EASTHAMPTON — Amid a nationwide shortage of primary care doctors, with some patients waiting months for an appointment, the Center for Human Development is now offering primary care at three of its locations, including Easthampton.
CHD has nearly 70 locations throughout western Massachusetts and Connecticut, offering a variety of human services, primarily emotional and behavioral health, along with addiction recovery, hunger and housing support and more.
In September, Springfield-based CHD introduced new primary care services at three of its current clinics — Easthampton, Orange and West Springfield — welcoming any patient in the area looking for a primary physician.
“It’s probably not even news at this point, but there’s a real shortage of primary care providers,” said Dr. Chad McDonald, CHD’s chief of medicine, in an interview with the Gazette inside its Easthampton location at 65 Union St. McDonald joined CHD in March.
CHD’s first primary care clinic, at 246 Park St. in West Springfield, offers a full range of services, including regular checkups; treatment for minor illnesses and injuries; management of chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes; diagnostic services; medication refills; and referrals to specialists. The Easthampton and Orange locations are seeing primary care patients but offer more limited services for now, with plans to expand.
CHD opened its Easthampton location in 2024, offering behavioral health services in the former Manchester Hardware building on Union Street.
CHD combines medical care, nursing case management and behavioral health services in one place, McDonald said.
Ben Craft, CHD vice president of community engagement, said in a statement, “It just makes sense to offer as many services as possible in a single visit. It’s more convenient for individuals and families. Instead of missing work on multiple days, instead of needing childcare or transportation support on multiple days, let’s align the services around the patient and their needs.”
Since opening in West Springfield, McDonald said patients have been able to get an appointment within a week, including patients who were told that they would have to wait six to 12 months.
“Patients would [be] in tears with joy that they’re [able] to see a primary care provider,” McDonald said.
The primary care workforce in the commonwealth is shrinking as employment in physician offices has barely increased, according to a 2025 report from the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission. The commission, which is an independent state agency, says the state is lagging far below nationwide trends.
McDonald said the expansion follows what’s known as a “reverse integration” model. Typically, primary care practices add behavioral health services; CHD is moving in the opposite direction.
“[It’s] what they call reverse integration, where CHD recognizes the importance of primary care in the lives of the patients that we already serve and now we’re opening that up to the whole community,” McDonald said.
McDonald pointed to data showing that, for people with a severe and persistent mental illness, having to prioritize mental health care over primary care can blunt life expectancy by anywhere from 10 to 25 years. Reverse integration allows behavioral health patients to easily obtain a primary physician wherever they are already receiving treatment.
“If someone’s in and out of the hospital for schizophrenia, the whole system is focused on their schizophrenia. They’re not focused on their high risk of heart attack or diabetes that’s cooking in the background,” McDonald said.
At work is a deep connection between the mind and the body, said CHD Chief of Psychiatry Ryan Alvares.
“When mental illness and addiction are co-occurring, they tend to take over, and that person tends to make physical health less of a priority, so it suffers significantly,” Alvares said in a statement.
There are several factors contributing to the primary care shortage, McDonald said, including the reality that providing primary care is not as profitable as other health services. There are also ripple effects still being felt from the COVID-19 pandemic, which made it difficult for a lot of new employees entering the industry to get proper training.
“I really invest a lot of time and energy into the job training once providers do come on board,” McDonald said. “I think without that, our country isn’t really going to move the needle on filling the void of primary care.”
McDonald said CHD wanted to spread its locations throughout western Massachusetts to widen its reach.
“The nice thing of opening multiple sites is we can balance,” McDonald said. “We’re growing at the rate we are, as we see the demand curves … we’ll open additional sites, add additional providers as needed.”
