By
NY Health & Primary Care Development Corporation
Funding Area
Primary Care
Date
February 2026
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New York spends more than $300 billion each year on health care—among the highest levels of any state—yet health outcomes remain only average. Primary care is where most New Yorkers receive preventive services. If people can’t see a primary care provider when they need one, they often become sicker and are forced to seek care in hospitals or emergency departments, where treatment is far more expensive. These avoidable emergency department visits and hospitalizations for chronic conditions cost the State billions of dollars annually. Investing in accessible, high-quality primary care is essential to improving health outcomes and ensuring New York’s long-term fiscal sustainability.
The data brief produced by the New York Health Foundation and the Primary Care Development Corporation analyzes the most recent data on three urgent challenges facing primary care in 2025: workforce capacity, rural access, and primary care investment.
Some key findings from the report include:
- More than one-third of New York’s primary care physicians are over age 60, indicating an impending wave of retirement that will reduce capacity.
- The rates of preventable hospitalizations in some rural counties are nearly 50% higher than the State average.
- Primary care is underfunded. It receives only 3-5% of New York’s total health spending, well below the 10–12% recommended by national experts and seen in other high-income countries.