What is Direct Primary Care?
- Direct Primary Care, or DPC, is a model of healthcare that puts patients first by getting rid of the red tape that constrains traditional practices. It allows us to put the patients first, rather than allowing insurance to dictate care.
How will this save me money?
- You will have free office visits and routine physicals with no copay. You will be able to avoid many visits altogether by sending your questions directly to us via the patient portal and by text. You will also have access to discounted prescription medications, labs, and supplements.
- More importantly, you should be able to decrease your insurance premiums or health share premiums. Most DPC patients find a high-deductible, low-premium insurance plan or health share so they have coverage in the case of a major health issue but use DPC to care for many of their other health care needs.
Will I benefit from direct primary care if I don’t have a lot of health problems or require frequent medical attention?
- Of course. We offer personalized medicine that is focused on each person’s individual needs. We offer extended office visits that give us more time to focus on prevention and optimizing health.
Are Direct Primary Care (DPC) and concierge medicine the same?
- The terms are sometimes mistakenly used interchangeably, but they are not the same. Both DPC and concierge practices charge a periodic fee. However, with the concierge model, this fee only gets you access to a provider but it does not usually cover the cost of any of your care. A concierge practice bills insurance for the visits. With DPC, your visits are covered by your membership fee, plus you get discounted labs, medications, and supplements. Plus, you have direct digital communication with your doctor.
Want to know more about Direct Primary Care?
Membership Questions
How much does membership cost?
- See our prices on our pricing page. We charge a flat monthly fee, and in exchange, you get unlimited office visits, discounted prices on prescription medication, supplements, and labs
What does the membership fee cover?
- The fee covers personalized primary care through office visits with no copay. This includes the following: annual wellness exams, sports physicals, school physicals, chronic care visits, follow-up visits, basic office procedures, AcuWellness, and treatment of acute illness or minor injuries. You will have minimal wait times in the office. The fee also covers direct communications with your doctor: phone, text, video, or email.
- Our patients will also have access to discounted labs, prescriptions, and supplements.
What medical conditions do you care for?
- We treat all kinds of common everyday problems like colds, flu, strep, rashes, and injuries. We also treat more complicated long-term medical problems like adult diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and thyroid disorder. We also provide a functional medicine approach to auto-immune disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, cardiovascular disease, and neurologic disorders.
What happens if I need to go to the hospital, ER, or see a specialist?
- One benefit of DPC is that studies have shown that having direct access to your provider helps prevent hospitalizations, ER visits, and specialty referrals in many cases. However, when those types of care are required, we will certainly continue to work with your hospitalist during your hospital stay and work closely with any specialist.
Can children become members too?
- Yes. We are always happy to see children. We have a low monthly fee for children and a discounted family rate. See our pricing page for details.
Can I contact my physician after hours?
- Of course! Physician access is one of the greatest benefits of the direct primary care model. If you have an illness or injury outside of regular office hours, you may call, text, or email your physician for advice.
What if I need medical attention while I’m away from home?
- The DPC model is set up to treat patients wherever they are located. Many illnesses can be diagnosed and treated with a simple conversation over the phone or by video. We can help locate the nearest pharmacy and send an order for the medications most appropriate for your circumstances.
Are my medical records ever shared with government agencies, insurance carriers, or pharmaceutical companies?
- We maintain high standards of patient privacy. We will not provide your health information to any third party unless you specifically ask that we share it with them.
When do I pay my fees for non-covered labs and procedures?
- Charges will be added and applied to your preferred method of payment.
What if I decide to cancel?
- You may cancel your membership at any time for any reason or no reason at all. You need to provide us written notice 30 days prior to when you would like to cancel. We expect to have an open, honest, and respectful relationship with you and would appreciate any feedback on how we can improve.
Insurance Questions
Do you accept insurance?
- We do not bill insurance so that we can keep the patient at the center of care. We also try to keep our membership fees low by having reduced overhead and administrative burden. However, if we are drawing labs and you prefer that we use your insurance, we can submit your insurance information to the lab. If we order outside tests, we can provide your insurance information to the hospital or imaging and you can use your insurance to cover the cost if it will be less expensive. However, many people find the cash prices at some of the imaging centers save them money compared to using insurance.
I don’t have insurance – can I still join?
- Yes, insurance is not required. We will take care of you regardless of whether you have insurance. However, we recommend that everyone have insurance or health share coverage in the event of a major health issue.
As a patient, do I still need health insurance or health share coverage?
- We recommend our patients continue a high-deductible insurance or health share plan and health savings account. If you experience a major health issue, you will still need insurance to help cover it. We are happy to refer you to insurance representatives who can help customize an insurance plan to your specific needs.
If I have Medicare, can I still join?
- Yes. You will need to sign a one-time waiver declaring that neither you nor your provider will directly bill Medicare for our services. Even though Medicare will not pay us for any services you receive in our practice, your Medicare benefits will otherwise remain unchanged. You can continue to use Medicare for all other medical care received outside of our practice. Medicare will still cover any laboratory testing, imaging, medications, or hospitalizations prescribed by our offices.
Is the membership fee eligible for HSA or FSA reimbursement?
- You may want to check with your human resources department regarding the use of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) as possible payment options for your membership. If you are not able to use these funds to pay for the membership fee directly, you may be able to use your HSA/FSA as reimbursement for certain services provided through our office.
