The COVID situation during the last 2 months has highlighted the need for easy access to your primary care physician (PCP) much more than ever before. With so many of the insurance based primary care clinics closing their doors due mainly to their slowness in adopting virtual visitation. The clinics have struggled to work out appropriate codes to bill these kinds of visits. Patients have struggled through this unsettling times and have explored a lot of other possibilities.
One such possibility is membership in direct primary care clinic. DPC clinics have telemedicine build into the benefits their members get access to. We, Meridian Springs Primary Care, were able to provide uninterrupted service to our members as telemed was already available to them.
Exploring Direct Primary Care
For those exploring direct primary care for the first time, we want to provide information that is useful to make decisions. What other better way than to share our story.
https://www.woodlandsonline.com/npps/story.cfm?nppage=66699
The formation of the clinic started in 2017, when Co-founder Sunil Vasisht was working toward his MBA at Mays Business School at A&M. He needed an idea for his capstone project, in which he had to create a metaphorical business that could sustain itself for one year. His wife, Dr. Rao, suggested that he look into direct primary care. Once he realized how viable and feasible it was, the topic was chosen, and then came the research. He spoke to nearly 250 doctors around the country who already worked within the direct primary care model. Many of those doctors completed Vasisht’s 75-question survey, and some even turned over their balance sheets, and income statements
https://www.woodlandsonline.com/npps/story.cfm?nppage=66699
The clinic started on May 1, 2017. It was the brain-child of Dr. Bhavana Rao. It seeked to revolutionize healthcare by changing the business model into a subscription based. It had two fold effects –
- Freed up the doctor to take the time with the patient needed to get to the bottom of the diagnosis. This one step improved overall patient experience many folds.
- With unlimited clinic visits and no copays, the model incentivized the members to proactively go to the doctor for preventitive care. The result being overall improvement in the health and wellbeing of the members and significantly less spend on the more expensive specialist part of the healthcare. With more primary care visits, specialist visits go down. Health issues are diagnosed and fixed earlier in the process. There is less neglect of underlying health issues.
Patient Experience
It’s not a numbers game, it’s more about quality,” she commented. “So when people are sick, I can put aside the time needed to get to the bottom of it. We want to make sure that we catch the problem at its bud and nip it off … I can set aside time to sit down, deeply understand what’s happening, and how this is affecting our patient’s life.” In essence, preventative care is key
https://www.woodlandsonline.com/npps/story.cfm?nppage=66699
If you want to explore direct primary care model in The Woodlands, Tomball and Houston areas. Contact us for a free meet and greet and we promise, you will be blown away by the care we offer. Our contact information is below.
Dr. Bhavana Rao is a board certified Family physician practicing medicine since 2008 in The Woodlands and Houston area. She trained at the Conroe Family Medicine Residency program. Family medicine is her passion. She believes in a patient-centered care and a wholesome approach to healthcare
Tomball TX 77375