Why would you DPC?

It's MAY already!!! We here at NW Pioneer DPC are very excited to open our doors in July which is only two short months away. In preparation I thought I would discuss why you would wish to have a DPC membership. A DPC membership is awesome in that it provides high quality care, amazing access to that care, and a phenomenal value.

QUALITY CARE - There are many studies that confirm that time spent with the patient is the greatest indicator of quality of care (i.e. highest patient satisfaction scores and best outcomes). Here at NW Pioneer DPC we have un-rushed appointments (30-60 minutes typically). The average face to face time spent with a doctor in a typical clinic is currently only 7 minutes. At our clinic we can do better than that! Because of the amount of time we can spend with each patient, more concerns can be addressed. If you end up needing more time than a single visit allows, we can have another extended appointment to follow at no additional charge than the monthly membership fee.

ACCESS TO CARE - I have and continue to hear over and over that most patients are not able to get an appointment to see their own physician when needed. If patients can't see their doctor face to face, they are reduced to telling their concerns to a medical assistant or nurse to get advice. If they do get a message to their doctor, it can take days to hear back if they hear back at all. How different would it be to know that you could get a same day or next day appointment to be seen? How would like it, when you called your doctor that it's him (or her) that answers the phone? What if you could securely text, video call, or email your doctor? How much better would that be? That's how it IS at NW Pioneer DPC.

VALUE OF CARE - Being a very concrete person, I love to look at the monetary value of everything. There is significant value in a DPC membership.

A basic fact that many have to appreciate is that with current high deductible health care

plans, YOU as the consumer end up being responsible for the first $1500 of costs.

The question you have to ask yourself is how are you going to spend that money? How can you get the best price and services for your money?

I'll just share a story here. Recently I had an urgent care visit. I was seen outside while staying in my car. I spoke with the provider for maybe 5 min face to face and had a flu swab test taken. As I have a high deductible health insurance plan currently, the bill came straight to me. The total amount was $170 for the flu test and $150 for the visit. I know from inside information that the flu test costs about $35 for the materials and to run the test. But a 5 min visit for care ended up being billed out at $320.

At our clinic, that same visit would not have cost anything more as your membership already includes those services. Your membership covers any medical visits and in-clinic lab tests. Membership fees currently are: $49-99 per month depending on your age.

There is so much more information on value that I'd love to share but I won't force feed it to you all at once. I'm going to break it up into bite sized portions over the following weeks.

My next post will dive into the cost of labs and other tests. How much do YOU pay?