English: Livingston, TX, 9/25/05 — A doctor talks to a patient with a broken neck at a triage center at Livingston Hospital. Doctors and nurses on FEMA’s Disaster Medical Assistance Team from North Carolina care for patients brought to the 50 bed hospital. The hospital does not have enough staff to care for all the patients evacuated from Texas cities in the path of hurricane Rita. Photo by: Liz Roll (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
For parents of young families, it can seem like their children are running into furniture or coming down with a fever almost every day. And unfortunately, this means that many moms and dads must choose between calling the doctor or applying their own ice pack or band aid hoping for the best because frequent doctor’s visits are an added expense.
But what if there was a way to be able to call or see your doctor for even slight bumps and bruises? This is where direct primary care is trying to fill the gap.
How Direct Primary Care Works
A relatively new term for an old school way of doing medicine, direct primary care, or concierge medicine, charges a flat monthly fee for unlimited access to care from a family physician. Whether you don’t see the doctor all year or you are back in the office with a sniffling toddler every other day, the cost remains fixed at around $50 to $100 per month. Children are often less at roughly $10, writes CNN Money.
More Time with Your Doctor
Something that the more than 4,000 American doctors practicing direct primary care are really passionate about is their ability to spend more quality time with patients.
Dr. Floyd Russak told MD News that he now provides higher-quality care for 300 patients rather than the 2,000 that used to fill his list. These reduced patient lists are possible because doctors are paid by the moth rather than by the visit.
Thus, a typical doctor’s visit can now last anywhere form a half hour to 60 minutes because the physician does not need to cram a long line of patients into his office. With more of the doctor’s attention, focus and time, families can form deeper relationships with the physician.
More Preventative Care
With unlimited access to care, families are also more likely to make appointments on a regular basis. The increased opportunity for checkups, testing and screenings can go a long way in preventing advanced diseases in the future. And for families with growing children, regular vaccinations and checkups can ensure that children are developing at an optimal rate.
Increased Affordability
Another benefit of direct primary care is its ability to cut out the middleman of insurance providers. While it is recommended that families with direct primary healthcare plans still maintain a high deductible insurance plan for medical emergencies and expensive hospital stays, the monthly rate for general and preventative care is surprisingly affordable.
And costs in general are reduced with concierge medicine because doctors communicate directly with suppliers and lab companies. For instance, the typical $90 an insurance company would be billed for a cholesterol test is reduced to only $3 when the physician orders it directly from the lab.
Why Direct Care Is Great for Families
In most cases, direct primary care seems to offer a greater chance for meaningful connections with a family physician. The Concierge Medicine Journal writes that “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.” Almost like a doctor on call, concierge physicians are often more readily available for office visits as well as contact by telephone or email.
Whether it is for affordability, quality care or meaningful relationships, many families are looking into direct primary care as a positive alternative for their young families.
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