Direct primary care: Educating patients, building loyalty, and the power of trust

Physician questions about direct primary care (DPC) often involve patients and pay, and understandably so.

In the current business environment of health care, patients may not know exactly what direct primary care is. And when they learn, physicians concede that some bristle at the prospect of paying a regular fee for access to their doctor.

But the patients who join and stick with it develop tremendous satisfaction with and loyalty to their physicians, at least according to one report.

Hint Health quantified it in “The DPC Patient Experience Benchmark Report: How to Measure & Master the 4Cs of Primary Care.” That report was based on a 14-month survey to log the Person-Centered Primary Care Measure, with 11 questions about physician contact/access, comprehensiveness, continuity and coordination.

This video explains those measures and why direct primary care develops powerful physician-patient relationships. Sources for the video include the Hint Health report and the 2024 Direct Primary Care Data Brief and other resources of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Coming May 12 is the newest Medical Economics Insider. “Direct Primary Care 101: Reclaiming independent practice with less burnout” is based on a panel discussion with perspectives from four physician leaders who made the jump from corporate, fee-for-service medicine to direct primary care. The moderator was Rebekah Bernard, M.D., founder of Gulf Coast Direct Primary Care in Fort Myers, Florida, and creator of the Physicians Taking Back Medicine articles and podcast. Guests were Richard Berry, M.D., founder, Maple Health Direct Primary Care in Mentor, Ohio; Maryal Concepcion, M.D., FAAFP, creator of @MyDPCStory podcast and founder of Big Trees MD in Arnold, California; and Kelsey Smith, M.D., founder of Pioneer Health Direct Primary Care in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and president of DPC Alliance.

Learn more about the upcoming special edition in this slideshow.

And in case you missed them, past editions are:

Medical Economics Insider: A Decade of Value-Based Care

Medical Economics Insider: Save Your Practice