LCHM Fall 2017 - 14

FEATURE

D

irect Primary Care (DPC) has become an
emerging practice model in the United
States. According to Phil Eskew, DO, MBA,
JD, the creator of DPC Frontier, which can
be considered the largest resource available for direct
care practices, there has been a significant increase
in the number of DPC practices since 2014. On
the DPC Mapper, available on www.DPCFrontier.
com, Dr. Eskew recorded 125 DPC practices in the
U.S. as of June 2014; DPC Mapper now shows
620 practices as of April 2017. Some estimates state
there may be as many as 1000-1200 Direct Primary
Care offices across the country. If the rate of growth
continues at this pace, Dr. Eskew predicts that there
will be 2000 DPC offices by 2020. And these are
only the practices that he has been able to identify
or have reached out to DPC Frontier to be added
to this resource. It is suspected that there are many
more that are not "registered" on DPC Mapper.

DIRECT
PRIMARY
CARE
WHAT IT IS AND
HOW IT WORKS
BY KIMBERLY LEGG CORBA, D.O.,
OWNER, GREEN HILLS DIRECT FAMILY CARE,
A DIRECT PRIMARY CARE OFFICE
14 Lehigh County Health & Medicine | FALL 2017

Physicians who chose this model opt out of
Medicare, Medicaid and all other insurance contracts.
There are "hybrid" DPC offices that still participate
with Medicare/Medicaid and see the rest of their
patients through a monthly membership. This is
the defining difference between Direct Primary
Care and Concierge Medicine. Concierge medical
offices still participate with and bill insurance carriers
while charging an annual fee which is usually larger
than the total annual fee for a DPC membership.
At the core of DPC is the affordable monthly
membership (averaging between $50-$60/month
nationally), full price transparency, and value-added
services such as in-house dispensing, labs and imaging.
There are also prolonged visits, often 30-60 minutes.
There are no co-pays or co-insurance, and most
things done routinely in a PCP's office are included
with the membership. There are no hidden fees and
patients are made aware of all fees/costs. Patients
are seen the same or next day for acute issues with
reduction of the need for visits to Urgent Care or
the Emergency Room.
The Direct Primary Care office removes the
third parties from the exam room. It returns the
relationship to the patient and the physician. It
gives people with 1) High-deductible Health Plans
(HDHPs), 2) a lack of insurance and 3) folks with
good insurance coverage more face-to face time, great
coordination of care and access to same day/next day
appointments for acute issues. Due to the incredibly
low prices for ancillary services, if the patient chooses
http://www.DPCFrontier
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of LCHM Fall 2017
