What is Direct Primary Care?

The most important medicine you can offer isn’t a prescription—it’s the time and attention you give to each patient.

Direct primary care, or DPC, is a different approach to family medicine that dramatically improves care and avoids insurance roadblocks. Instead of accessing healthcare through your insurance company, with DPC you pay a flat fee for clinic membership directly to your doctor. In return, you get unlimited access to the services they provide.

More Personalized Care

While a doctor working in the traditional system might be responsible for over 2,000 patients, we limit our practice size to 400. That means more time spent getting to know you, more time dedicated to your care, and easier access to appointments when you need them.

Comprehensive Services

We provide all of the same services that a traditional family medicine clinic provides, including preventative screenings, management of chronic conditions, minor procedures, treatment of common illnesses and injuries, and coordinating care with your specialists.

Unlimited Appointments

As a member of EverWell Primary Care, you can schedule as many visits as you need for no additional charge. Appointments can usually be made either same-day or the following day - no more sitting on hold just to book something for three months out! Additionally, our smaller patient panel allows us to make each visit as long as you need it to be. According to a 2021 study, the average length of a primary care visit is just 18 minutes. DPC doctors, on the other hand, typically spend anywhere between 30 and 60 minutes with each patient.

Direct Physician Access

As a member, you get 24/7 access to your doctor via phone, text, and email, making them easily accessible when medical questions arise.

Direct primary care removes the barriers between you and your doctor, placing the doctor-patient relationship where it should be— back at the heart of medicine.

Want to learn more? DPC Nation is another great resource for information about direct primary care!

Frequently Asked DPC Questions

  • Direct primary care membership includes all of your routine care - annual physicals, preventative screenings, management of chronic health conditions, treatment of everyday illnesses and injuries, and more! It also includes simple procedures such as joint injections or mole removal. Some elective services, such as botulinum toxin injections, are available for an additional fee.

  • There are certain services that we obtain through outside parties, such as a pharmacy or a radiology center. You will still need your insurance for these items. They include:

    • The cost of vaccinations themselves

      • Administration of vaccines is included in your membership, but the cost of the vaccines will go through your insurance.

    • Most prescriptions

      • Standard prescriptions will be sent to your pharmacy and run through your insurance like with any other primary care clinic. Within the next year, we hope to start dispensing some common generic medications in-house at wholesale prices.

    • Imaging

      • We do not have X-ray capabilities on site, so X-rays and other imaging will be done using external referrals.

  • Yes! If you’re healthy, our goal is to keep you that way. Your doctor will work to make sure that you stay up to date with your preventative screenings, and that you are happy, healthy, and living well. At some point, everyone gets sick- and now you won’t need to hesitate when you get a sore throat or super awful cough! Need a screening for work? Need a travel consult so you can have a bit of fun?? We do all of that too!

  • Nope. Your insurance serves a purpose in keeping your medications and imaging covered- and in the rare instance of a specialty visit or a hospital stay. But our clinic membership doesn’t depend on the cute games that insurance plays. We don’t drag you into the clinic needlessly. We fix problems in real time and ignore the burdens that others have to deal with.

  • Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) typically can be used to pay for DPC membership! Frequently we need to provide a list of the services you have received to make sure you are reimbursed appropriately, but it is usually a straight forward process.

    Please see our dedicated page to how to use FSAs and other payment tips.

  • If you have questions about using an HSA with DPC, please call us at 651-300-7823.

  • Yes. Your DPC membership will include all of your normal clinic needs- both preventive and illness cares. You’ll still need insurance if a major health problem requires a specialist or hospital stay. Many patients find that joining a DPC clinic actually helps them save money on healthcare! If you have immediate access to your favorite provider, the need for urgent care evaporates.

  • We are super excited to care for Medicare patients! You get the best of both worlds! As with most insurances, you will use Medicare for coverage of medications, specialist visits, ER visits, and hospital stays. As you already know, Medicare doesn’t automatically get you access to your favorite provider in a very short order of time- which is where our DPC clinic shines the brightest!

    For more information, please visit our Medicare and DPC page in the top navigation bar.

  • Yes!

    We offer non-members individual appointments for a flat fee. We charge $150 for a 15 minute visit, and $200 for a 30 minute visit.

    We also offer services including circumcisions, menopause care, and botulinum toxin injections to non-members. Please see our Non-Member Services page for the full list.

Still Have Questions?

Direct primary care is a new concept for many people. If you’re still unsure what it is and want to know more about it, we think a phone call is worth a thousand words!

Give us a call at 651-300-7823, and we’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have.

You can also reach us by email at rdick@everwellprimarycare.com.