Direct primary care

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In the United States, direct primary care (DPC) is primary care offered directly to the consumer, without insurance administration. It is an umbrella term, incorporating various health care delivery systems that involve direct financial relationships between patients and health care providers.

Background

Direct primary care is intended to remove many of the financial barriers of healthcare. Often, there are no insurance co-pays, deductibles or co-insurance fees thus avoiding the overhead and complexity of maintaining relationships with insurers.[1]

Under this model, patients may pay a combination of visit fees and/or fixed monthly fees which grant them access to a set of medical services, including same and next-day appointments, both in the form of house-calls and office visits.

Typically a direct primary care arrangement is paired with either:

  • A high-deductible health plan, as DPC alone will not cover catastrophic health care such as most surgeries
  • A health savings account, or health reimbursement account as the associated tax-benefits can generally be applied to DPC and other medical expenses.

One of the lesser known provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act can be found in Section 1301 (and amendment Section 10104). This provision allows for direct primary care to compete with traditional health insurance options in the mandated Health insurance exchange when combined with a low cost high deductible plan.

Advantages

Direct primary care practices do not typically accept insurance payments, thus avoiding the overhead and complexity of maintaining relationships with insurers, which can take as much as $0.10 - $0.20 of each medical dollar spent.[2] Consequently, because direct pay members are usually automatically billed a physicians practice's cash flow can also be improved.

Because direct primary care payments are typically paid over time, rather than in return for specific services, the economic incentives are such that the long-term health of the patient is the most lucrative situation for the doctor. As such, preventative care gains greater emphasis under DPC.[3]

Medicare pilot program

The Direct M.D. Care Act of 2011, sponsored by Representative Bill Cassidy [R-LA], proposes a pilot program of direct primary care projects under Medicare Part B. As of May 2012, the bill has seven co-sponsors, five Democrats (Luis V. Gutierrez, [D-IL], Mike Honda [D-CA], Jared Polis [D-CO], Allyson Schwartz [D-PA] Adam Smith, [D-WA]) and two Republicans (Dan Benishek [R-MI], Phil Gingrey, [R-GA]).[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Direct Primary Care". Health 401k. 30 December 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2012. 
  2. ↑ Pierre, Yong (2010). The Healthcare Imperative: Lowering Costs and Improving Outcomes: Workshop Series Summary. Washington DC: The National Academies Press. pp. 141–174. 
  3. ↑ Chase, Dave. "How direct primary care reduces primary care costs". KevinMD.com. Retrieved 17 February 2012. 
  4. ↑ 112th U.S. Congress: Direct M.D. Care Act of 2011 (H.R. 3315) from THOMAS
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