MADISON, Wis. -- A revamp of the primary care system in the area is improving access to health care for residents.

In the typical model of primary care, people who need a physical or who get sick call a doctor, get checked out, go home and then repeat the process as necessary.

But a different model, known as a "medical home," has been phased in over the last four years at Group Health Cooperative.

"The idea of the 'medical home' is that it's a much more proactive situation where we are trying to make sure that patients get in when they are due for care," said Jessica Bartell, chief of quality and care innovation at GHC.

A medical home means not just a person's doctor but rather a team of doctors and nurses work together to care for the patient.

"I think patients are much happier knowing that their health care team is paying attention to their health care needs, whether they're coming in or not," said Bartell.

Electronic records also play a key role, following patients from the doctor's office to the hospital or a specialist and even giving them access to records and test results at home.

"We know when a patient walks in that they're due for their preventive care and for certain lab tests that they might need, and that helps us to remember," said Bartell.

That data is proving very important to University of Wisconsin Health, which is piloting the same model at nine clinics.

"It's different for doctors and different for the staff because this is the first time they're really looking at the data, looking at practices, knowing who their patients are and saying, 'Oh, look at this; we could do this differently,' and start making small changes that hopefully will improve the care for the patients," said Sandy Kemnetz, vice chair of clinical care in the Department of Family Medicine for UW Health.

Part of this new model helps with another issue -- that there just aren't enough primary care doctors. The teams allow nurses and physicians assistants to play a more active role in a patient's care and allow them to use their expertise more effectively as well.

George Quinn, of the Wisconsin Hospital Association, said that lower salaries and demanding schedules are just two reasons why more medical students are choosing to become specialists rather than primary care doctors.

Quinn said that, in the end, it's the patient who pays the price.

"If you don't have access to a primary care physician, you're less likely to be on top of your health care issues and conditions, leaving them for a later time when they might increase or be exacerbated," Quinn said.

This story is part of a special Madison journalism project called "All Together Now," in which media outlets such as Madison Magazine, Isthmus and Capital Times are participating. The goal of the partnership is to explore the many aspects of a single issue and how it affects the community. Health care access is the first issue of "All Together Now."

The issue of the shortage in primary care doctors is also featured in November's Madison Magazine, which is on newsstands now. Editor Brennan Nardi reports that less than a fifth of medical school grads are choosing primary care. Read more on the issue at MadisonMagazine.com.