I just wanted to go over a few reasons to start a membership in a direct primary care practice.
Some have trouble seeing how Direct Care can benefit them. I have lots of people say: "oh well we already have insurance so we really can’t use a membership". Wrong!! There is so much added value with DPC that you may not be seeing at first glance. With your membership you are paying for time, confidence, and knowledge. You don’t realize you need this until you get sick or something goes wrong. Members also save a money by choosing a cheaper insurance policy to pair with a membership.
Read these scenarios for some examples.
Scenario one:
You are slicing veggies for skewers at a cookout on a Saturday. You have several people coming to the house in a few hours. You accidentally slice open your finger cutting up the onions! The cut is deep and clearly needs stitches.
Without DPC: You call the local urgent care that is booked up. You head to the ER which is backed up with a 5 hour wait in the waiting room. You finally get stitches and get back to the house but you had to cancel your party. You spent your entire day in an ER instead of enjoying your day off. Your ER bill is $1600 dollars.
With DPC: You call Dr. Phillips. She meets you at the office and gets you stitched up. You are home in less than an hour ready for your guests. No extra cost to you.
Scenario 2:
Your 69 year old husband hasn’t been doing well. He isn’t quite himself the last few weeks and has been falling more. For some reason he is getting more confused.
Without DPC: You call the family doctors office but there are no open appointments for 2 weeks. The nurse tells you to go to an urgent care where you see a mid level provider that doesn’t even do more than listen to your husbands lungs. He is sent home and told to follow up. Your husband keeps falling and breaks his ribs. He ends up in the ER and gets sent home again and told again to just “follow up with pcp”. He still isn’t doing well 3 weeks later. You are finally able to get in with his regular doctor who notices he is off but is in a rush (he is running an hour behind) so the doctor orders tests, physical therapy, and refers to neurology. You wait weeks to see neurology specialist and have the tests. The tests show he may have had a stroke but it’s too late to do much and he has declined and gotten very weak from all the falls. He ends up breaking his hip after a fall and in inpatient rehab for 6 weeks.
With DPC: You call Dr. Phillips and you are seen by her the same day. She orders the needed testing and does a detailed history and a full physical. She knows your husband and knows something is off, so she does a memory test which is significantly abnormal. She finds subtle weakness in the left leg and notices he hasn’t been taking his aspirin. She is concerned he may have had a stroke so she calls and coordinates an MRI for just 2 days later which shows the stroke. She does more testing and within a week of seeing the doctor he is getting focused physical therapy at home and already improving.
Scenario 3:
Without DPC: Your 4 year old little boy has a fever again. This is the third time in 2 months and this time it’s the weekend. You pull into urgent care and notice the parking lot is full. After waiting 2 hours you are seen but the provider was only in the room a couple minutes and the antibiotic they gave you is the same one your son already had a week ago. He continues with fever and ends up with more antibiotics a couple weeks later. Eventually he has to have ear tubes to prevent infection. Your medical bills skyrocket.
With DPC: Your 4 year old has a fever again. Dr. Phillips meets you at the office to check him out and sees he may have an early ear infection. Considering he recently had antibiotics Dr. Phillips prescribes the appropriate different antibiotic and also does soft tissue OMT on your sons eustacean tubes to help them drain. He felt better quicker and has less ear infections and never ends up needing ear tubes. You save money and your child avoids an expensive surgical procedure.
References:
I hope this gives you some insight to what benefits and services we can offer you as a member. Call or sign up today to join us.
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