Book excerpt: The US healthcare system faces numerous difficulties: uncontrolled increases in costs; major access problems; doctor shortages; closing practices; inefficiencies; decreasing revenues; shrinking bottom lines; large numbers of uninsured and underinsured patients; and the upcoming increased demands in service posed by the Affordable Care Act. As a result, many physicians and health care organications are turning to group visits to address these problems. While Dr. Noffsinger's textbook Running Group Visits In Your Practice is the cornerstone reference on designing, implementing and running shared medical appointments (SMAs) in one's practice, it lacks the simplicity and practicality that clinicians are looking for to start their own SMA programs. The ABCs of Group Visits is a practical, streamlined and step-by-step guide focused on the implementation aspects of group visits.Healthcare professionals at every level are looking for alternate ways to deliver high quality care at lower cost, and it is clear to many that group visits provide a care delivery model that will address many of today's critical challenges. The ABCs of Group Visits quickly provides a solution for your busy practice.