I have been in practice for over 20 years now, and I can see how having one relationship with one doctor over time can help you stay healthy and live your best life. I also really like seeing the entire family and how those dynamics all fit together. You are not getting this full picture kind of care by popping in to the urgent care once a year.
In fact, science, which I also love, proves that having a family doctor gives you better health far and above a “workplace wellness plan”. From an article in the Wall Street Journal from February 22nd “...helping employees get access to a primary-care doctor might be one of the most important things employers could do to improve employee health outcomes. A quarter of adults and 35% of younger adults don’t have access to a primary-care doctor, and that percentage has been growing. Finding a reputable doctor who takes a person’s insurance and is accepting new patients can be difficult even for people with resources. Employers and their insurance providers have the scale to match employees to the right doctor. And if workers have a primary-care doctor, employers can skip collecting the biometric data: Doctors collect that anyway and are in a much better position to do something with it. Health-insurance plans also should support preventive care, such as screenings for health risks and follow-up visits for chronic health problems like hypertension, by among other things not making doctor visits for such care prohibitively expensive.”
Having a relationship makes is easier for us to communicate. I can learn what is the best way to give you information so you can make a health decision. It’s also easier to work on hard things when you feel comfortable with your doctor. I have helped people get over their fear and misunderstanding of what a test would be like, and ended up finding early treatable cancer. I’ve been able to work with people to help them lose weight, quit smoking, drink less, and eat better.
The beauty of our DPC model, is that you just pay one flat fee monthly, and you can come in or do phone/video/texting as much as you need to get your health better. I love the access. When you have to pay a copay for each visit, it’s hard to go in unless you have something really bad going on. Treat yourself to a DPC membership!