Frequently Asked Questions
Why Direct Primary Care?
Direct Primary Care, or DPC, is a model of healthcare that puts patients first by getting rid of the red tape that constrains traditional practices.
- How? It’s simple: we don’t process insurance, and instead charge a low, monthly membership fee that covers all your primary care office visits.
- This membership is coupled with discounted medications and labs.
- Believe it or not – this actually saves you money in the long run.
- You won’t have to pay a co-pay for any office visits or routine physicals.
- You’ll be able to avoid many visits altogether by sending your questions directly to us via email and text – something you won’t get from a traditional practice.
- We’ve negotiated some pretty good deals for prescription medications, blood tests, and even XRays on your behalf.
- And, we pass those savings right on to you.
The fee covers all of the office visits you may need with no copay, ever.
- This includes the following: annual wellness exams, sports physicals, school physicals, chronic care office visits, follow-up visits, basic office procedures and treatment of acute illness or minor injuries, all with minimal wait times in the office.
- The fee also covers direct communications with your doctor: call, text, email or video chat.
- Our active members also have access to discounted labs, prescriptions and special procedures pricing not included in the membership fees.
While you do not need insurance to enroll in our services, we do recommend that you do have insurance to comply with Federal Law.
- DPC is not an insurance plan, nor does it replace insurance.
- Ideally, we encourage our patients to carry a high deductible, major medical plan or a plan with a health savings account (HSA).
- Another option many of our patients use is a Share Plan, like Medi-Share or Liberty HealthShare.
- Having a high deductible or a share plan ensures financial help should hospitalization or referral to a specialist be necessary.
- You should consult with your insurance provider to help you find a plan that works best with our medical model and that will meet your specific needs.
Of course! Physician access is one of the greatest benefits of the direct primary care model.
- Although we like to try and answer most routine questions and calls during office hours, we realize illness and injury don’t always happen between 9:00 am - 4:00 pm.
- You may call, text, or email your physician whenever you need, as long as it is not a life-threatening emergency. If you are experiencing a life-threatening emergency, please dial 911 for emergency intervention.
DO vs. MD
Doctors of Osteopathic medicine (DO) and doctors of allopathic medicine (MD) are two types of accredited doctors that can practice medical care in the United States. Both DOs and MDs complete rigorous training and study along similar paths. The main difference in DOs and MDs is their philosophy of care. DOs practice an osteopathic approach to care which focuses on the whole body and preventive care. MDs practice an allopathic approach using medication and surgery to manage and treat different conditions. According to the AMA (American Medical Association), a DO completes an extra 200 hours or more of hands on training on the musculoskeletal system. However, in terms of practice, both DOs and MDs can pursue any specialty they choose.
Yes! Dr. Melissa received her B.S. in Biology at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi.
Yes, again! Dr. Jones went to medical school in Kansas, Missouri at the University of Medicine and Biosciences. When she started medical school she thought she would like to go into the field of Neurology. However, she soon realized that she wanted to not limit herself to one area. Family Medicine started looking like a good match as she would be able to develop the relationship with her patients and manage the whole body approach which an osteopathic degree lends itself to.
Yep, you guessed it! Dr. Jones took the USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Exam) Steps 1 and 2 required for MDs as well as the COMLEX (from the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners) exams prior to graduating. Both DOs and MDs complete a Residency program in the specialty of their choice. MDs train at a nationally accredited allopathic residency program, while DOs have a choice of training at an allopathic or an osteopathic program. Dr. Jones completed her residency training in Family Medicine at Carolinas Medical Center (now Atrium Health) because she was impressed with the program and also wanted to get closer to what felt like home in North Carolina. She has a lot of family in North Carolina and was born in High Point, NC.
In medical school, DOs have an extra 200 or more hours of study in the musculoskeletal system. Dr. Jones’ states, “We had OMT (Osteopathic Manipulation Therapy) labs weekly during medical school where we would be paired up with a different medical student and evaluate each other in shorts and sports bras to learn about structure, symmetry, and techniques to treat dysfunction. At first it was intimidating palpating and learning on another classmate, but by the end of medical school, we all had a very good understanding of the anatomy of the body, and could tell what normal verses abnormal would feel like. We also learned skills of OMT that incorporates modalities similar to physical therapy, massage therapy, and chiropractic therapy for treatment. In studying all the different systems of the body such as the pulmonary, skeletal, and neurological, we were trained in the classroom, and reinforced the training in our labs such that I had palpated the individual ribs involved in the respiratory system, felt every vertebra and related muscles in the musculoskeletal system, and learned some craniosacral techniques for headaches right along with all the neural pathways.”
Direct Primary Care vs. Concierge Medicine ━ Courtesy of DPC Alliance at dpcalliance.org
In concierge practices, the membership fee is traditionally an annual fee; In DPC, your membership fee is traditionally a fee charged monthly, quarterly, or annually.
Concierge doctors often charge more in annual fees than the average DPC doctor. Although the average fee is around $1,800 a year, some concierge practices charge as much as $25,000 annually! DPC fees typically range from $600 to $1,500 per year.
Generally, concierge doctors also accept insurance; in addition to the annual fee, they bill insurance for each patient encounter. This means that patients may get “surprise bills” several months later after insurance pays their portion (of an amount typically not revealed to you until you get your bill). With DPC, insurance is not billed.
Also, because concierge doctors typically bill insurance, they are held to several insurance regulations including MACRA/MIPS and other documentation requirements. Since DPC does not bill insurance, they are not required to follow these regulations, enabling the physician to document more efficiently and not waste their time with checkbox documentation.
With concierge, because they accept and bill insurance, they are required to collect copays at each visit. DPC clinics do not bill insurance, so there are no required copays for each visit.
Concierge physicians typically have higher overhead costs, owed in large part to their acceptance of insurance which is required to negotiate insurance contracts, bill insurance, process insurance payments, and then resubmit bills when the insurance fails to pay in a timely fashion (which happens all the time). Since DPC physicians do not bill insurance, they do not require staffing and overhead to manage these revenue cycles, resulting in lower overhead.
ATTENTION MEMBERS
As of 08/11/2022, per the notice dispersed on 08/05/2022, we have successfully transferred all communications to RingCentral. Moving forward, all correspondence remains protected and we look forward to allowing our patients a better, more streamlined form of communication!
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