The Latest on the Primary Care Crisis and How Direct Primary Care is Changing the Game
In recent years, the primary care crisis has revolved around a tug of war between traditional, insurance-based health care and membership-based models like Direct Primary Care.
With its top-quality, personalized patient care, affordable medical costs, and direct access to primary care physicians, the presence of Direct Primary Care has thankfully steered America's primary care crisis in the right direction.
This article delves into recent developments regarding the primary care crisis and how this new and improved health care model called Direct Primary Care is proving to be the most viable and patient-centric solution.
America's primary care crisis stems from the takeover of health care by third parties, such as insurance companies and corporate hospitals, who know nothing about what it takes to take care of and heal patients.
Anyone who has lived in America can affirm that the traditional, insurance-based health care system does not have a patient's best interests at heart. If you have not experienced this personally, we bet you know someone who has.
The horror stories born out of the country's primary care crisis are countless. From not being able to use your insurance plan when you need it most to, worse, drowning in medical debt, the primary care crisis has been frustrating and traumatizing for patients.
These third parties have created a network of unnecessary billing systems and redundant admin personnel geared towards making a profit. Propagating a system that is designed to make a profit and less for providing patients the care and attention they deserve.
This has led to overbooked primary care physicians, long clinic wait times, rushed, robotic appointments. All of that in exchange for exorbitantly expensive health care costs that get higher and higher each year.
Despite the average U.S. resident paying at least $1,122 for out-of-pocket health care (co-payments, prescription drugs, and health insurance deductibles), America continues to experience the worst health outcomes compare to other countries.
Per a study conducted by Commonwealth Fund, the United States has a 50% higher rate of hospitalization for ambulatory care conditions like diabetes and hypertension – acute, chronic conditions which could be fully managed with efficient primary/routine care.
If you wonder how serious our country's primary care crisis has gotten, premature deaths from said ambulatory care conditions are also at an all-time high in the U.S., with 112 deaths for every 100,000 patients.
All of this boils down to that most Americans have little to no access to quality primary care. Among 11 high-income countries, the U.S. ranks last at 11th place in primary care performance. This includes criteria such as:
Like surgically removing malignant tumors to prevent further devastation, it is clear that the immediate fix to the primary care crisis is to eliminate problematic third parties from the equation. Patients will be floored to realize how affordable health care can get (and at much higher quality) without intermediaries' intervention.
The fact that America's traditional, insurance-based health care system favors neither doctor nor patient contributes to the primary care crisis's enormity. An alarmingly large number of physicians are burnt out because of long hours, overwork, and lack of support.
The complicated billing system put in place by third parties, such as insurance companies and corporate hospitals, has turned doctors into robotic technicians and less into caring, patient-focused primary care physicians.
This is why a group of primary care physicians has taken it upon themselves to curb the primary care crisis by bringing to light a more direct, sincere form of health care – membership-based models like Direct Primary Care.
True to its name, Direct Primary Care is a straightforward, uncomplicated response to America's primary care crisis. Without intermediaries' intervention, primary care physicians have the freedom to do what they do best: thorough patient care and doctor-patient solid ties.
More and more doctors and patients are beginning to see Direct Primary Care's invaluable benefits and why it's a primary care crisis solution worth exploring. For one, it merits patients a crucial factor to positive health outcomes, and that is more time with their primary care physicians – something the primary care crisis has fallen short of.
DPC health care provides a stark contrast to the traditional, insurance-based health care we know (and often loathe). In exchange for a monthly subscription fee, you get a standard set of complete primary care services.
These services generally include direct, 24/7 access to your primary care physician's personal line; treatment for common medical problems such as colds, flu, joint injuries, and the like; up-to-date preventive screenings such as colonoscopies, EKGs, etc.
Minor procedures like vaccines and stitches; specialist coordination outside primary care; and other priceless benefits like chronic condition management, migraine treatments, and so much more.
As of writing, no other health care model offers the same medical benefits and level of patient care as Direct Primary Care, therefore making it the most operative solution to the country's primary care crisis to date.
Direct Primary Care has, so far, been successful in making primary care more accessible and affordable to patients. Coupled with strengthened doctor-patient relationships and patients get the level of health care they deserve, a far cry from the primary care crisis is currently extending to patients.
Most importantly, because Direct Primary Care offers better primary/routine care to patients, this allows for early disease diagnosis and comprehensive health management (especially for chronic conditions) and lower chances of ER trips, debilitating illnesses, and premature deaths.
It sounds like the perfect formula to solving the primary care crisis in our books.
