Rise in Direct Primary Care

The modest but notable rise in “Direct Primary Care” (DPC) practices has popped up in the news in light of President Trump’s executive order aimed at increasing price transparency in hospitals. The DPC model includes simply priced, monthly memberships that forgo the traditional insurance model. Patients sign up directly with the provider/group similar to how they purchase a phone or internet plan. 

The DPC model generally includes a combination of easy-to-access primary care services, virtual appointments, and discounts on labs, imaging, and medications. Fees vary, but seem to range from $50 - $150 per month. The model has grown out of provider frustration with administrative requirements necessary for dealing with insurance plans, as well as patient demand due to increasingly expensive health insurance options. A desire for pricing transparency fundamental to a free market system forms the ideological backbone. The use of membership fees that forgo co-pays/deductibles/co-insurance also indicates a lessening insistence on fee-for-service reimbursement that has long been a pillar of the medical profession.

While such innovation provides an interesting diversification of the healthcare market, its potential for growth outside the primary care market seems limited. Specialists, for example, would likely find the model difficult to adopt due to their less consistent nature of patient visits when compared to primary care doctors.