A Direct Primary Care (DPC) membership is a type of healthcare delivery model that provides patients with direct access to primary care services without the need for insurance. Here are some of the benefits of a DPC membership:

1. Increased Access to Care: DPC members have more direct access to their primary care physician, often including same-day or next-day appointments, longer appointment times, and direct phone and email access.

2. Lower Costs: DPC members typically pay a monthly fee for their membership, which can be lower than the cost of traditional insurance premiums. This monthly fee covers all primary care services, so patients do not have to pay out of pocket for individual appointments or procedures.

3. Quality Care: DPC providers have fewer patients, allowing them to spend more time with each individual and provide more personalized care. This model can result in better health outcomes and increased patient satisfaction.

4. Reduced Bureaucracy: With a DPC membership, patients do not have to navigate the complicated insurance system and can receive care without having to worry about insurance claims or pre-authorizations.

5. Improved Coordination of Care: DPC providers can coordinate with specialists and other healthcare providers to ensure that their patients receive the best possible care.

6. Preventive Care: DPC providers often emphasize preventive care, which can help patients maintain good health and avoid more serious and expensive health problems in the future.

In summary, a DPC membership can offer patients increased access to quality care, lower costs, reduced bureaucracy, improved coordination of care, and a focus on preventive care.

You may have heard of a similar model called “concierge medicine”. While there are similarities with DPC, the two are different in some fundamental ways. For starters, concierge practices often bill your insurance in addition to a monthly fee (though some don’t—which makes them DPC practices!). 

This means they’re still a part of the insurance industry’s ridiculously complex reimbursement system, so they have to hire administrators to handle all the paperwork. This gets reflected in your monthly fee; the average concierge practice bills $200-300 per month. By comparison, DPC memberships cost approximately as much as your cell phone bill. Concierge was a step in the right direction, but it didn’t go far enough. To bring sanity back to primary care, you need to cut insurance out of the picture entirely.