MIT Health’s Primary Care Service uses a team-based care model.
Your care team includes your primary care provider (PCP) along with other clinicians and administrative staff.
When necessary, clinicians from other areas within MIT Health, such as nutritionists or orthopedists, can be added to a patient’s care team. Members of a care team work collaboratively with the patient and with each other to provide coordinated, high-quality, personalized care. With a whole team available, we can be sure that every member of the family gets the care they need, when they need it.
Your primary care provider
While you don’t need a Primary Care Provider to use our services, it’s a good idea to choose one. When you choose a PCP at MIT Health, they will be your personal clinician — the one you or your child will see most often and with whom you’ll discuss your health concerns and questions. Primary care providers (PCPs) at MIT Health include doctors and nurse practitioners who specialize in pediatrics, family medicine, or internal medicine. To view our MIT Health PCPs who are accepting new patients, visit health.mit.edu/choose.
You’ll see your PCP for most routine care — regular physical exams, medical concerns that are not urgent, or management of chronic conditions, like diabetes or high blood pressure. Your PCP can also connect you to specialists or order diagnostic testing at MIT Health or elsewhere.
Who’s who in Primary Care?
Primary care physicians are doctors who have completed medical school and a three-year residency in pediatrics, family medicine, or internal medicine. Depending on their area of specialization, physicians may serve as PCPs for either children or adults or both. Many physicians have additional areas of specialization or professional interest as well, which are listed in their online profiles.
- Family medicine physicians are trained to care for individuals of all ages, from infants to senior citizens.
- Internal medicine physicians (also called “internists”) can care for adults of all ages — some also see adolescents and pre-adolescents — but do not usually see younger children.
- Pediatricians care for patients from birth through adolescence and young adulthood.
Nurse Practitioners have completed a master’s degree and are licensed to practice medicine at an advanced level. Depending on their area of specialization, nurse practitioners at MIT Health may serve as PCPs for adults or for both children and adults. Many nurse practitioners have additional areas of specialization or professional interest as well — everything from nutrition to women’s health — which are listed in their online profiles.
Nurse practitioners may diagnose illnesses, order tests, develop treatment plans, and write prescriptions. Each nurse practitioner at MIT Health works in collaboration with a physician, as required by state regulations.
Primary care behavioral health clinicians are social workers, psychologists, or psychiatrists who are available by referral only to patients who have behavioral health concerns or are facing challenges in securing psychiatric consults outside of MIT Health. They can provide brief non-medication consults, medication evaluations and management, and care management for patients who require higher levels of care and/or more intensive follow-up.
Registered nurses (RNs) at MIT Health have a four-year bachelor’s degree and have passed a national licensing exam. Our Primary Care nurses play many important roles — from administering certain treatments and vaccines to helping patients manage their treatment plans. When you are sick and call MIT Health wondering what to do next, a triage nurse can assess your symptoms and advise you on next steps.
