·  Examines the current challenges of primary care and generalist medicine

·  Offers a chronological history of the growth of generalist medicine since the 1950s

·  Reviews the models of care on which generalist medicine is based

·  Analyzes the growth of three disciplines¾general internists, family physicians, and pediatricians

·  Looks at the supply and distribution of generalist physicians

·  Discusses the education and training of generalist physicians

·  Reports on the cost and quality of the care provided by generalist versus specialists