STURBRIDGE, MASS. (WHDH) - It’s a trend that is gaining steam across Massachusetts. It’s called Direct Primary Care and it’s proving to be an effective alternative for those willing to pay a fee for on demand primary care.
Dr. Deborah Palmer is a direct primary care doctor. She doesn’t have a waiting room, because she comes to you.
Dr. Palmer makes appointments for house calls to her patients around Sturbridge, MA. She provides personalized care to them through her practice Freedom Doctors. Whether it’s a quick question, routine physical, prescription refill, or something more urgent, she’s just a phone call away.
“Just the way i remember as a kid with having a doctor come to the house,” said Francine Ranellone. “She’s compassionate. She listens. She doesn’t rush you. She just listens to what your concerns are and we formulate a game plan.”
Dr. Palmer started making house calls after feeling overwhelmed by the demands of traditional primary care.
“I felt like I wasn’t giving 100% to anything,” said Dr. Palmer. “The system in general needs a big reboot.”
Experts say insurance payments to doctors often fall short pushing them to see more patients. Dr. Palmer believes the focus on volume over value leads to rushed visits and longer wait times.
“The more patients you see and the more complex the patients are, the more you get reimbursed, so there’s this push to see more patients, and that’s just not going to end well for anyone involved,” said Dr. Palmer.
Other doctors agree.
“They are really in survival mode to trying to practice medicine and the way that they wanted to practice when they went the medical school without all the torture,” said professor and chair of family medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine,Dr. Wayne Altman,
The trend of doctors on demand cuts out the insurance middleman giving physicians more control over how they work and what they charge. They say that freedom helps them focus more on patient care and less on paperwork.
“I still deal with insurance but more on my terms,” said Dr. Palmer. “They’re not the ones paying me. They’re not the ones saying, oh you only saw 10 patients you can’t sustain with that. Yeah I can and I’m going to provide really good care for those patients.”
“When you remove that middleman you get more for less,” said Dr. Altman.
But getting more, costs more. Francine pays $145 a month for unlimited access to her doctor. Depending on your age and the doctor you choose, prices range from $40 to $229 a month. That’s on top of paying for a health insurance plan, which is required by the state of Massachusetts.
“It depends on where you value things,” said Dr. Palmer.
Other patients also pay for concierge care, but at a different kind of cost.
“When someone leaves for direct primary care, or DPC practice, or concierge practice, their panel may go full-time from 2,000 patients to 500 patients,” said Dr. Altman. “Now what happens to those 1500 patients?”
Palmer has trimmed her patient list from 3,000 to just 200 allowing her to be more attentive.
“I actually know all my patients,” said Dr. Palmer. “I’m very happy. I feel like I’m providing really good care for those patients.”
Care that Francine says is worth the extra cost.
“I just think this is the way to go,” said Francine. “There are a lot of wonderful doctors out there, but this is just another avenue and this works for me.”
Direct primary care doesn’t fully replace your traditional healthcare plan. You’ll still need coverage for prescriptions, specialists and hospital care.
You can use this map to find what direct primary care options are available in your area: Mapper — Direct Primary Care | DPC Frontier
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