In medicine, there are four levels of care: primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary.
Primary care involves consulting with yourprimary care provider.
Secondary care refers to seeing a specialist such as anoncologistorendocrinologist.
Illustration by Michela Buttignol for Verywell Health
Tertiary careis specialized care in a hospital setting such asrenal dialysisor heart surgery.Quaternarycareis an advanced level of specialized care.
This office is your first stop for most of your symptoms and medical concerns.
Primary care providers may be:
There are some primary care specialties as well.
But they also happen to specialize in caring for a particular group of people.
Most health insurance policies require you to designate a primary care provider.
Secondary Care: Specialists
Secondary care triggers when your primary care provider refers you to a specialist.
They remain in contact with the specialist.
Specialists focus either on a specific system of the body or a particular disease or condition.
Sometimes problems arise in secondary care.
That’s because your PCP can help you establish and maintain a management plan for the long term.
Quaternary Care
Quaternary care is considered an extension of tertiary care.
However, it is even more specialized and highly unusual.
Because it is so specific, not every hospital or medical center offers quaternary care.
Some may only provide quaternary care for particular medical conditions or systems of the body.
These types of care may be used at more than one level.
Primary care involves seeing your PCP for things like acute illnesses and injuries or to coordinate care among specialists.
Secondary care involves seeing specialists such as oncologists.
Tertiary care is a higher level of specialized care within a hospital.
Similarly, quaternary care is an extension of tertiary care, but it’s more specialized.
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