10/06/2019
New practice
MY WEB SITE IS Www.directpatientcareofevansville.com
As many of you know, I am opening my new practice in early October. It is called Direct Patient Care of Evansville, LLC. It will be at the Holliday Professional Building, 1202 West Buena Vista, Evansville, IN. 47710.
812-297-6310
(fax) 812-437-8243
Today’s medical field is filled with legal landmines, confusing insurance policies, and expensive care charges. It is very difficult to get timely access to your doctor and when you do, you have little time to spend together. Whether you are sick, have questions, or just want wellness advice; you deserve to see a doctor when you need one without jumping through loopholes or explaining your health to your insurance company. Primary care medicine is no longer based on the one on one relationship between PHYSICIANS and Patient, but has developed into a system in which patients are seen by anonymous medical providers in seven minute visits in large clinics. In this new healthcare setting, your provider often is not a doctor, doesn’t know your history, doesn’t know you, and never will. With my practice you will be known and you will be cared for.
My practice model is Direct Primary Care, where patients will become members of my clinic, similar to gym memberships. With this type of practice my patients will get unrestricted access to the doctor and most services for just a monthly fee.
If I order labs, xrays, medications and referrals your insurance will be used. You will not have office co-pays,
and often I can negotiate discounts on testing and labs for my patients.
At any other primary care office, you will be paying a co-pay and then on top of that, you will have an office visit charge of at least $150. Most insurance policies are high deductible plans and most patients will never reach that amount in a year and so you will pay everything out of pocket.
My patients have access to me 24/7 so rather than going to Urgent Care or the Emergency Room after hours or on weekends, which results in more time waiting around sick people and often be subject to a higher co-pay. I am available by phone, email, text and Skype. By working with one doctor, I will know your medical history and an help you avoid ER or Urgent Care visits. There is no additional charge for this 24 hour access.
Patients need to take a serious interest in taking charge of their own health by changing their focus from visiting the doctor only when they are ill, to working with their doctor to stay healthy.
I am committed to providing each and every one of my patients with the finest in preventive care, state of the art diagnostics and treatments, and appointments that start on time and last as long as necessary.
I want to help people according to the best of my ability, not according to someone else’s opinion.. Our world allows bureaucrats with little medical expertise or knowledge of individual patients, and no concern for psychosocial aspects of patient care, to make decisions that should be made by the patient, the patient’s family, and the physician.
My goal is to be autonomous, healing, caring, and humanistic. The bureaucratic planners of healthcare have not the slightest clue that their call for delivery by “providers,” with this inevitable emphasis on efficiency, uniformity, and accountability, would distract doctors from acting as professional advocates for their patients.
Medicine is a learning profession, one that in the words of Abraham Flexner “resides in the application of a free, resourceful, unhampered intelligence to the comprehension of problems-the problems of disease, the problems of social life – bequeath to us by history and complicated by evolution.”
We have come down more than a notch or two from the level of medicine that was being practiced when most of us got into the profession. Our roll model was not that of a healthcare “provider”; it was of a doctor in white.
One cannot deal compassionately with a patient’s grief, stress, depression, chest pain, and failure to comply and at the same time worry over which ICD 10 code justifies the visit, and if the visit that happens to be the second in one week constitutes a medical crime, service, or need.
Before leaving my old practice, I tallied the reasons for office visits to see what percentage of patients actually needed to be seen for their care. I looked at the data and thought: “Could this care be done via phone call or text message?” The actual portion of patients who needed to be seen was stunning: it was less than 25 percent. Many of the visits were to touch base about medication changes, many were for minor acute problems (URI’s, stomach bugs, etc.), patients needing work/school excuses, or problems that could easily be handled remotely (Otitis Externa, conjunctivitis, etc.). In truth, the main reason they were coming to the office was financial: The system is not set up to work for free. The monthly payment removes that pressure, and so lets us care for people in the way that makes most sense.
I can give much of my care via secure text messaging. There are many questions people have about smaller health problems. There are simple things (like rashes, acute illnesses) that can be communicated easier by this means. I also follow-up by sending a quick message asking how they are doing. My patients will love this. They will love the fact that they don’t have to wait forever and get passed around the phone system to contact a human. They reach out to me or my staff and quickly get the help they need. This takes a huge burden off of our phones, so the wait for those who do choose to call is much shorter.
I mentioned this earlier, but it needs to be emphasized, as it is a huge benefit. New patients get 60 minutes of my time, and established patients get 30 minutes per visit. This means I have time to explain, education, listen, and think about things. I don’t have to limit the patient to “just one problem” (as many doctors do). And, most importantly, I can be careful and give better care. Now, I don’t spend 30 minutes on a strep throat or ear ache, but I can check preventive care on these while they are here, making sure I am giving the best care possible. Overall, patients love the fact that they aren’t rushed and that they get my full attention in their office visits.
Many private doctors will continue to practice volume driven medicine for their own reasons. With the added time available to me for each patient, most issues, including the management of chronic illness, can be resolved without the need for a referral to a specialist. But when one is needed, i have the time to call the specialist directly, explain the issue, and request a prompt appointment. In addition, more time with the patient results in fewer tests and prescriptions and more attention to lifestyle modifications. Patient satisfaction is up; Dr. frustrations down. The result is better health, the development of a trusting relationship, fewer emergency room visits, fewer hospitalizations with the result of significant decrease in the total cost of care.
With a simple monthly retainer fee, you have unlimited contact, shorter wait times and more visitation time with your primary care physician without the influence of insurance.
Many of our patients are on Medicare, many others have no insurance (we are their assurance), others are teachers, stay-at-home moms, housecleaners as well as business and professional leaders.
And the good news is Direct Primary Care is for everybody—regardless of age, gender, education, income, abilities, lifestyle or insurance status. Everybody wins.
Everyone has value, and the best way to show people their value is to give them time. Since we work for you, not an insurance company or hospital, we will take time to listen to your symptoms and concerns. We will take time to develop a relationship where we understand your history and lifestyle. We will take time to explore treatments that go beyond a prescription pad. Your good health gives you more time to spend with your family, your job, and your passions.
