What is Direct Primary Care?

DPC is an innovative primary care model of medicine in which the provider-patient relationship is at the heart of how medicine is practiced.  DPC practices offer a full range of primary care services for a monthly fee paid directly to the practice.  

What role does insurance play in a DPC practice?  Does Hearthside Family Health accept insurance?

Insurance has no role in your primary care relationship at Hearthside.  We do not bill any insurances.  The monthly fee covers all comprehensive primary care services.  

What if I have insurance? 

If you have insurance, we will keep that information on file and send it to outside services such as laboratory, radiology or outside consultations and they will bill the insurance.   Without the burden of insurance billing and coding, we don't need layers of extra staff and can keep our practice small. 

What about Medicare?

We treat this the same as any other insurance.  We do not bill Medicare, nor can patients submit membership fees for reimbursement through Medicare.

What services are included in my membership?

Office visits as often as you require them, annual physical, same-day or next-day appointments for acute issues.  You also get the FLU shot and annual check of your blood sugar and cholesterol for FREE.  We do GYN exams, minor procedures, children's vaccines and can help you avoid the Urgent Care Center or the ER.

What are the benefits of a DPC practice over an insurance-billing primary care office?

In traditional primary care offices, providers are compensated based on how they code your visit, the number of patients they see and the procedures they do at those visits.  In a DPC practice, providers are compensated by your monthly membership fees.  They can focus on quality of care and do not need to churn out large numbers of office visits to survive.  Many DPC panel sizes range from 250-500 patients instead of 2,500 in traditional primary care offices.  We have TIME for you!  And you reach your provider directly: no more phone trees or messages passed along by numerous staff members.  

What if I need to see a specialist?

Because your appointments in our office can be 60+ minutes long, our hope is that we have time to address all of your concerns.  If you should need a specialist, we will send your information and insurance information to that specialist for their billing purposes.  (*Some HMO plans require that you maintain a provider within their network to refer you to a specialist- check your plan)