Direct care is exactly what it sounds like – medical care directed straight at the patient. No insurance middle man, no red tape and certainly no opportunity for things to get lost in translation.
What’s it Like Being a Direct Care Physician?
A direct care doctor deals with patients one-on-one, from both treatment and billing perspectives. As a direct care physician, you’ll see fewer patients so you can spend more time with each one – whenever the patient needs it. In your spare time, you’ll take action to better your practice – and those actions don’t involve piles of paperwork. Without the hoops insurance forces the traditional primary care physician to jump through, as a direct care doctor you’ll spend more time doing what you signed up for in the first place – providing fantastic quality healthcare.
Imagine this. Run your practice your way and get back to the reason you enrolled in med school. Prescribe medications right from your in-house pharmacy. Bill your patients directly – without ever going near a third party or ICD-anything. Correspond with your patients via Twitter direct messages, text messages, email, or even Skype. It’s not too good to be true – this can be your practice. There’s even EMR software to make it thrive.
What’s it Like Being a Direct Care Patient?
As the patient of a direct care medical practice, you’ll enjoy things like 24/7 accessibility to your doctor, house calls, wholesale prescriptions costs, extended visits, same day scheduling and more. When you sign up with a direct care clinic, you’re also eliminating the insurance middle man – and saving money. A monthly membership fee allows you to only pay for the services you need – when you need them. You don’t have to get rid of your health insurance all together, but by finding a plan that complements your direct care membership, most patients save more than the cost of their membership when all’s said and done. Several direct care clinics will work with you to find that happy medium – in fact, some of them even have insurance representatives on-hand to help specifically in that area.
It’s like having a doctor in the family – one you can call at any hour of the day (or night!). Correspond with them using modern technology like text, Twitter, Skype, email, or the traditional phone call if you prefer. Spend as much time with your doctor as you’d like – and ask all the questions that come to mind. Your direct care physician’s primary concern is you! And that’s the way it should be.
The Direct Care Movement is Growing
As the direct care healthcare model takes off around the country, there’s a lot to learn and even more to take advantage of. But one thing’s for sure. Everyone – physicians, patients and insurance companies – are getting what they want: better quality healthcare.