Healthcare’s Big Lie: More Access, More Services for Consumers = Worse Outcomes for Patients

The healthcare system loves to tell us that more access and more services mean better care. Retail health clinics, urgent care centers, and telehealth visits promise convenience and fast treatment—anytime, anywhere. But the truth is, more access and more services don’t translate into better health outcomes. They just generate more revenue.

Behind the promise of consumer-friendly care is a system built on the RVU (Relative Value Unit) model—a billing mechanism that rewards providers for the quantity of services they deliver, not the quality of care. As a result, primary care has become more focused on routine, scheduled visits, while urgent care and retail clinics handle acute needs. This shift leaves patients with fewer opportunities to see their primary care provider when it matters most—breaking the continuity that is essential for managing complex conditions and long-term health.

Patients are promised easy access and more services, but instead, they get shuffled between fragmented care settings. Urgent care clinics handle acute problems, primary care offices are booked out with routine visits, and no one is coordinating care across the system. In the end, patients pay more and get worse outcomes because the system is focused on delivering services—not meaningful health.

How RVUs Drive the Big Lie

RVUs measure the value of healthcare services based on how much time, effort, and skill a task requires. The more services a provider delivers, the more RVUs they generate—and the more money the healthcare organization makes. But the RVU system rewards volume, not outcomes. And that incentive is reshaping the way healthcare works, especially in primary care.

Primary care clinics are under pressure to prioritize routine, scheduled visits like annual physicals and preventive care screenings—because these visits are predictable and easier to manage. But acute patient needs—like sick visits, chronic disease flare-ups, or complex care management—pay less. As a result, primary care becomes less accessible when patients need it most. Many patients are told they can’t get a same-day appointment with their primary care provider, forcing them to turn to urgent care clinics or retail health centers to address immediate needs.

This shift breaks the continuity of care that primary care is supposed to provide. The patients who rely on consistent, long-term care to manage chronic conditions find it harder to access their primary care provider. Meanwhile, consumers are duped into thinking that quick access at retail clinics is good care, when in fact they are receiving fragmented, episodic treatment that doesn’t address the root of their health problems.

Why the Consumer Model Leaves Patients Worse Off

The healthcare system tells us that more access and more services mean better care. But research shows that when care is fragmented across multiple providers and settings, patient outcomes suffer. Below are four ways the consumerism model is failing patients.

1. Faster Care Comes with Less Expertise

While retail health clinics and urgent care centers offer quick solutions, they are often staffed by lower-cost providers, such as nurse practitioners or physician assistants, who may not have the experience or context to manage complex health problems. These providers do their best in a system that prioritizes speed, but the lack of a long-term relationship with patients means important medical history can get overlooked, leading to misdiagnoses or unnecessary treatments.

2. More Services Don’t Improve Outcomes

Because healthcare organizations make money by delivering more services, providers are incentivized to order tests, prescribe medications, or refer patients to specialists—even when those steps aren’t necessary. This creates a cycle of over-treatment that drives up healthcare costs without improving outcomes. Patients end up frustrated, confused, and overwhelmed by multiple, disconnected visits and tests.

3. Primary Care Isn’t Prioritizing Patients When They Need It Most

The RVU model forces primary care providers to focus on routine visits like physicals and screenings that generate predictable revenue. But this means sick patients or those with chronic conditions have to wait longer for care—or are told to go to urgent care instead. As a result, patients lose out on the benefits of continuity with a trusted provider, and their long-term health suffers.

4. Fragmented Care Is Especially Harmful for Patients with Complex Needs

For patients managing chronic conditions or multiple health issues, consistent, coordinated care is essential. But urgent care clinics and retail health centers aren’t designed to manage chronic illness. These settings focus on quick, episodic care, leaving patients without the support they need to manage their health over time. Meanwhile, primary care providers are too overloaded with routine visits to provide the level of attention these patients need. The result is a system that serves neither short-term needs nor long-term health.

How the Lie Widens Healthcare Disparities

The consumerism model creates a divide between patients who seek care for convenience and those who need consistent, long-term care. The system prioritizes consumer demands—offering fast, easy access to care that generates high revenue—while patients with complex or chronic health conditions find it harder to access their primary care providers.

The result is a system where those with the greatest medical need are pushed to the back of the line. They are told to go to urgent care for immediate issues and wait weeks or months for follow-ups with their primary care provider. But this fragmented care hurts the most vulnerable patients the most. Those managing heart disease, diabetes, or mental health issues need ongoing, coordinated care—not episodic treatment from multiple providers who aren’t communicating with each other.

The lie at the heart of consumer-driven healthcare is that quick, convenient care is good enough. But for patients with serious health needs, fragmented care isn’t just inconvenient—it’s dangerous. And for all patients, the system’s focus on services over outcomes means higher costs and poorer results.

The Better Alternative: Trust, Continuity, and Care Coordination

Real healthcare isn’t about convenience or the number of visits. It’s about building trust, maintaining continuity, and coordinating care. Primary care providers who know their patients’ history and needs can provide thoughtful, coordinated care that improves outcomes over time.

Research shows that patients with consistent primary care experience better outcomes, fewer hospital visits, and lower healthcare costs. Studies published in JAMA Internal Medicine and other journals confirm that coordinated primary care improves chronic disease management, reduces medical errors, and prevents unnecessary hospitalizations.

But this only works when primary care providers are available to meet both routine and acute patient needs. When patients are forced to seek care elsewhere, continuity breaks down, and the benefits of long-term relationships with providers are lost.

Final Thoughts: Stop Consuming Care—Start Demanding Continuous Care

The healthcare system’s focus on consumer-friendly access has sold patients a lie: more services and easier access don’t make you healthier. They just drive up costs and break the continuity of care that patients need to stay well. Meanwhile, primary care is so focused on scheduled visits that it has become harder for patients to access care when they need it most—pushing them toward urgent care and retail clinics for quick fixes.

Patients need more than just access—they need access to meaningful, continuous care from providers who understand their history and can coordinate their care over time. The healthcare system should meet patient needs, not consumer wants. Only then will we see real improvements in outcomes and a system that serves people, not profits.