To maintain a healthy and happy life, you need a primary doctor you can trust and respect. Family care providers provide services for anyone, with or without children, and build lasting relationships with their patients. While seeking urgent care services is appropriate for situations when you need immediate medical attention, there are unbeatable perks to seeing a family physician.

1. Providing preventative care. You don't want to see the doctor only when something is wrong. Your body will be at its healthiest if you have regular visits to the doctor for check-ups and examinations. Family care providers handle your immunizations and blood and diagnostic tests, so in addition to giving your body a medical once-over, these doctors strive to stop issues before they happen, or at least catch them early. Family care physicians can also support your healthy lifestyle with personalized counseling.
2. Knowing your history. Family care providers are in it for the long haul. When you first make an appointment with a certain family health clinic, they'll expect you to keep going back there as long as you live in that area. This is extremely beneficial for you, as they will know your personal medical history. They'll have access to your records, but also know you beyond what's on paper. If you go to the family physician your family has gone to for generations, the doctors will also have a good picture of your family's medical history.
3. Finding specialists. While family physicians are generally trained to treat all parts of the body and many will have certain medical specialties of their own, they also have strong references. If you need to see a cardiologist or throat specialist, your family doctor will know the best in the area and be able to make a recommendation to fit your needs and your personality.
4. Saving money. According to an insurance study in Rhode Island, a 23% increase in primary care spending led to an 18% decrease in total health care spending. Data has also suggested that adding more primary care physicians will lower hospital admissions, emergency room visits, and surgeries. As a visit to the emergency room can be rather expensive for the patient, investing in a family doctor may be financially beneficial.
5. Treating the whole person. Family care providers are focused on nurturing a patient-centered relationship that results in individualized, integrated care over the patient's entire lifespan. A family doctor can treat your body, but will also be able to act as a support for you emotionally and mentally.

In order to meet our countrywide healthcare needs, the U.S. needs about 52,000 more primary care physicians by 2025, according to current data. Family care doctors are essential to our health care system and in ensuring the total health of a person.