At first glance, upstate counties like Hamilton, Steuben and Essex don’t appear to have much in common with the Bronx. But one unfortunate thing they have in common is that they’re all primary care deserts, meaning that they lack the health care infrastructure that we know keeps people healthy. As a recent report from the New York State Comptroller pointed out, this phenomenon affects rural communities just as much as it affects urban areas.

As the founder of an Independent Physician Association of over 2,500 primary care doctors serving over a million Medicaid and Medicare patients in New York, and as a physician myself, I know access to high-quality primary care changes lives. But today, primary care physicians face rising challenges to continue operating. As pressures mount on our health care system, what scares me the most is the prospect of losing more primary care doctors and creating more barriers for patients to access quality care.

New York is slated to experience one of the largest physicians' shortages in the country by 2028. More than 6.9 million people in New York State are on Medicaid and

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