What is Direct Primary Care?
Direct primary care is an exciting and rapidly growing model to provide primary care without the costly interference of private health insurance companies. Instead, our patients pay us directly through a convenient and affordable flat monthly fee. This allows us to keep our practice small and provide you with highly accessible, personalized, and preventive care when you need it. It’s like having your doctor available at the touch of a button. Our focus on ensuring a strong and satisfying doctor-patient relationship is the key to helping you stay healthy. In fact, it’s the way I’ve always wanted and expected to practice medicine.
Our Medical services include:
Our Direct Primary Care Specialties
Total Family Wellness offers patients a continuum of health care to ensure their overall well-being from infancy through the senior years. We also offer aesthetics options so that you and your family can feel good on the outside as well as the inside.
Our Direct Care program offers all of the following services PLUS highly personal, convenient, and potentially cost-saving care.
Preventive Care
A preventive care approach helps me find potential health problems BEFORE you feel sick. Preventive care can include annual physical, immunizations, screening labs, and family planning. Our diagnostic services help your doctor understand your symptoms or diagnose your illness.
Family Planning
Family planning allows individuals and couples to anticipate and attain their desired number of children and the spacing and timing of their births. We help you achieve this through use of contraceptive methods and the treatment of involuntary infertility.
Pediatric Care
Our shared goal, as parents and your physician, is to guide your child on a path of optimal health. In order to attain this, I continuously strive to meet and exceed my patients’ expectations while maintaining the highest standards of excellence in pediatric medicine. From newborn care and prenatal visits, to school physicals for your children, I offer comprehensive medical treatment for children of all ages.
Geriatric Care
Seniors often associate age with disease. Yet, aging does not cause diseases. While many seniors believe that the reason they are not feeling well is because they are getting older, this is not always the case. The problems they are experiencing may be related to an illness or injury not at all caused by age. This is why the helpful knowledge and skills I offer you as a board-certified family physician are so important.
Chronic Disease Management
Many of our patients suffer from an ongoing, or chronic, conditions such as, Diabetes, High blood pressure, High Cholesterol, Thyroid problems, Depression, anxiety, and Obesity. We provide care to these patients on a regular basis to ensure that their condition is either maintained or improved over time. As part of our chronic disease management, we track measures of our patient’s progress specific to their disease.
Urgent Care
Cold, flu, urinary infection, strain or sprain? Call us first. We can get you feeling better soon without the higher price tag associated with the ER.
Age Management
Navigating midlife health challenges is easier with our age management programs. From hormone optimization and weight management to personalized nutrition and wellness plans, we focus on keeping you vibrant and active. Let us partner with you to maintain peak performance and longevity.
Questions About Direct Primary Care
General Questions
You will see and feel the difference immediately when you visit us at Total Family Wellness. Our reception area is relaxing and comfortable, and our office staff is friendly. You will experience very short if any wait times to see me. Office visits will never feel rushed so we can take the time to address your health concerns and questions with me. Because my practice is limited to just a few hundred, not thousands, of patients, I really get to know my patients so I can take a more proactive role in your health and wellness – and be there when you need me. My goal is to provide you and your family with an experience that will not just meet, but exceed, your expectations for a doctor’s office.
Your membership covers all of the primary care services we offer in our office. In addition, we can provide a large amount of care and care coordination by phone, email and text, including virtual visits when appropriate. We are available to discuss urgent concerns nights and weekends when needed. We are working hard to create a practice where you can access us when you need us, without having to jump through multiple hurdles! You will enjoy greater convenience and peace of mind, and may also find a reduced need for visits to specialists and the emergency department. Click here for a list of the many services you will receive.
Everyone benefits from the value-added services we offer at Total Family Wellness.
- Patients desiring easy and direct communication with their doctor
- Patients who want a doctor to address the root cause of illness, not just treat the symptoms
- Those who want to participate in improving their health and staying well
- Those with high insurance premiums, high-deductible health plans or no insurance
- Self-insured businesses seeking to provide their employees with affordable health care and improved well-being, while simultaneously reducing everyone’s healthcare spending
Appointments, Referrals, and Care Questions
Emergency room visits and hospital admissions for serious medical problems are stressful and often confusing for patients and their families. Direct communication with someone who knows you and your medical history can be critical at these times. At Total Family Wellness, we’ve got your back! We will contact your emergency room physician and/or anyone providing care during your hospitalization to make sure they have the most accurate and up-to-date information they need to treat you. As your health care advocate, we will communicate with you and your loved ones. We will also be in the best position possible to provide your post-hospital care.
Yes, I do. I appreciate that it is often difficult, painful, and even expensive to get to the doctor’s office. Distance and circumstances permitting, I will see patients in their home or nursing facility, rehab facility or ALF in medically appropriate situations. The decision is made on a case-by-case basis. Our practice has a “Home Visit Plan” exclusively for patients who are home-bound or in a nursing home.
As your Family Medicine trained doctor, my comprehensive training allows me to handle most of your healthcare needs. However, in the event that you do need to see a specialist we will help you find the right doctor and coordinate your care. Our referral process may include direct physician-to-physician consultation prior to your appointment so that your specialist knows exactly how s/he can help us improve your health.
After your specialist visit, we will follow up to discuss any questions or concerns you have, and arrange additional or testing if needed.
If you have a life-threatening emergency, call 911 immediately. A family member or caregiver can call us later so we can be in contact with the emergency room.
For urgent problems that are not emergencies, you can contact me 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In many cases, I can diagnose and treat your need without a visit to the ER. In fact, private medicine has been shown to result in fewer ER visits for members because we can discuss your medical needs any time of the day or night, and you know you can see us the next day!
You can speak with me wherever you are. I will help diagnose and treat any medical conditions that can be done by “virtual visit.” If you have a condition that requires in-person evaluation and treatment, I will direct you to appropriate, nearby care, and coordinate follow-up when you return home.
As a member of Total Family Wellness, you are never alone. Even when out of town, I will still be available by phone for your urgent needs. You will be notified by email prior to any vacations. If I am not available, I will always have another trusted physician available to assist you for any urgent matters or to be seen in the office
Insurance Questions
No. Our practice is designed to be unencumbered by the constraints and limited reimbursement from insurance plans so that we may better serve and care for our patients. You will NOT be charged for office visits or co-pays. You only pay the membership fee.
Our model results in significant savings: money, paperwork and time. The membership fee allows us to keep our overhead low, our practice small, and work directly for our patients, not the insurance company!
Yes, you do. The Direct Primary Care Program is NOT a health insurance program. It is very important to maintain insurance (and/or Medicare) to cover expensive, unusual and unpredictable events such as surgery, emergency care and hospitalization – BUT NOT for everyday preventive primary care!
The current insurance-based healthcare system actually makes primary care MORE expensive, difficult and less effective too. Our practice does the opposite. By charging a set fee, I can spend more time with you and focus on your individual health needs to maintain and improve your health. I want you to see me as often as you need to, because my goal is healthy and happy members!
Absolutely. Our healthcare model is particularly well designed to handle the more complex medical issues and medication management often associated with older patients. We can spend the time necessary to manage chronic disease and optimize your health and wellness.
Medical insurance is necessary for patients in the event of an unforeseen catastrophe. Still, many people are finding they can lower the cost of their total medical care by combining a high deductible health insurance plan with a membership based practice thus making private medicine quite affordable. Expect your insurance to pay for lab tests, mammograms, x-rays, durable medical equipment (DME), and specialist appointments. My services will be covered in the membership fee.
Our healthcare model is particularly well designed to handle the more complex medical issues and medication management often associated with older patients. We can spend the time necessary to manage chronic disease and optimize your health and wellness.
If you have an HMO and are interested in joining Total Family Wellness, please call us at [mn_location loc='1']<a class="tel" href="tel:{tel}">{tel}</a>[/mn_location] to discuss how membership may work for you.
Questions About Joining Direct Primary Care
Our pricing is shown below. We have discounts for families and children.
There is a $90 setup fee. Then you can pay annually or monthly (with a first 3 months minimum deposit) by credit card or automatic withdrawal. The best part is, there are never any co-pays or deductibles to meet.
It is expected that many patients will save money at our practice because we can handle the vast majority of your health issues and concerns.
Our practice is part of a growing movement called direct primary care.
Studies show that direct primary care can lead to:
- Less unnecessary medications
- Fewer specialty referrals
- Fewer emergency and hospital visits
- Savings on labs and imaging
- Less need for expensive testing
- Better overall care
- Less overall health expenses
By switching to a higher deductible, lower premium plan, we can actually help many of our patients save money.
We also have negotiated deep discounts with local labs and radiology providers for our patients who choose to pay cash for these services.
For even more convenience and cost savings, our medical assistant will draw your blood free of charge at our office. And you shouldn’t have any hidden costs or bills that come to you after-the-fact from the office or insurance company.
You won’t have any hidden costs or bills that come to you after-the-fact from the office or insurance company. And by switching to a high deductible, low premium plan, we can actually help many of our patients save money.
Absolutely. Our focus at Total Family Wellness is on preventive care, lifestyle modifications, screenings and risk assessments. We want to identify and prevent disease before it starts, concentrating our efforts on long-term health and wellness. We listen carefully to you to understand how your life, work and family may be affecting your health. Together we create a personalized plan to achieve and maintain your optimal health and goals.
Advanced diagnostic tests can help us identify risk factors and health issues before they cause disease, saving you money, time, suffering and higher costs in the long run. Unlike the traditional practice environment, we have the time to deliver this type of comprehensive and detailed care.
Yes. One of the most important aspects of private medicine is limiting the practice size to be able to devote more time and energy to each patient. Therefore, once we have reached our ideal practice size, we will establish a waiting list.
You are welcome to cancel your membership at any time as long as you give us 30 days notice. We will refund memberships paid for the full year at a prorated rate.
HOW DO I BECOME A MEMBER?
Call or email the office. Please remember that space is limited and we accept members on a first-come, first-served basis. Once we fill all available slots, we will add your name to our waiting list, so we encourage you to act quickly.
I’m still not sure. Can we sit down and talk?
Absolutely! Call, text or email to schedule a free 15-minute consultation.
DIRECT PRIMARY CARE
Fed up with waiting weeks for a medical appointment — and then getting only a few precious minutes with your doctor?
DPC allows us to spend more time with each patient to develop personalized, high-quality care.