Most people have a primary care provider as their regular physician. These can be general practitioners, family medicine physicians, internists, pediatricians and some gynecologists. Nurse practitioners and physicians' assistants fill in for medical doctors under his or her oversight. The terms of a health insurance policy can require a beneficiary to visit a primary care provider prior to accessing the services of healthcare specialists. This is a reasonable requirement. Primary care providers are generalists in the healthcare field. They have a wide range of knowledge about common conditions and they can recognize when signs or symptoms require more specialized intervention by professionals who focus on particular pathologies.

A person should have a familiar relationship with his or her primary care provider. For healthy patients, this requires no more than a regularly scheduled physical examination during which their healthcare provider can investigate possibly worrisome lifestyle choices or pathogen exposure. These visits allow the healthcare provider to monitor a patient's ongoing medical status and establish a baseline of function even in the absence of readily discernible, active disease. Patients who suffer from ongoing, chronic conditions will visit their primary care provider more frequently as recommended by the physician.

A health insurance policy employs the primary care provider as a gatekeeper to keep track of all the patients under his or her care. This physician has the responsibility to recognize when intervention is required by healthcare specialists who can more appropriately deal with a condition. While some patients may feel they need specialized care, this decision is best left to licensed professionals who are certified to treat common conditions with the least possible complications. This is not a cost-saving measure on the insurer's part so much as an allocation of resources where they are needed most. Specialists juggle full schedules and limited capacity to treat patients in dire need of their care. A primary care provider ensures that those who need the care most will receive it.

Many insurers require a referral to credentialed, in-network specialists in order for provided services to be covered. This guarantees that patients receive appropriate care by qualified personnel who have met the criteria determined by the plan's tested quality assurance treatment protocols. When health care is supervised, it is utilized most efficiently and the greatest number of patients in need receive the care and treatment they require to maintain or improve their current health status.

While many patients may wish for a short cut to the most extreme treatments available, primary care providers provide sound advice, effective treatment, and appropriate referrals to the specialists who will do the most good for a particular patient. They are the keystone of healthcare delivery.