United Allergy Services’ Chief Executive Officer David Boone recently wrote an article for D CEO Healthcare about the vital role that primary care providers can play in addressing the nationwide gap in allergy care.

Boone addresses the limitations in how the healthcare industry has traditionally treated allergy sufferers — most of whom, as he points out, turn to over-the-counter medications that “provide only symptomatic relief.”

Those who do seek out long-term help through allergen immunotherapy have typically needed to visit specialists, which poses its own problems. Boone highlights the scarcity of allergists around the country, especially in small towns. He adds that the amount of time and office visits required make this option prohibitively inconvenient for many allergy sufferers. With environmental changes extending allergy seasons, all signs point to seasonal allergies only growing as a national health issue in the years to come.

“As more people fall victim to seasonal allergies and other disorders brought on by environmental variables like warmer climates, the healthcare industry must do what it can to keep up with the growing demand for high-quality, convenient care,” Boone says.

Fortunately, general practitioners can help. By working with ancillary companies like UAS, they’re able to increase access to quality care to their allergy-suffering population. Patients benefit by remaining under the care of their primary care provider and from a treatment method that allows them to self-administer, safely, in the convenience of their own home. As Boone later states, maintaining continuity of care under the primary care provider is something that benefits all parties.

“The fact is, allergy care is primary care,” he says. “Access through general practitioners is especially needed in small towns where specialists are often scarce. Within primary care practices, better accessibility will help exponentially more allergy sufferers than can be handled by relatively few specialists. And expanded ancillary services can have a significant impact on the financial health of a primary care doctor’s practice.”

To read the entire D CEO Healthcare article, click here.