Primary Care

Primary care doctors care for most diseases except very uncommon or unusual ones, offer counseling, and monitor your health against your lifestyle goals over time, something called health promotion. They also educate patients about preventing chronic diseases, like limiting sugar if you have prediabetes or increasing your physical activity if you are at higher risk for heart disease. There are four main areas of primary care:

• Family medicine – cares for your whole family; from newborns to the elderly, of any age or gender
• Internal medicine – provides primary care to adults
• Pediatrics – provides primary care to infants, children, and adolescents
• Obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN) – care for women’s reproductive health and offers family planning services