WHY WE CHOSE TO BE A DIRECT PRIMARY CARE PROVIDER…….

The Direct Primary Care (DPC) model is a practice and payment model where patients/consumers pay their physician or practice directly in the form of periodic payments for a defined set of primary care services. These periodic payments provide patients enhanced services over traditional fee-for-service medicine. Such services may include real time access via advanced communication technology to their personal physician, extended visits, and highly personalized, coordinated, and comprehensive care administration.

The DPC contract between a patient and his/her physician provides for regular, recurring monthly revenue to practices which typically replaces traditional fee-for-service billing to third party insurance plan providers. Patients benefit from having a DPC practice because the contract fee covers the cost of many primary care services furnished in the DPC practice. This effectively removes any additional financial barriers the patient may encounter in accessing routine care primary care, including preventative, wellness, and chronic care services. Most patients, depending on affordability, still carry insurance for coverage of healthcare services that cannot be provided in the primary care practice setting, such as specialty care and hospitalizations. The model is especially well suited for those patients with high deductible plans where they might normally be paying out of pocket for any primary care services that are not considered preventive.

Ideally, the DPC model is structured to emphasize and prioritize the intrinsic power of the relationship between a patient and his/her family physician to improve health outcomes and lower overall health care costs.