Why Direct Primary Care Is Worth It
Direct Primary Care (DPC) Service Provides Unlimited Care with High Value Affordable Membership
Direct Primary Care (DPC) is a membership or subscription-based service. You pay the primary care provider (PCP) directly instead of going through insurance. It’s taking out the middleman. Insurance is not directing the care; the experienced provider is.
In the traditional fee-for-service system you use insurance, who may or may not pay the provider based on contracts the insurance has with the facility. Depending on a person or family’s deductible, a visit may or may not get covered fully. For most patients, every visit that is not an annual physicalrequires a co-pay. These costs can add up. It can also deter people from seeking the care they need.
With DPC there is complete price transparency, so you know what you are paying for. The monthly membership is a flat rate. You can see or speak to the PCP as much or as little as you need/want to without additional fees. There are never office visit charges or copays.
Your Trusted PCP Provides Personalized Care
With a DPC membership, you have full, unlimited, access to the provider at your office via multiple modalities. Call, text, email, video and in-office appointments. Ease is unmatched.
Never feel rushed with longer appointment times and same or next-day appointments availability. The goal is for you to create a professional relationship with your provider over time, not just in quick 15-minute interactions twice a year. We consider this to be ‘old school care with a modern flair’.
Your Healthcare Costs Can Be More Affordable
At Birch Hill Health, we negotiate with companies to offer low costs for medications and labs. While you can still use insurance at the pharmacy or laboratory, we work with companies to offer wholesale pricing.
For those who do not have insurance, have high deductibles, or simply want to pay less, we have affordable medication and lab service options. We only charge a small percentage to cover the cost of shipping items to our office.
In addition, since DPC offices often have a select number of providers and support staff, overhead to run the clinic is typically less. Unlike many traditional fee-for-service offices, extras like a billing company, secretary, lab technician, medical assistant or nurse are unnecessary. When the practice grows, a practice may need to hire a medical assistant or nurse for optimal care, but this would not affect cost to the patient.
We Can Send Referrals
Everything that is done in a traditional primary care office can still be done at a DPC office. Your provider would be considered an out-of-network provider but can place referrals to any specialist. You would then want to check with any supplemental insurance to see which specialists are in-network for your coverage.
We Can Provide a Wide Range of Lab Services and Procedures in One Place
Visit one location for a full range of Primary Care Services. No need to head downstairs to the lab after your visit, or to drive to a separate facility for certain procedures. We’re able to provide most of these services in our office through your trusted PCP. Additionally, with an affordable monthly membership, you have unlimited access to these services.
The services we offer include:
Direct Provider Access
Sick Visits
Wellness Visits/Physicals
Chronic Care Management
Gynecology
Telehealth Appointments
Lab Testing
Procedures
Receive Quality Health Services, No Insurance Needed
Direct Primary Care (DPC) is a membership or subscription-based healthcare service option. As a patient, if you need to schedule a visit for any reason, it is covered under your affordable monthly membership, not through insurance.
Your DPC provider will not charge copays, or extra office visit chargers no matter how often you may need to access services. In addition, with a DPC membership, you would have access to reduced or wholesale medication or lab services.
Some patients still have supplemental insurance to cover certain outpatient services, medications, specialists or procedures. But if you do not have insurance, have high deductibles, or just don’t like the current healthcare system, DPC may be a great option for you.
Patients with Medicare Can Often Enroll in Direct Primary Care Memberships
If you have a Medicare plan, you would still pay the flat monthly membership rate for care at your DPC healthcare provider. Everything would apply to you just as it would to other DPC patients. You would enjoy unlimited full-range patient care through your trusted DCP provider with no copays and no additional costs for office visits, etc.
Your provider can often still send prescriptions and order lab testing that you can get covered by Medicare, but cannot charge Medicare directly for patient care.
If you have any Medicare plan, it is important to check with your DPC provider of choice to ensure they are able to treat you as a patient.
If you have a Medicare Advantage plan, check to see if you need an in-network provider, as certain DPC providers are considered out-of-network.
Birch Hill Health, PLLC
We are a Direct Primary Practice serving patients in York, Maine. We strive to provide old-school care with a modern flair.
Jenna Lizewski, DNP, FNP-C is a doctoral-prepared nurse practitioner who both owns and operates Birch Hill Health.
Jenna has been a nurse for 14 years, with the past 8 years in the nurse practitioner role. She has worked in a variety of settings including traditional private practice, workplace-based health, preoperative evaluation and hospital-based primary care. Jenna loves being a PCP. She enjoys the relationships she makes with patients, caring for families, and providing health education in an easy to digest way.