9cff82d2__Your_Indispensable_Guide_TIME__What_it_is
[Term] Primary-Care Provider (PCP) [Why it matters] The U.S. is experiencing a shortage of PCPs, with some estimates stating that the country needs 30% more to fill current demand. If reform passes and the estimated 46 million Americans without health insurance get it, that need will increase dramatically. PCPs are the practitioners who coordinate patients' medical needs and stress preventive medicine, two central tenets of reform proposals. Because of this, reform proposals would use financial incentives like student-loan forgiveness to encourage medical students to choose careers in primary care. (Primary-care physicians generally earn less than specialists like surgeons.) [What it is] 
General practitioners who see patients for common and routine medical care and who typically are a patient's main medical contact point for an extended period of time. PCPs can be family doctors, pediatricians, internists, nurse practitioners, physician's assistants and even gynecologists.
Understanding the Health-Care Debate: Your Indispensable Guide-TIME
What it is