A more welcoming model for care

Across the nation, patients are frustrated by lack of access to their doctors and are going to drug-store clinics for basic care. Primary care doctors are so harried that they are abandoning their practices. The "medical home" being created at Union Square Family Health in Somerville, MA, and at many doctors' offices across the nation is an attempt to provide an alternative. The doctor or nurse-practitioner-led team practices are designed to offer patients care when and where they want it and to give the team the money, the tools, and the time to do more than triage.