GOOD LIFE MEDICINE DPC

SHOULD I STILL HAVE INSURANCE?

Absolutely!!  Insurance, when used correctly, is an important tool for all of us to have; reducing financial risk during significant medical events such as surgery, an ER visit, or hospitalization. Therefore, most PPO, high deductible and catastrophic insurance plans work well with this model. As a DPC, we eliminate the need for insurance at the primary care level. There are no co-pays, deductables to attain and no hidden fees. By reducing fees and being upfront with care plan costs, we are able to focus our time on your health and well-being. Just as it should be.

HOW DOES GOOD LIFE MEDICINE DPC DIFFER FROM A TRADITIONAL PRIMARY CARE CLINIC?

Think to your last couple of primary care visits, whether they were for an acute visit for an injury, follow up on a chronic medical condition such as high blood pressure or an annual physical exam and ask yourself a few questions:

Was the scheduling process easy? 

What was the length of time (days to months) between scheduling appointment to actual office visit?

Did you get to see your preferred primary care physician? 

How long was your office wait time once checked in? 

How long did your physician spend with you? 

Were all of your questions answered to your satisfaction? 

Were you involved in your healthcare decision making process?

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If you were satisfied with the answers to those questions, then you are in the minority of patient experiences.  Most people would like to have a better healthcare experience, but sadly, our current "fee for service" insurance based system is not organized or incentivized to produce optimal patient experiences.  

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The majority of patients are not able to see their doctor of choice in a timeframe that fits their schedule. A typical primary care doctor has a base of 2000-3500 patients.  Most acute patient visits are scheduled for 15 minutes, an annual exam may be 30 minutes. In that 15 minute appointment, the physician needs to not only review your chart before going in, get a good history of what the problem(s) is(are), do a physical exam, make appropriate conclusions, decide whether labs, imaging or consultations are needed, and communicate all of that to the patient to make a mutual plan of care. Then the physician has to document this with a note in the chart. 15 minutes is simply an inadequate amount of time to appropriately provide good, quality care. 

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Unfortunately shortcuts are sometimes  used to cut time from this process.  Examples may include: taking a shorter medical history than necessary, leading to possible mis-diagnoses or utilizing imaging such as x-rays, CT scan, MRIs for diagnosing, rather than allotting more time for a deeper history/more thorough exam that could reach similar conclusions at a less expensive price tag.

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DPC saves the vast majority of patients money with a markedly improved patient experience.  DPC physicians limit the size of their patient panel to approximately 500-600 total.  This model allows the patient and physician more time during visits (typically 30-90 minute visits depending on complexity) with easier access--same or next day office visits or phone/video/text communication. The current insurance fee for service structure does not pay physicians for phone or email/text visits. For many problems, a physician will ask that the patient be seen in office, in order to receive compensation. However; not all patient problems need to be physically seen in the office. The DPC model offers all forms of patient communications included in the monthly fee. Therefore, a problem can be resolved via phone whereas in the traditional system this problem would require an in-office visit and costing the patient additional funds .  

I'M INTERESTED, BUT WOULD LIKE TO TALK MORE ABOUT MY SITUATION. HOW CAN I FIND OUT MORE?

You can call the office at 402-256-5856 and discuss directly or you can email us at thegoodmd@goodlifemedicinedpc.com to start a discussion. We can also set up a time to discuss our direct primary care model to see if this may be a good fit for you and your family.  We understand managing your healthcare is a big decision and one that requires a lot of information. 
Our goal at Good Life Medicine DPC is to provide you and your family the best patient experience possible in an affordable and transparent way.  If you are ready to become a part of our healthcare family and wish for us to help you navigate the (sometimes complex) world of medicine with yours, please click here to sign up directly.

WHY GOOD LIFE MEDICINE?

At Good Life Medicine our goal is to literally help you live 'the good life" as the interstate signs boast as you enter our state! Our tag-line, "Medicine. Redefined" is based upon re-evaluating and reformulating flawed healthcare standards/models. Good Life Medicine focuses on delivering high-quality care, thorough patient education, overall improved health and well being, while maintaining the most cost-effective, and patient-centered care possible. Melissa and I come from science backgrounds, and that colors our perspectives on a lot of the decisions we make in life and how we care for others.  We ask, is there good, quality information about medications, interventions, processes, vaccinations, diagnostic tests, screening tests, etc? This is called Evidence Based Medicine (EBM).  There were therapies and medical concepts 10-15 years ago that are truly antiquated now because new information has come out. But at the time, that therapy may have been the gold standard. As new, quality information becomes available, our thoughts about the older therapies change.  This is the absolute beauty of science.