Direct primary care is when individuals or employers pay directly for primary care. Because of this form of direct care, excessive overhead, prior authorizations, billing, extra office space, and unnecessary staff is removed from the business equation. The savings attained are passed on to the patients in the form of lower fees. Doctors are less dependent on third party payers, and end up working in the best interests of patients, not insurance companies.
If you're like most Americans, you have to wait at least 20 minutes in the waiting room before you see your doctor. This wait time has become a serious frustration for many people and it has led to the rise of other forms of primary care such as direct primary care and concierge medicine.
You call your doctor's office and schedule an appointment. How long do you have to wait? When you consider how important timing can be for catching and preventing certain illnesses, a long wait time is especially nerve-wracking. But, that seems to be the most common past time for ailing Americans. In some cities across the U.S., patients have to wait between three to six weeks just to see their primary care doctor.
A common issue regarding healthcare today is that people feel that their doctor’s appointments are rushed. Many people say that they don’t get enough time to ask questions and, consequently, do not fully understand the instructions their doctor gave them. Everyone gets about 15 minutes of face time with their doctor (unless you're a member of a direct primary care practice), so it’s often difficult to remember everything you wanted to bring up or that was discussed. Being prepared beforehand with a list of questions for your next doctor’s appointment will help ensure a more productive visit and increase the potential for a more effective outcome. Use these tips to prepare yourself for your next office visit:
In an study published last week entitled, “Direct Primary Care: Practice Distribution and Cost Across the Nation,” Philip Eskew, DO, JD, MBA and Kathleen Klink, MD, document, research and analyze Concierge Medical Practices and Direct Primary Care (DPC) practices spanning across the United States. Topics include: the stigma associated with the term "concierge," a distinction between the various healthcare models, an explanation of why DPC is growing in today’s medical world, and an an analysis of how it meets the basic desires of both physicians and patients and how it is priced across the U.S.
If there's one thing I've learned in my years of marketing for direct primary care (DPC) practices, it's that people don't really understand that it's NOT about price. So, here's a list of six items every patient should understand about direct primary care:
