SEMG 2026: The Challenges That Will Define the Future of Primary Care

SEMG, the meeting place for primary care

Under the theme “Roots, soul, and future,” the congress brought together nearly 2,500 physicians at the Oviedo Exhibition and Congress Center, becoming a key forum for addressing the challenges that will shape the evolution of primary care in the coming years.

As the first line of the healthcare system, primary care plays a fundamental role in prevention, early diagnosis, and ongoing patient follow-up. However, this level of care currently faces growing pressure stemming from various demographic, organizational, and social factors.

Artificial intelligence was one of the major focal points of this year’s event, featured in numerous sessions dedicated to analyzing its impact in areas such as clinical practice, digital health, care management, and mental health. Beyond its technological potential, the discussion focused on how to integrate these tools responsibly and effectively into healthcare processes.

An increasingly demanding situation

Primary care is going through a particularly challenging period. The main challenges identified during the congress include:

• The steady aging of the population.
• The need for a new generation of family physicians.
• The sustained increase in demand for care.
• The rise in mental health problems.
• The pressure on appointment times and available resources.

The data also reflect the difficult situation facing primary care. In its Health Barometer survey, Spain’s Ministry of Health reports that seven out of ten people who request a primary care appointment wait more than two days to be seen due to a lack of availability, and the wait exceeds seven days in 40% of those cases.

Delays in the first appointment can have very serious consequences. In some cases, failing to detect a problem in time allows the disease to progress, and the patient’s condition may be much worse by the time they access the healthcare system. The suffering and uncertainty that delayed care can cause must not be overlooked.

As noted, primary care plays a foundational role within the healthcare system. Pressure on primary care has repercussions throughout the healthcare system, increasing demand at other levels of care and making continuity of care more difficult.

One of the factors testing primary care’s capacity is mental health, the field in which Nexi specializes. The World Health Organization reports that one in seven people worldwide has a mental disorder, underscoring the importance of primary care as a fundamental pillar in the delivery of mental health services.

The need to change the healthcare landscape

In this context, the ability to optimize processes and improve care efficiency becomes a strategic priority. Technology can play an important role, provided it is implemented to support clinical judgment rather than replace the relationship between healthcare professionals and patients. In the words of José Miguel Álvarez Cabo, chair of the Congress Organizing Committee:

“Technology must be an ally, never an obstacle to the doctor-patient relationship, which remains the heart of our profession.”

This approach ran through many of the discussions held during the event and reflects a view shared by much of the sector: innovation must strengthen healthcare while always preserving its human dimension.

Nexi’s technology: serving healthcare professionals

At Nexi Health, we fully share this perspective. We believe that artificial intelligence and new technologies have enormous potential to strengthen primary care, but only when they are integrated in practical, safe ways that align with healthcare professionals’ real needs.

Our goal is to provide tools that streamline processes, optimize decision-making, and facilitate patient follow-up. We believe the strengths of our tool can help address the problems primary care faces today, such as growing pressure on healthcare services and high caseloads:

• It helps reduce excessive care workloads and wait times.
• It enables more continuous and personalized care.
• It supports the early identification of at-risk situations.

Mental health is an important part of primary care because of the number of cases and the difficulty of providing continuous, specialized follow-up for every case. Continuous monitoring of mental health indicators can provide healthcare professionals with supplementary information and enable more structured follow-up between appointments.

Rather than replacing clinical tasks, we aim to free up valuable time so professionals can focus on what truly makes a difference: caring for and supporting patients.

Valuable insights to keep improving

Participating in SEMG 2026 was a particularly enriching opportunity for the Nexi Health team. Direct contact with physicians and primary care professionals helped us better understand their needs, concerns, and expectations regarding the introduction of new technologies into care delivery.

This exchange of knowledge is essential to gaining firsthand insight into the state of primary care, the complex situation it faces, and how new technological tools can alleviate problems such as the overwhelming workloads professionals face.

Transforming primary care will depend not only on having more resources, but also on incorporating tools capable of improving clinical efficiency, strengthening patient follow-up, and supporting professionals in decision-making. Digital health and artificial intelligence will play an increasingly important role in this process, especially in areas of growing complexity such as mental health. Nexi can become an ally in achieving these changes.