Primary care serves as the cornerstone of an equitable healthcare system, offering the most fair and accessible entry point for all Californians, regardless of their background or socioeconomic status. However, despite substantial evidence supporting primary care’s vital role in promoting health equity, it often remains overlooked in policy discussions about healthcare improvement in California.

California faces a critical primary care crisis, marked by workforce shortages, inadequate infrastructure, and persistent health disparities. These challenges particularly impact communities that have historically faced barriers to care. Years of underinvestment and limited policy attention have weakened California’s primary care foundation, leading to declining health indicators across the state.

To address these challenges, California needs innovative approaches that reflect and respond to its diverse population’s needs.

This report outlines ten policy priorities to address:

1. Primary Care Access Gaps. Primary care serves as the most equitable gateway to healthcare, but chronic underinvestment and lack of sustained policy attention have created significant access barriers, particularly for underserved communities.
2. Meaningful Engagement of People with Lived Experience of Discrimination. California’s unique demographic diversity demands new approaches to primary care delivery that are culturally responsive and community-centered.
3. Increased Leadership and Accountability Resources. Addressing primary care challenges requires sustained investment, new leadership models, and concrete accountability measures to ensure lasting improvements in health equity.

For California to advance health equity through primary care, policymakers and health care leaders will need to focus on new leadership models, sustained resources, and accountability measures that center on the experiences of communities most affected by health inequities.