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Natural Awakenings Naples and Fort Myers

Save Money with Direct Primary Care

Aug 30, 2022 04:59PM ● By Elizabeth Smith

Sooner or later, we all get sick, but not everyone that gets sick seeks advice from a healthcare provider because it is often expensive and inconvenient. But it doesn’t have to be. Try Direct Primary Care (DPC) a new model for delivering direct primary health care. Its simplicity is genius. A member of a DPC practice pays a low monthly membership averaging around $79 to $100 a month. This membership gives anyone an all-access pass to the doctor through office visits, phone calls, text messaging, emails, even virtual office visits. DPC also gives the tools to interact from the home, car, office or even on the beach during a relaxing vacation. 


The goal of DPC is to make it easy and affordable to get the help everyone needs whenever and wherever it is needed. A DPC healthcare provider can refer anyone to specialists and will help navigate other parts of the healthcare system should the need arise. It’s traditional care with today’s technology. DPC is not a replacement for insurance that covers catastrophic events, so those that already have insurance might wonder why they need DPC. But even with insurance, the out-of-pocket costs of health care can add up fast.


A visit to urgent care, lab tests or a trip to the emergency room could each cost more than the entire annual DPC membership. A high-deductible insurance plan can easily burn through significant cash before insurance even kicks in, but a lot of those costs can be avoided with regular access to a healthcare provider that can take care of 80 percent to 90 percent of all health care needs. 


More importantly, healthcare providers join a DPC practice so they can have personal relationships with their patients and give them quality care without the added costs and bureaucracy of insurance companies. Tens of thousands of people are already members of the DPC and love it. 


For 24-hour health care from a healthcare provider dedicated to minimizing out-of-pocket expenses all for less than the cost of a monthly cell phone bill, explore becoming a member of a direct primary care practice.


Elizabeth Smith is an advanced practice registered nurse and a certified family nurse practitioner, and the owner of Integrative Direct Primary Care, located at 2590 Northbrooke Plaza Dr., Ste. 106, in Naples. For appointments and more information, call 239-350-4900 or visit IntegrativeDpc.com
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