Farrago said he can attend to 90 percent of all medical needs - osteopathic manipulation, cortisone injections and skin procedures are included, for example - but acknowledges that there are all kinds of outside services not included in the monthly fee.īlood tests, flu shots and diagnostics like CT scans, X-rays and MRIs are among the services that would require out-of-pocket costs. In Forest, Farrago’s rates are competitive with other direct primary care physician’s rates, $75 a month for individuals, $125 for couples, and $150 for families. “This is one option that is particularly well suited for small family medicine practices that are struggling financially in environments not yet supporting (Primary Care Medical Homes) with a viable payment model.”Ĭlients are billed monthly and in exchange they have unlimited access to physicians with no co-pays for office visits. “The model eliminates the insurance middleman and provides revenue directly to the practice to innovate in both customer service and quality of care for the patients they serve,” said AAFP Board Chair Glen Stream, M.D. The practice has gained enough of a following that, last year, the American Academy of Family Physicians formally recognized its benefits and created a policy for these kind of physician practices. Last month he decided to go off the grid, following in the footsteps of some 4,000-plus direct-care physicians nationwide who have cut out insurance companies and directly bill patients monthly. Over the last 20 years, Farrago has worked in traditional family practices and immediate-care clinics, like those that have cropped up across the Lynchburg area in the last few years. Exams are done just down the hallway, sans computer. “We’re being overburdened with bureaucratic dreg,” Farrago said one afternoon from the same office where he meets patients face-to-face before and after exams to discuss their well-being. Throughout it all, one thing has remained the same: his disdain for what he feels family practice has become - a 15-minute visit defined by codes and insurance companies. Unlike concierge medicine, which caters to the wealthy with pricey membership fees, this is direct primary care, a small but growing field where patient loads are small - about a fourth of the number the average family physician cares for, according to national statistics - and fees are affordable, $75 to $150 a month.įarrago, one of the first in the area to try it on this scale, calls is a “more personal, comprehensive” kind of health care.Ĭonfident and energetic, Farrago has appeared in magazine and newspaper publications across the country for everything from the patented Knee-Saver he developed for baseball catchers to the “The Placebo Journal,” a long-running MAD magazine for physicians. Worker shortages, supply shortages, and the overwhelming construction in other areas will delay her clinic from being fixed for a long time.It’s a bold pronouncement but one that the 49-year-old entrepreneur and physician appears to have been headed toward for years. She is now trying to buy an older motor home to use for a clinic. Donations not only help her on a personal level but also the kids she is doctoring. Mahaffey, a pediatrician, get on her feet to restart her clinic and treat patients. All I can say is I’m so glad I am a DPC doc!!! My patients are adjusting and I have no insurance to deal with! This Friday I’ll head to Mobile to buy a vintage airstream to use as an office. All the contractors are struggling to keep up with the demand so my little house will have to wait. Through the grace of God it was available. The price was reasonable and it came with some land. I was able to buy a 1930’s house that needs renovating. I am currently seeing patients in a church nursery, thanks to the generosity of the pastor (who has a son with autism). I have a DPC peds practice in the Pensacola area. My office was hit and destroyed by a tornado.
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