CPG primary care physician vacancies lowest in two decades

UC Davis Health has seen tremendous growth in the Community Physicians Group (CPG) primary care workforce over the past three years. The organization now has the fewest primary care physician replacement vacancies in more than two decades.

There are currently only five primary care physician openings. And the CPG physician turnover rate for 2026 so far is only 4.3%.

Senior Physician Recruiter Lisa Carey attributes the milestone to increased recruitment resources and strategic marketing, but also to the many ways UC Davis Health supports physicians. Among these:

• Nurse-led triage for patient MyChart messages
• Embedded pharmacy teams and an automated medication refill system
• Manageable patient panel sizes and patient-facing hours
• AI scribe technology to cut documentation time
• Dedicated administrative time for chart completion and documentation
• Voluntary evening and weekend clinics through the Access Plus program
• A Patient Contact Center (PCC) team dedicated to welcoming and scheduling new primary care patients

“The list stops people in their tracks,” said Carey. Clinicians she recruits are often surprised at the many policies and services designed to support UC Davis Health physicians.

A major access rebound

This recruitment and retention success goes hand in hand with UC Davis Health’s access improvements over the same time period.

In 2023, UC Davis Health made the difficult decision to close primary care to new patients due to provider scarcity. The challenge was not unique to this organization, or even to the region, but the shortage of primary care physicians remains a national concern.

Now heading into Open Enrollment 2026, every CPG primary care clinic has open access.