. These findings point to the need for varied interventions based on age-group and location #MenstrualEquity #PublicHealth www.jabfm.org/content/38/5...

Patient Portal Frequency of Use in Patients with Hypertension and Diabetes Purpose: Electronic health records and patient portals allow patients to communicate with physicians and other members of the health care team. However, few studies have investigated the impact of the...

It is unclear whether consistent use of patient portals by patients indeed helps them manage chronic illnesses. New study found patient portal usage is associated with greater likelihood of T2DM and hypertension control www.jabfm.org/content/38/5...

Addressing Faith-Based Concerns about Vaccination Religious beliefs are cited as one cause of declining vaccination rates, and religious participation has been associated with hesitancy to receive vaccines. However, many personal vaccine objections a...

Religious beliefs are cited as one cause of declining vaccination rates. Evidence suggests addressing faith-based vaccine hesitancy through education that addresses patient's spirituality & collaboration with organizations connected to patients' religious communities www.jabfm.org/content/38/4...

Health care changes and constraints likely affect how patients make decisions about care seeking. Where would patients go if there were no limits? New study finds patients prefer primary care, emphasizing the importance of primary care, continuity, access, and quality.
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GI illnesses often occur as a consequence of long-term heavy alcohol use. Study suggests that primary care providers should screen their GERD patients for AUD, as they are at a higher risk of AUD diagnosis within 2 years.
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Athletic trainers connect high school students & family medicine practices. In underserved communities, ATs can be students’ first contact with healthcare. New article found that students trusted ATs, and are positioned to support whole-person care
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Be sure to stop by our table to learn more about JABFM, meet our editors, and learn more about our Research and Editing Fellowship! #NAPCRG2025

Care coordination is a promising strategy to navigate the complexities in primary care, but its effectiveness remains unclear. Researchers identified four types of care coordination, an important step in improving its effectiveness and patient outcomes
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Is Cognitive Impairment Associated with Inadequate Bowel Preparation for Colonoscopy? Purpose: Inadequate bowel preparation (IBP) for colonoscopies is associated with missed polyps and cancers, prolonged procedure times, lower colonoscopy completion rates, and need for a repeat procedu...

Inadequate bowel preparation for colonoscopies is associated with missed diagnoses, prolonged procedure time, and need to repeat procedures. New research examines the association of cognitive impairment and participant demographic and clinical characteristics with IBP. www.jabfm.org/content/38/3...

A Snapshot of Family Medicine Physician Engagement with State Policy: Findings from the 2023 CERA Survey Background: Health care professionals are in a unique position to enact health-related social change. Medicine is subject to regulation at the organizational, local, state, and national levels. Federa...

Physicians are trained to advocate for their individual patients but could make significant impacts when intervening and advocating at the policy level. New research examines family medicine physician participation in the pollical process. www.jabfm.org/content/38/3...

Physician Experience of Discrimination in a Leadership and Well-Being Program Introduction: Physician workforce shortages are expected to reach 48,000 primary care physicians by 2034 with burnout, discrimination (gender, race, and others), and harassment as contributors. Physic...

The primary care workforce shortage is projected to worsen, studies indicate education costs, discrimination, burnout, & salary disparities as key factors. Understanding physicians’ experiences w/ discrimination is an important step towards addressing the shortage www.jabfm.org/content/38/3...

Most people who need OUD treatment do not receive medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD). Primary care can help increase MOUD access, yet only 6 to 10% of primary care clinicians prescribe MOUD. New research highlights barriers and strategies for MOUD implementation www.jabfm.org/content/38/3...

“Medicine Is Awesome”: A Critical Look at the Factors That Shape Thinking About Depression and Its Treatment No longer are prolonged sadness and despondency, with their effects on day-to-day functioning, conceived of as a response to someone’s internal world or external environment. Instead, the syndrome has...

Depression has been defined and redefined several times, now seen as a treatable, homogenous disorder. Focusing pharmaceutical treatments and away from an individual’s life experience has led to overdiagnosis and overtreatment of patients with depression symptoms www.jabfm.org/content/38/3...

Pooled cohort equations (PCE) are race- & sex-specific formulas that estimate a person’s 10-year risk of heart attack or stroke. Widely used to guide statin recommendations, there remains a significant gap between calculator-guided recommendations and actual statin use www.jabfm.org/content/38/3...

Guidelines are just a starting point, not the end goal, of successful implementation. Research has identified key facilitators and barriers that impact clinicians' ability to safely prescribe opioids www.jabfm.org/content/37/3...

New research evaluated the prevalence of lung cancer screening in Latino patients by place of birth, finding those without documented country of birth had lower odds of receiving screening #MedSky #FamilyMedicine www.jabfm.org/content/38/3...

Long COVID and Days of Work Missed Due to Illness or Injury by Adults in the United States, 2022 Introduction: There are concerns of postacute sequelae of COVID-19, but the impact of long COVID on the US workforce is unclear. Methods: We analyzed the nationally representative 2022 Medical Expend...

Long COVID impacts the daily lives of sufferers, including their work. This study aimed to understand the impact long COVID has on the workforce, finding those who had long COVID missed significantly more days of work than those who did not
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Stroke survivors often report a lower QoL than the general population. The impacts of stroke can be improved through professional rehabilitation. This study compared the effectiveness of interventions in improving stroke patients’ QoL.
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Prenatal Care Coordination (PNCC) is a Medicaid-funded intervention that supplements prenatal care with social & educational services to improve maternal and infant health. PNCC clinicians may also help beneficiaries attain Well Child Visits for their infants www.jabfm.org/content/38/3...

#AI & machine learning are reshaping #FamilyMedicine! Check out our living collection of the latest research from journals like Annals of Family Medicine, @jabfm.bsky.social and more. Updated automatically as new studies are published.

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New research develops and internally validates a novel risk score for influenza that incorporates flu vaccination status. In the study’s external validation, it classified over 60% of patients in the low-risk group, with only a 6.8% probability of influenza.

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Leukemias have been detected incidentally in the asymptomatic phase when running a complete blood count test for unrelated reasons. While a CBC does not constitute as screening, its role in detecting leukemias offers crucial insights into cancer screening in general www.jabfm.org/content/38/2...