Direct Primary Care: An Innovative Healthcare Model Making America Healthy

America has the best healthcare system in the world. Over 91% of the total population in the USA is covered under various health insurance plans according to United States census bureau data provided in September 2020. In spite of this, do you know what is the #1 killer in the USA?

Heart disease? Cancer? Accidents?

The shortest answer to all these questions is “No”. And yes, this is surprisingly true!!

The leading cause of premature death in the US is procrastination, deferring checkups, and lifestyle changes. In this blog, we will see why this happens and what you should do to ensure the best of your health and your family’s health. Staying healthy is something that everyone wishes for, and for this, you need a primary care doctor who will take the time to know you and your medical history and be available immediately whenever you really need them even if you are feeling fine. A good primary care physician will remind you to be healthy and alert you even if there is a little variation in your vital health stats. But importantly, he should be available for same-day visits and always be at a simple text or call away 24×7, night or day. 

People with this kind of doctor-patient relationship, don’t waste time waiting for their turn after booking an appointment, sitting around the doctor’s office, or tussling with insurance requirements and they save a lot of money. Furthermore, there are many kinds of research that reveal that this kind of access to their physician results in lesser ER visits, hospitalizations, specialist visits, MRI, CT scans, surgeries, and also helps eliminate unexpected expenses that could ruin a family’s monthly budget.

Certainly, you pay first for all of these when you take an insurance plan but the complex documentation process makes it difficult to consult with a decent doctor right away. Doctors provide such a mediocre service that makes people not visit them until their situation has worsened. But do you know why this happens? One simple question that will change your perspective towards doctors and health insurance is “who pays your doctor?”. The answer makes it complex to your access to the doctor. Practically, your doctor doesn’t work for you. They work for the insurance company and spend a lot of time meeting their requirements. Today’s health plans have many brokers between you and your doctor and that increases healthcare costs and kills convenience.

The average primary care physician sees four times as many patients as a specialist for about seven minutes per visit with a three-week wait to get an appointment and it’s getting worse by 2025. There will be a huge shortage of primary care doctors pushing public healthcare into the trash. This incompetent health insurance system is raising health care costs by limiting access to doctors thereby leading to poor health. So don’t count on your insurance to guarantee you quality health care and every time you need it. Albeit, for longer hospitalizations and major surgical procedures, health insurance could be helpful but for primary care, it is not par at all.   

To counter such a situation, a relatively new model of healthcare is evolving in the USA and its wide acceptance is quite encouraging for those direct care physicians who have started to work only for the patients being available all the time you need. This completely new and different approach is called Direct Primary Care or DPC. These cash-pay doctors and direct primary care clinics provide better quality primary healthcare at lower cost with higher patient satisfaction for a flat monthly membership fee. Patients can have unlimited 24×7 direct access to their doctor through telemedicine or in-person same-day consultations.  

Discounts on labs, imaging, and medications with no surprise billing, DPC guarantees direct access to your personal physician and gives you a partner in your health who always has time for you and can handle most of your health care needs for little or no extra charge and drastically decreased chances of hospitalization or specialty care which saves you a lot of money. People with DPC memberships can choose cheaper medical insurance plans that complement their DPC services saving even more money on health care.

When you realize you need this kind of direct access then direct primary care can be the best option. If by chance, you are staying close to Tomball, Texas then you have got a wonderful direct primary care clinic called QLMD Direct Primary Care that provides quality and affordable healthcare and empowers the patients to take control of their health. It doesn’t matter if you are a member or not, you will get the best available healthcare but members get better discounts on various therapies, procedures, medications, labs, vaccinations, and testings. Also, discover a new way to provide affordable employee healthcare — schedule a free discovery call today. You can directly visit the office, email at takecareofu@qlmddpc.com, or call at (346) 382-0666 for more information.