General Medicine and Primary Care

The Division of General Medicine and Primary Care is a national leader among divisions of General Internal Medicine, in research, teaching and clinical care.  The division seeks to enhance its position as a leading resource and center of clinical research and teaching for general internal medicine.  Our continuing goals have been to increase the quality and efficiency of the primary care practice, our teaching programs for residents, fellows and physicians, and to become a pioneer center of research focusing on many front line issues concerning quality and safety in health. 

Through the work of our faculty the division has become a leader in computerized information technology and how it can be used to improve quality and safety. David Bates, MD has received worldwide recognition for his work in the use of computerized systems to improve patient care and leads the Division’s strong research profile. We have developed a Center for Patient Safety Research and Practice as premier convener of patient safety scientists and investigators from academia, government, industry and healthcare.

As a major academic center  the division is highly committed to providing an ongoing source of continuing education for clinicians and primary training of medical students and residents. The Division is a leader in the Department of Medicine regarding residency teaching. 

The division has one of the country’s top groups of primary care providers, and a superb hospitalist group; many of these physicians are widely recognized for their clinical excellence. Many clinicians are now at one of our 9 distributed locations, and the division strives to provide close links between these providers and BWH.  The primary care practices serve a broad cross-section of the greater Boston community and provide care for approximately 97,750 patients. The inpatient general medical services and hospitalist program at BWH and Faulkner Hospital are primarily staffed by physicians appointed through the division and by physician assistants trained in internal medicine and other medical specialties.