Doctors Get Innovative To Escape Insurer-Driven ‘Hamster Wheel’ Model Of Care
Doctors are turning to direct primary care models to get more time with the patient, simplify the process and avoid insurers.
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Fed Up With Insurance, Doctors Bolt The System To Get More Patient TimeKQED Future Of You KQED Science
She’s one of a growing number of doctors who have cut loose from what she calls the “assembly-line, volume approach” and is now using a health care delivery model called direct primary care. She has scaled back the number of patients she sees and takes longer with the ones she does. She doesn’t take insurance and deals mostly in cash; she charges each time she sees a patient, but most direct primary care doctors charge a monthly fee for unlimited visits. In her previous practice, (Lorraine) Page says, the pressure to see more patients in less time wore her down, as did the need for an army of support staff to process the copious paperwork required by insurance companies. (Gorn, 8/11)