Journal of the Louisiana State Medical Society
direct primary care practices, physicians have more time to do what they were trained to do, practice medicine. By cutting out the instability of an insurance depen- dent income stream, direct primary care practices allow physicians the financial security to focus on patient care. “Monthly fee based practices allow you to knowwhat your income is this year. Now you can plan,” said Bliss. The direct primary care model relies instead on the economic power of its patients to fund a practice dedicated to quality and affordable healthcare. Simply stated, it allows patients to directly contract with their primary care physician by removing health insurance from the primary care equation. Patients in a direct primary care practice can purchase an insurance plan to cover emergencies and serious illnesses. Because this insurance policy doesn’t need to cover routine care, many patients choose a less comprehensive plan with a higher deductible and lower premiums. For example in Washington, Bliss’s practice has partnered with an insur- ance company to offer a complementary catastrophic plan to their patients. According to Bliss, the insurance company can make the plan affordable because, “when primary care is working well, the insurance company doesn’t have to regulate the rest of the healthcare as much. There are no incentives to over-refer.” In the 18 states direct primary care has already been implemented, physicians report increased satisfaction and
a renewed commitment to providing the kind of care that initially inspired them to dedicate their lives to medicine. In short, direct primary care facilities enable physicians to do what they were trained to do, treat patients. In Louisiana, the Louisiana State Medical Society has introduced legislation, Senate Bill 516 authored by Sena- tor Sherri Buffington and Representative Stuart Bishop, to make it possible to operate a direct primary care practice. Current law requires that any entity receiving any type of prepayment for medical services be licensed as an HMO or insurance company, which makes the practice model cost prohibitive. SB 516 amends the law to recognize that a direct primary care practice is a medical practice and not an insurance company. We believe this legislation will be signed into law, and we will be seeing direct Primary Care practice open statewide soon. Bliss emphasized that, “The only people who will be unhappy with a future built on Direct Primary Care will be those who think that the present system works for the doc- tor and the patient. I’m still waiting to meet that person”. As we have seen here in Louisiana, and Bliss has seen in Washington, we can’t afford the alternative. **This is the second installment in a new four-part series that will report on emerging trends and new practice models in medicine.
74 J La State Med Soc VOL 166 March/April 2014
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs