The Starfield Signal: A Shared Vision and Roadmap for AI in Primary Care

Primary care in the U.S. is at a breaking point—and has now potentially reached its breakthrough moment. Despite being foundational to better outcomes and lower costs, primary care is chronically under-resourced and overstretched. At the same time, digital tools and AI are entering clinical practice at unprecedented speed. This moment, therefore, presents a rare opportunity.

While AI is poised to reshape primary care, the critical question is how it will do so. If implemented thoughtfully and in close partnership with clinicians, AI could help strengthen primary care and reverse the impact of decades of underinvestment and fragmentation. But if deployment is misaligned with primary care’s guiding principles, AI could just as easily widen equity gaps, deepen data fragmentation, and accelerate clinician burnout.

We are excited to share a new whitepaper—developed in partnership with the American Academy of Family Physicians—to meet this moment. The whitepaper outlines a shared vision for effective integration of AI in primary care, key barriers that must be addressed, and a practical roadmap for stakeholders across the ecosystem to take action and advance this vision. This whitepaper is a culmination of our field research with nearly 1,300 primary care clinicians, proceedings from our Starfield Summit on Advancing AI and Digital Health in Primary Care, and close collaboration with the luminaries of our industry Primary Care Leadership Committee.

Special thanks to those who participated in the Primary Care Leadership Committee:

• (Co-Chair) Brent K. Sugimoto, MD, MPH, FAAFP—Chief Medical Officer of Decoded Health; Program Director of the LifeLong Medical Care Family Medicine Residency Program, and Vice Speaker of the California Academy of Family Physicians
• (Co-Chair) Jen Peña, MD, FACP, AAHIVS—Chief Medical Officer, Wisp, former White House Medical Unit
• Ricky Y. Choi, MD, MPH—Head of Digital Health at Samsung Electronics America and Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Stanford University
• Jackie Gerhart, MD—Chief Medical Officer, Epic, and Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
• Winston Liaw, MD, MPH—Chair, Department of Health Systems and Population Health Sciences, Tillman J. Fertitta College of Medicine
• Steven Lin, MD—Chief of General Primary Care and Head of Technology Innovation for the Division of Primary Care and Population Health, Stanford University
• Shweta Maniar—Global Director, Healthcare & Life Sciences at Google
• Kameron Matthews, MD, JD, FAAFP—Chief Health Officer at Cityblock Health and Co-Chair of the Health Systems and Provider Advisory Board at the Coalition for Health AI
• David Rushlow, MD—Chair of Family Medicine, Mayo Clinic (Midwest)
• Nipa Shah, MD—Professor and Department Chair of Family Medicine at the University of Florida
• William Brinson Weeks, MD, PhD, MBA—Director, AI for Health, AI for Good Lab, Microsoft

Reach out to Rock Health Advisory to explore how we can help your organization advance AI in primary care.

Get in touch with the venture team at Rock Health Capital.

Join us in building a more equitable future at RockHealth.org.

And last but not least, stay plugged into the Rock Health community and all things digital health with the Rock Weekly.