What is Direct Primary Care (DPC)?

Direct Primary Care (DPC) is a simple, modern way to get high-quality, comprehensive healthcare from a doctor who truly knows you—all for one low, flat monthly fee.

At HealthSprings Direct, our doctors chose to step away from the red tape of hospital systems and insurance companies so we can focus on what matters most: caring for you at a fair, transparent price. No insurance hassles, no corporate middlemen—just a direct relationship between you and your physician.

Think of DPC as a membership for your health. By joining, you get ongoing access to your doctor, same- or next-day appointments for urgent needs, and unhurried visits whenever you need them—all included in your monthly fee.

At HealthSprings Direct, your doctor is here when you need them. Membership means care that is personal, accessible, and focused on you.

Here’s what you can expect:

• Up to 20 office visits each year, included with your membership—appointments are unhurried and as long as needed.

• Same-day or next-day scheduling for acute issues, so you can skip the urgent care line.

• Direct messaging access with your doctor for questions and concerns.

• On-site testing and procedures such as strep tests, simple bloodwork, mole or wart removal, stitches, and joint injections (some services may have a small additional fee listed on our transparent pricing page).

• Preventive care to keep you healthy, including annual physicals, screenings (such as cancer screening, Pap smears, and EKGs), and help with coordinating referrals.

• Chronic condition management for asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol, thyroid issues, and more—with a personalized long-term plan.

• Specialist and hospital coordination when advanced care is needed, with your doctor ensuring smooth communication and continuity of care.
  
  

With HealthSprings Direct, you’re not just getting access to office visits—you’re gaining a trusted partner who knows you, advocates for you, and supports your health every step of the way.

• A Direct Primary Care membership typically costs about the same as your monthly cell phone bill. For that fee, you get a level of access and personal care that simply doesn’t exist in the traditional system—same- or next-day appointments, direct messaging with your doctor, and visits that are never rushed.

• In many cases, the membership pays for itself. At HealthSprings Direct, we’ve partnered with local labs and imaging centers to offer blood tests, X-rays, MRIs, and more at significantly reduced cash prices. We also dispense many commonly prescribed medications in-house at near-wholesale cost—saving you money and an extra trip to the pharmacy. On top of that, many patients lower their overall healthcare costs by pairing DPC with a lower-premium, high-deductible insurance plan.

• See our current pricing here. 

Absolutely! Here’s how a HealthSprings Direct membership can put money back in your pocket:

• 1. Medications:
  Instead of juggling co-pays, pharmacy trips, and insurance hassles, we dispense many common medications right from our office—at wholesale cost. For patients on multiple prescriptions, this can mean saving hundreds each month.

• 2. Injuries & Urgent Needs:
  An urgent care visit can cost $100–$500, and an ER trip can run into the thousands. With same- or next-day visits, many issues—like stitches, sprains, or infections—can be handled right in our office, avoiding those surprise bills.

• 3. Insurance Costs:
  Most of your everyday care is included in membership, so you can confidently pair DPC with a lower-cost insurance plan for rare emergencies. This often saves patients thousands per year compared to paying extra for a “Platinum” plan.

• 4. Long-Term Health:
  DPC helps prevent small problems from turning into big, expensive ones. With regular access to your doctor, you stay healthier, avoid unnecessary ER visits, and get the peace of mind of having a trusted physician on call.

Bottom line: One HealthSprings Direct membership can save you the cost of multiple co-pays, urgent care visits, and overpriced insurance—while giving you better care and access than the traditional system.

• If it seems like everything is a subscription these days, that’s probably because it is! And with good reason: subscriptions are the best way for a business (of any kind) to offer high-quality service and support over a long period of time. If you long for the days when software cost hundreds of dollars and came in a box, DPC might not be for you.

• The alternative would be itemized, “usage-based” pricing—the exact pricing scheme used by the traditional healthcare system. And that didn’t work out so well for anyone. There are a hundred little perks of being a DPC patient. Frankly, the benefits of being a DPC patient are too varied and rich to be broken down into a “menu of services”. Paying your DPC doctor for every thing they do would be like paying Netflix for every episode of TV you watch. Sounds awful.

• Not exactly. In most concierge practices, you pay a high monthly fee and you still have to use your insurance—meaning co-pays or co-insurance at each visit. Because they bill insurance, concierge practices also carry the costs of extra staff and paperwork, which drives monthly fees up to $200–$300.

• Direct Primary Care (DPC) works differently: you pay one flat monthly fee (about the cost of a cell phone bill), and that covers nearly all of your care. There are no co-pays or co-insurance at each visit—just easy access to your doctor when you need them. By cutting out insurance, DPC keeps costs simple and affordable while giving you more time and personal attention.

• Absolutely! To be sure, your DPC doctor will always be there for you if you’re get sick or hurt, but they also work proactively to keep you healthy, happy, free of preventable diseases, and living a good lifestyle.

• It’s hard to break out of the mindset of the insurance-based healthcare system. In “the system”, everything is centered around treating illness. It’s very hard for a doctor to get paid by an insurance company for detecting early warning signs of diabetes or encouraging a lifestyle change to decrease risk of heart disease. Doctors just aren’t rewarded for encouraging all-around good health. It’s time to get PROactive, instead of just reactive.

• By being in constant contact with your DPC doctor when you’re healthy, you’ll be able to stay that way. By the time you’re being treated for a chronic disease, it’s usually too late. But if you spend your healthy years under the watchful eye of a doctor that cares, you’ll be able to stay out of the hospital for years to come..