Big Mountain Family Medicine

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Why Direct Primary Care?

Since I was four years old, I have known what I wanted to be when I grew up. When anyone asked me what my career plans were, I answered, “I’m going to be a doctor.” I was particularly inspired by our family doctor, who had known my mother her whole life and then watched my siblings and I grow up. We would see “Dr. J” every year for our check-ups, and anytime something new came up, which was not unusual for rambunctious kids growing up in the outdoors. Whether it was routine shots, a sprained ankle, a broken collar bone, or a concussion, it was always comforting to see a familiar face in an otherwise frightening situation. Dr. J knew us and we knew him, and it felt like he was almost part of the family.

When I started medical school, I started to see another side to our medical system. I heard from so many patients who were dissatisfied with their medical care; their doctor didn’t have time for them, didn’t listen to them, and they hardly saw the same doctor for more than a few years. I promised myself, and my friends and family, that I would never be that kind of doctor. My training at the University of New Mexico cemented these desires—although I was initially excited by Emergency Medicine, I realized that as an ER physician I would never get to connect with my patients the way I wanted. I would not get to follow up and see how things turned out, or see them and their family members over the years. I would not have the chance to walk beside them on their journey through life. By the time I graduated I knew that Family Medicine was the right choice for me.

It didn’t take long to see that today our medical system is not what it once was, and not what I wanted it to be. The most obvious difference is that it is, in fact, a system and a business. I truly believe that most doctors go into medicine because they want to make a difference and want to help people. I know I did. But it became nearly impossible to do that in our current medical system. Doctors no longer have the autonomy to choose how long they can spend with a patient, or what they can offer their patients. Insurance companies and health care organizations make those decisions. And as the system grows, the pressure to see more patients grows with it. Visits get shorter. Physicians spend more time looking at their computer screens and less time looking at, and hearing, their patients. I found myself spending less time with my patients and more time completing paperwork, just to satisfy insurance companies and corporations. Every day I felt more and more frustrated, feeling that I was letting my patients and myself down. As I shared my feelings with my colleagues, I found that I was not alone. Our system is creating widespread “burn-out” and many doctors are retiring early or going to non-clinical jobs where they no longer see patients at all. I started to wonder if all of the time and sacrifice that my family and I had poured into years of medical school and residency were worth it. Was this really what I had worked so hard to achieve?

Then I learned about the Direct Primary Care (DPC) model…

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