Direct Primary Healthcare May be the Future of Insurance

Dragging ourselves to the doctor’s office is rarely a fun activity, but it’s usually less painful than navigating your insurance company’s rigmarole and endless paperwork that comes with medical care. 

Combine the two and it’s a wonder people seek medical treatment at all.

Direct Primary Healthcare (DPC) may offer a solution to this necessary nuisance, or at least present an alternative. 

DPC, which covers the cost of basic, routine exams or minor emergencies, is a relatively new option in which you make payments directly to a healthcare professional, usually practitioners in internal medicine, family medicine or pediatrics. Services may also be provided by nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

Using DPC is essentially like having a retainer with your primary care physician in case you need them through a type of “membership.”

“As a provider, the most frustrating thing is dealing with insurance,” says nurse practitioner Amy Ester, who opened Anchored in Health in Oxford in 2021 because she didn’t want to be restricted by the established health care model.

 “I worked in the traditional health care space for years and just wanted to care for my patients without making quotas and dealing with mountains of paperwork.”

Amy says that personalized care is critical as it is practically impossible to establish a good, quality relationship by only spending 10 minutes with a patient.

“I saw so many people when I was working within those parameters and I couldn’t tell you about one single person or how I treated them even if I tried because in 20 minutes, you can only cover so much,” she says. 

Now, Amy knows every one of her patients personally. Many of them even have access to her cell phone number in case they need her.  

“My patients deserve value and respect and that’s what they get,” she says. “I spend at least an hour with each one because to me, they aren’t just another number.”

Amy offers different plans at her practice and she can help with everything from preventative health maintenance and family planning to other types of issues. A single person of a certain age will start at a $59 monthly membership and the plans go up to a $250 monthly membership for a nuclear family. Patients just leave a credit card on file.

“I did my research and have set my prices so there is really something to help everyone with access and affordability,” Amy says.

She also contracts with a local lab and gives patients access through a portal. 

Leesburg nurse practitioner Amanda Gaskin has also adopted the DPC way of care and is a true believer. 

“This has been my model of payment since day one,” says Amanda. “It’s right there in our name, Ultimate Health Direct Primary Care.”

Amanda previously worked elsewhere as a provider beholden to insurance companies that dictated what she could and could not do for her patients. 

“I wanted my patients to be at the center of the care,” Amanda says. “This model benefits anyone needing health care services and increases the patient’s ability to determine what is best for them as it relates to their health. With or without insurance, this model works for me and my patients.” 

She charges $99 per month with no contract, but the agreement can be modified based on needs. For example, she adjusts the rate for some of her patients who are seniors living on a fixed income. They pay $50 per month to have 24/7 urgent care access while keeping their DPC through their insurance. 

To supplement DPC in the event of a major emergency requiring hospitalization, Amanda recommends either a health share program like Zion Health or a high deductible plan. 

Amanda says there are so many ways this access can help people and cites one example of a situation that occurred this past year. 

“A young lady was in an accident and came to me because her abdomen was hurting,” she says. “It turned out to be cancer which required her to see me weekly for imaging reviews.”

For those reviews, the patient simply sent a text message to Amanda and the order was sent over to the imaging center from Amanda’s cell phone. There was a minimal delay in getting treatment because of the direct care model. 

“She was referred to Moffitt Cancer Center quickly because DPC helps facilitate care coordination much faster than with traditional medicine,” Amanda says.

Another local patient, Heather Figel, says she was looking for a new doctor and found Ultimate Health Direct as a recommendation through her friend Sarah. Heather says the compassion, understanding and availability of the entire team there made her a patient for life.

“Amanda is the only health provider I trust or see now,” Heather says. “After being sick, I went to see her, she got me in immediately and I knew I found my home.”