Direct Primary Care

10 Reasons Why to Join a DPC

10 Reasons to Join a DPC Practice

Wellness Exam at Balanced Physician Care – Part 2

 

Wellness Exam at Balanced Physician Care – Part 1

Direct Primary Care for Small Businesses

Is Direct Primary Care (DPC) for small businesses the solution you need? Let me ask you a few questions.

Are you a small business owner who wants to take care of your employees but you don’t have the time and resources to take on health insurance?

Is putting together a healthcare package beyond your HR department’s means? Do you even have an HR department? Most small businesses consider an HR department a luxury!

America was born on the foundation of mom-and-pop businesses. The idea was that anyone could start a business and succeed with the right amount of passion and work ethic.

However, the corporatization of American businesses, combined with the current pandemic, has made it more difficult for small businesses to stay open – much less provide the healthcare coverage their employees deserve.

But there’s the other option I mentioned: DPC for small businesses

Not only does health insurance get more and more complicated every year, but also policy prices and medical costs have skyrocketed.

That’s why I originally walked away from the insurance model that’s taken over our healthcare system and embraced the Direct Primary Care model. It was an easy decision really. I believe people deserve accessible, affordable, high-quality medical care.

I also believe that a strong personal relationship between a doctor and their patient is crucial to an individual’s overall wellbeing.

Our Direct Primary Care offering for small businesses is simply taking this idea a step further.

What is the DPC Model?

Exactly what it says: Direct Primary Care. No insurance middle man. A direct connection between patient and primary care doctor.

DPCs like mine work off of a monthly membership fee. For this set monthly fee, patients receive personalized health care whenever they need it.

7 Reasons Why DPC Would be a Good Fit For Your Small Business

quote from article on direct primary care for small businesses

1 DPC saves you and your employees money. A DPC membership provides 24/7 access to primary care for a flat monthly fee. Many employees with high-deductible health plans avoid getting the care they need – or get swamped by medical bills until their deductibles are met.

2 DPC membership is convenient and local. Employees have clinic access during regular business hours as well as after-hour, weekend, or holiday access via text or phone.

3 Your employees will be healthier. Access to affordable and convenient medical care reduces absenteeism and improves productivity. There are no barriers to care like co-pays or high premiums.

4 DPC can reduce absenteeism. When people have the opportunity to take care of acute or chronic conditions, they’re going to be healthier and come to work more often. One of the benefits that avoids absences is that doctors can even consult with patients via phone or telemedicine. This reduces the need for in-person visits during office hours.

5 The low cost of DPC membership allows you to create competitive benefits packages.

6 Offering access to medical care shows your employees that you value them. This can support a positive company culture that will help your business thrive.

7 DPC for small businesses is attractive to employees. As I mentioned earlier, DPC fosters a close doctor-patient relationship, which leads to a more personalized health care experience and a healthier and happier employee. It’s also easy to add spouses and children to DPCs.

Are you ready to break free of the conventional model and bring DPC to your small business?

Visit our Business Page - www.HealthcareForJax.com

Direct Primary Care vs Traditional Primary Care

Direct Primary Care (DPC) and traditional primary care models share a focus on delivering primary healthcare services, but they differ in their approach to patient relationships, payment structures, and often, the overall patient experience.

Here are some of the key differences:

Payment Structure:
In a traditional primary care model, physicians typically bill insurance companies for each service they provide to a patient (fee-for-service). This can involve high deductibles, co-pays, and often results in unexpected medical bills for patients. Conversely, the Direct Primary Care model involves a fixed monthly, quarterly, or annual fee. This fee covers most or all primary care services, resulting in more predictable healthcare costs for patients.

Patient Load:
Traditional primary care physicians often manage a large number of patients, sometimes in the thousands, due to the demands of the fee-for-service model. This can limit the time spent with each patient. DPC physicians typically have a smaller patient load, allowing for more personalized care and longer patient visits.Accessibility: DPC often offers more direct access to physicians. This can include same or next-day appointments, direct phone or electronic communication, and in some cases, telemedicine visits. In the traditional model, patients may experience longer wait times for appointments and less direct access to their physician.

Healthcare Benefits (insurance coverage):
Traditional primary care relies heavily on health insurance to cover patient costs, while DPC models are typically insurance-independent for their services. Patients with DPC often carry a high-deductible plan or health-sharing plan for emergencies and use their DPC for primary care services.

Focus on Preventive Care:
DPC models usually emphasize preventive care and managing chronic conditions due to their structure. The aim is to maintain patient health and detect issues early, reducing the need for more expensive specialist or emergency care. While preventive care is also a goal in traditional primary care, the large patient load and time constraints may limit its effectiveness.

Price Transparency:
DPC models are generally more transparent about prices, with patients knowing up-front what their healthcare expenses will be. In traditional healthcare settings, the actual expense of services is often unclear until after the services are rendered and your coverage / insurance has paid their part.

Balanced Physician Care is a Direct Primary Care practice located in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL and serves Jacksonville and the surrounding communities.  Contact our office at 904-930-4774 for more information on how to become a member of the practice. 

Subscription Service for Medical Care

This Sanford, Florida doctor runs a direct primary care practice like Balanced Physician Care.  Direct Primary Care is being described as the Netflix for health care. Patients also don't need health insurance to qualify for this.

 

video is courtesy of

 

If Health Insurance was Honest

What if health insurance companies like UnitedHealth Group, Anthem, Aetna, Cigna, Humana, and others were actually honest about how horrifically terrible they are?

This video investigates.

Wouldn't it be better to have a direct, personal relationship with your doctor without involving the "insurance goblin"?  That's what Direct Primary Care is all about!

Rapidly growing Direct Primary Care model offers personal attention

We’ve all encountered obstacles to good health care from a system that sometimes seems determined to put roadblocks in our path.

“I’m sorry but the doctor has no appointments available until mid-March.” “Unfortunately we do not take your insurance.” “Yes, you are covered, but there are copays and you have not satisfied your deductible.”

That’s where Dr. Kyle Rickner and his colleagues at Primary Health Partners come in. As practitioners in the rapidly growing field known as Direct Primary Care (DPC), they offer a simple arrangement: patients pay a set fee each month and receive immediate, personalized primary health care services year-round, with their assigned physician available 24/7 by phone, text, email, or video, and with office appointments usually scheduled on a same-day basis.

It took Dr. Rickner some time, with a detour to a war zone, to devise this simple formula. A native of Kingfisher, Rickner attended Southern Nazarene University and then graduated from Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio. His residency training in family medicine was back home in Oklahoma, and he also served a stint as an Army physician attached to the 82nd Airborne Division.

“I reported to Fort Bragg on September 19, 2001, so I was among the first to be deployed to Afghanistan and later Iraq,” Dr. Rickner said. He served as battalion surgeon to troops on the front line of the war on terror.

After his service, Dr. Rickner practiced medicine in North Carolina for a time and then returned to Oklahoma City, where he was affiliated with a local health system.

“Initially there was some autonomy and flexibility, but that was eroding,” he said, noting that each year, especially as mandates for electronic health records took effect, government, insurance companies, and other regulatory powers, figuratively if not literally, barged into the examination room between the physician and the patient.

“The free market of medicine had eroded,” he said.

In the fall of 2014, Dr. Rickner and a colleague, Dr. Robert Lockwood, learned about the new but growing concept of Direct Primary Care (DPC).

DPC physicians were independent practitioners who charged patients a simple flat monthly fee. In return, they were available any time, as often as needed, at no additional cost. They also kept their patient load within set limits to assure that they had time for each patient interaction.

The DPC model would only work for primary care physicians—internists, family physicians, and perhaps pediatricians—who care for patients long term.

“It was just like the light bulb went on,” Dr. Rickner said. In January of 2016 he and Dr. Lockwood founded Primary Health Partners with two other staff members and his own daughter as office help.

Today Primary Health Partners employs 13 physicians, three other health practitioners, and allied office and nursing staff, all working in four locations in Edmond, Yukon, Moore, and northwest Oklahoma City. Patients can sign up at any time for a flat monthly fee of $79 for adults and $49 for children. They can expect same-day or next-day appointment availability and have several ways to communicate directly with their assigned doctor.

“That is the beginning and end of our revenue,” Dr. Rickner said. The organization has contracts with medical labs to make tests available at wholesale, and each clinic stocks several hundred common medications that can be filled as prescriptions, again at wholesale costs.

“We do encourage our patients to retain their health insurance, because we are a primary care practice,” he said. “They would need that should they have a major medical need we do not provide, like surgery.”

Dr. Rickner said Primary Health Partners patients don’t file insurance for office visits, but he said as the DPC concept grows and gains acceptance, he would expect insurers to begin covering part or all of the monthly DPC fee, because of its economic efficiency.

Say a patient covered by standard insurance has a fever and cough on a weekend and might be concerned about possible COVID exposure. One visit to a hospital emergency room or even an urgent care clinic could result in a bill to the insurance provider of many hundreds of dollars—enough to cover almost an entire year’s fee at Primary Health Partners. That medical need could have easily been met at no cost by the patient’s DPC physician.

That is why a growing share of the clinic’s enrollments now come from businesses that see a monthly enrollment fee for each employee as a cost-saving investment. Dr. Rickner said fully 40 percent of his memberships are employer-sponsored today.

Cultivating the Doctor-Patient Relationship

The greatest value, he said, is time—the extra time and attention the DPC practice model affords the doctor-patient relationship.

“In a standard primary care practice, a physician may have 2,000 or even 3,000 patients,” he said. That means most primary care doctors are hustling through 25 or even 30 office appointments per day, giving at most 15 minutes per patient.

“In that kind of environment the number of visits is inversely proportional to the quality of care,” he said. “We limit our patient panel to 600 to 800 per physician.” That allows his staff members to spend the necessary time with each patient.

Primary Health Partners patients can also email or text their physicians at any time through dedicated software.

“What we do,” Dr. Rickner said, “is bring common sense back to the chaos of medicine.” That, he added, brings “a high degree of personal satisfaction to the physician. I believe more young medical students will see primary care as a viable option under the DPC model.”

The Direct Primary Care model first surfaced in Seattle in the 1990s when two physicians there established practices that charged an annual fee for those in a limited patient base who wanted rapid and in-depth medical care. Later iterations of the concept included some that took partial or full payment from patient insurance plans, and others like Primary Health Partners that do not.

Direct Primary Care also has a national advocacy group, the Direct Primary Care Coalition, which did a study identifying 1,200 DPC practices nationwide serving more than 300,000 patients. Ninety-six percent of physicians joining DPC practices cited the opportunity to provide better medical care as a motivator, while 85 percent said they had too little time to spend with patients under the traditional practice model. Seventy-eight percent noted a desire to escape the paperwork burden associated with traditional fee-for-service practices.

According to a study by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), DPC grew by eight percent annually between 2015 and 2017. The Docwirenews website estimates that some 12,000 primary care physicians are involved in some form of DPC or concierge practice.

The field even has its own professional journal, Concierge Medicine Today, which was founded in 2007. Its pages carry many of the same articles one finds in most medical journals, like treatment trends in cardiac cases, but there are some striking differences. One recent issue suggested that DPC physicians should visit patients who are hospitalized under the care of a specialist since “when certainty is not an option, you can still offer the next best thing—your presence.” The article even suggests bringing along a gift basket, something one would rarely see in a journal devoted to surgeons or gastroenterologists.

The magazine has also noted that fully 33 percent of DPC physicians report zero wait times to see patients, while another 31 percent say their patients wait no more than five minutes—one of the primary attractions of the DPC system.

The AARP study also noted that while regular primary care physicians report spending an average of 15 minutes with patients, DPC doctors average 35 minutes. A 2014 survey of DPC patients showed that 90 percent were satisfied with their health care arrangement, compared with 67 percent who are treated by regular primary care doctors.

Balanced Physician Care is a Direct Primary Care practice located in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (near Jacksonville, FL), according to a map maintained by the Direct Primary Care Coalition. Dr. Rickner said he expects DPC growth to continue and to accelerate as more patients and physicians become aware of its benefits.

 

article by MIKE BRAKE, Independent Journalist

Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs

Top 5 Misunderstandings of Employer Sponsored Direct Primary Care

Direct Primary Care (DPC) for employers is the practice of delivering high-quality, physician-led care through near-site, onsite or shared employer clinics that are independent of traditional fee-for-service (FFS) based insurance products. Compared to traditional FFS Primary Care, employers find that DPC offers their employees a personalized doctor-patient relationship, comprehensive preventive care, and lower costs.

As Direct Primary Care continues to transform the healthcare experience, there are a several misconceptions that many organizations perceive when they think about how DPC may or may not work for their employees.

To help, we’ll discuss the top 5 misunderstandings:

Keep in mind, the information provided within this post applies to Balanced Physician Care's DPC model and may not be applicable to other DPC types.

#1: DPC is a cost “in addition” to our current health insurance.

Specific to employer self-funded programs, the DPC investment is a redirection of once paid claims. Studies have documented a reduction in primary and specialty care claims as employees shift their healthcare consumption behavior. The convenient access combined with relationship-based care delivery also reduces long term care costs as well as urgent care and emergency room visits.

Therefore, DPC practices offer a better long-term healthcare investment with a focus on prevention vs. only treating patients after diagnosis.

 

#2: Employees are forced to change their Primary Care Provider (PCP).

Employees are not forced to switch their PCPs under the employer shared Direct Primary Care model. Organizations can offer DPC as a voluntary benefit that employees can choose to utilize. Recent studies show that up to 44% of Americans admit to “skipping the doctor”[1]. Direct Primary Care offers a convenient, preventive care solution that removes the common barriers discouraging employees from seeking care. Aside from convenience, the benefits of their voluntary participation in Direct Primary Care are innumerable.

DPC clinics offer members:

Personalized, preventive care
No insurance billing
Chronic condition management
No co-pays
Treatment of ailments and illness
Same day urgent appointments
Referrals to specialists, as needed
No wait times
Relaxed appointment length
24/7 Access to medical care
Exams, labs and testing
And more...

Do you have an exceptional relationship with your PCP? If so…keep it! Sadly, up to 80% do not.

 

#3: DPC requires insurance plan integration and/or can only be offered at renewal.

Employer shared DPC models most commonly provide services independent of insurance and the FFS model. Employers may offer membership access at any time and employees may join at their discretion.

In general, DPC replaces insurance based, FFS products with patient-centric, relationship-based care where interests are 100% aligned with the patient and employer. Typically, DPC models charge a membership fee that covers all or most primary care services.

Please note, some DPCs are structure differently, each with a different insurance relationship. For more information on the different structures we invite you to consult with a member of our team.

 

#4: Our company is geographically spread out so DPC will not work for us.

Healthcare delivery is unique by market. Insurance carrier, network, hospital system(s), plan structure, location and demographics are some of the elements impacting delivery. These bear the greatest impact on access and cost. It’s confusing and creates barriers to care.

Many employers choose to offer a DPC practice in locations where they have the most employees in an effort to make the greatest impact on the health of their workforce. Virtual access to the “company doctor” also provides convenient access for remote employees. Employees may join the DPC clinic throughout the year and, on average, 60 to 80% of employees will sign-up in the first 1-3 years.  

Our staff and doctor can even come to your work site on appointed days.  For instance, We can offer physicals on the last Friday of each month or bloodwork panels on the 2nd or 4th Tuesdays for your employees. The options for care can be molded.

 

#5: Every DPC is the same.

It’s very important to know that no two DPC practices are exactly alike. doctors, location, delivery, scope of care and pricing are components that will all vary from one DPC practice to the next. The key is to find the right Medical Doctor (MD) that focuses on the patient relationship and care needed for each individual employee. The Doctor should be a licensed, independent physician who is free of hospital/health system ownership bias (and not largely beholden to insurance or fee-for-service revenues). The success of the DPC clinic and the impact it has on your employees will all start with finding a great Doctor.

 

Next Steps:

The most critical piece is finding the best physician.

Summary of important considerations as your company looks to implement a DPC model:

– The “right” Doctor is critical

– Care delivery is unique by market (health systems, carriers, payers, geography etc…)

– Scope of services can vary by doctor, model and practice

– Insurance may still play a role depending on the model you choose

– Membership fee structures vary

Primary care is the lowest care investment with the greatest impact on the total cost of care.

Access to high quality medical care is paramount for your employees and the health of your organization. Balanced Physician Care creates the customized Direct Primary Care solution that you need to stay ahead of an ever-changing healthcare landscape and ensure that your employees and your bottom line are as healthy as can be.

Get started by:

Contacting our membership team at membership@balancedphysiciancare.com or 904-930-4774.

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