What is Direct Primary Care?
Direct Primary Care (DPC) is redefining healthcare through a patient-centered, whole body, integrated approach that has been proven to enhance health and productivity while substantially reducing medical costs associated with today’s current healthcare model. Providers often offer longer appointments with no copays and customize treatment plans to meet the goals of each individual patient.
Direct Primary Care is a membership-based model and may cover 80-90% of patients’ healthcare needs. When paired with major medical or cost sharing solutions, members receive exceptional and comprehensive healthcare and coverage.
Direct Primary Care aims to provide high-quality, patient-centered primary care at an affordable cost, while also promoting a more sustainable and efficient healthcare system.
Back To The Roots
Healthcare used to be all about prevention, but in the 20th century, the far more expensive acute and reactive care became the main focus in the US. Now the people here are more sick than ever before, and the healthcare costs are out of control. Direct Primary Care takes healthcare back to its roots by putting attention onto prevention again – once the acute needs are taken care of. Finding and addressing the root cause of illness are a big part of Direct Primary Care, which results in healthier, happier patients that now rarely – if never – need to come in for acute care.
Nurturing Relationships
Another big difference of Direct Primary Care is the relationship the doctor cultivates with the patient. With DPC, doctors are easier to access and have more time with their patient, which gives them the opportunity to learn more about them, their lives and families, their likes and dislikes, worries and successes. With this relationship, doctors are able to understand more deeply the needs of their patient, discuss prevention and treatment plans, and are able to guide the patient on their healthcare journey for many years. And patients feel better taken care of, and they feel heard.
Overall, it costs less
Because the focus is on prevention, it is rare that the patient ever has to go to a hospital for emergency care or surgery. This keeps costs down. The patient also pays the doctor directly, which is less (or even much less) than what an insurance charges. There are no copays, no hidden fees, no deductibles – the costs are transparent.
This also benefits the employer, who now has to pay a lot less for their employers’ healthcare AND has healthier and more productive employees with less down time.