Blog
December 13th, 2024

I always knew I wanted to be a family doctor. In college I began envisioning practicing in a small town, where I could live above my office and if someone was late with a bill, I would happily accept fresh eggs from their chickens. Fast forward through years of school and training and instead I found myself working long hours, trying to care for 3000 patients with appointments every 15 minutes. I was exhausted, my patients needed me, and I knew I had to find a better way to use my years of training. And then I was introduced to the concept of Direct Primary Care.

What is Direct Primary Care (DPC)?

Direct Primary Care is an innovative model of healthcare delivery that is gaining in popularity throughout the United States. By cutting insurance out of the patient-doctor relationship and using a subscription-based model, a physician can keep their practice small and personal, resulting in increased time and access for their patients. The Direct Primary Care (DPC) model allows physicians to provide healthcare at a more affordable rate and enables them to focus more on delivering quality care to their patients rather than navigating complex insurance requirements.

Good for Doctors, Good for Patients

Talk to any primary care physician working for a healthcare system these days and they will tell you- they’re frustrated by the quantity of work they do outside of seeing patients and they’re frustrated by the little amount of time they’re given to see each patient. The DPC model inverts these numbers. Instead of carrying the typical 2500-3000 patients, DPC physicians often carry 300-600 patients. Less patients means more time with each patient and less time spent clicking through refills and messages. Patients are also feeling the crunch of corporate healthcare- more and more they are turning to urgent care centers when they are ill because they are unable to get an appointment with their primary physician. And when they do see their PCP, they often have a list of issues to discuss but are unable to cover it all in a 15- or 20-minute visit. Having a DPC doctor means no co-pays, improved access, longer appointment times, and same or next day visits and patients really appreciate this.

Financial Transparency and Savings for Everyone

The DPC movement represents a paradigm shift away from the traditional model of generating revenue through insurance reimbursements. This serves both physicians and patients. When insurance companies are removed from the equation, the overhead for a PCP practice dramatically decreases, eliminating the need for coders, billing companies, and an administrative presence. DPC often saves patients money as well. Besides decreasing the need for urgent care and ER use and eliminating the co pay burden, many DPC practices are able to offer reduced rates on labs and imaging. For example, if a patient were to have a Complete Blood Count (CBC) at a popular neighborhood lab and insurance feels the test was not warranted they will refuse to pay for it, leaving the patient with a bill for $198, for just that CBC. Using what’s known as Client Billing, a DPC practice can obtain that same CBC for just $2 and insurance is no longer dictating care. Removing insurance from the equation really can save everyone money. Most DPC physicians would agree that patients still need to have insurance for catastrophic events, etc., however, removing it from the patient-PCP relationship can financially benefit everyone.

As healthcare in the US has become more and more expensive, finding ways to provide affordable high-quality primary care has proven elusive. The Direct Primary Care movement is providing one remedy to a current national problem and making patients and doctors happy at the same time.