Preventive Care: Cornerstone or Constraint for Family Medicine? How Much Should We Prioritize Clinical Preventive Services?

Abstract

In August 2025, family physicians gathered for the Family Medicine Leaders Consortium to share perspectives on whether family physicians should continue to prioritize clinical preventive services amid rising patient complexity, documentation burdens, policy constraints, and post-pandemic challenges. This paper synthesizes competing perspectives and overarching commentary from the consortium meeting. One viewpoint argues that preventive care remains essential to family medicine's core values, patient expectations, and economic viability. The opposing viewpoint contends that preventive services are increasingly algorithmic, delegable, poorly reimbursed, and, while important, are no longer core to family medicine. Together, these perspectives illustrate the need for ongoing, future-focused discussions about family medicine's identity as a specialty.