Jan Hester, MD, PC - Fort Collins, Colorado

"DPC is an innovative yet classic way to provide primary health care. It is a membership-based model, with strong emphasis on easy access to acute, chronic and preventive health care. It is innovative due to the payment model—membership-based rather than dictated by your insurance. It is classic because it hearkens back to the days when your old GP made house calls or chatted with you at the coffee shop. In our current health care environment, your insurance dictates who you see, how much they are willing to pay for your visits, labs and radiologic imaging and determines which medications they are willing to cover. In the DPC model, the emphasis is on what care is right for you, with you and your doctor making that determination. By joining a DPC practice, you are buying into a unique health care option that will serve you very well. DPC practices tend to have smaller patient populations, making your doctor more accessible. By not having to see you in the office to generate a bill to send to your insurance, you and your doctor can meet in the office, talk on the phone, text or communicate via email or video-conference. This frees you up from leaving your home or work, yet allows you access to care. Your care will still be documented in your health record, but it won’t always require a face to face visit."