Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Still In The Waiting Room
August 1, 2017
There is something rotten in the state of medicine, especially family medicine. Merritt Hawkins has recently reported that the average wait time for an appointment with a family physician is 29.5 days. That’s almost an entire month of waiting. A month in between when you, or your child, need to be seen and when the physician can see you. Direct Primary Care is changing that number.
Direct Primary Care, provided by Strada Healthcare in Nebraska and Iowa, is a clinic model that accepts a low monthly membership fee instead of insurance for medications and routine visits. The fee covers most of what the average patient needs, including physicals, labs, and prescriptions at a much lower cost. DPC offers same-day visits with your provider; that is direct access 29.5 days faster than the average physician. This could includes a face-to-face visit with your physician, talking through FaceTime, or taking an emergency trip to the clinic to get stitches after a late night hide-and-seek accident.
DPC is the future of family practice medicine. In the Midwest, there was a waiting span 153 days to 7 days before a physician was available. Not one city surveyed had an appointment available in less than a week. If even one DPC clinic had been called, the patient would have been seen that very day. DPC was created for the families who are frustrated with the cost of copays and urgent-care visits. It was created for people who are busy and don’t have time to waste waiting for a month to wait in a room to see a physician for 5 minutes. Because DPC does not accept insurance, there are no copays, fewer urgent-care visits, and there is less waiting. So alas, while poor Yorick may be waiting for a month to get seen by his physician, you can sign up with DPC today, get your family in and out, and be on your way.
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Article 2: http://www.businessinsider.com/direct-primary-care-a-no-insurance-healthcare-model-2017-3