Some DPC News in DPC News

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The stories keep coming out about Direct Primary Care. We are always surveilling the media and wanted to share some recent DPC-centric stories with you with AI summaries:

Some Vermont Doctors Embrace the New ‘Direct Primary Care’ Model

A few Vermont doctors are turning to direct primary care (DPC), a model where patients pay a monthly or annual membership fee—typically up to $200—for unlimited access to primary care services without involving insurance companies. Practices like Dr. Umair Malik’s Blue Spruce Health (with over 1,000 patients across multiple sites) and smaller ones run by doctors such as Marian Bouchard, Leigh LoPresti, Meghan Gunn, and Anton Borja allow longer appointments, same-day or text access, house calls, wholesale labs/meds, and more personalized relationships, freeing physicians from insurance paperwork, low reimbursements, and high patient volumes that left them feeling like cogs in a system

Medical Economics Insider: Is direct primary care right for me and my patients?

This one is a preview as the article is coming out on the 11th.

Direct primary care practices replace traditional insurance billing with a straightforward monthly membership fee paid directly by patients, allowing physicians to reduce overhead, shrink patient panels, and spend more time with individual patients. In this upcoming Medical Economics Insider edition, four physicians who have launched their own direct primary care practices walk through the questions, tradeoffs, and opportunities every physician considering the model needs to understand.

Is direct primary care financially viable?

This one is a preview clip. Kelsey Smith, MD, who is the DPCA president, gives me a shout-out. Thanks, Kelsey!

Opinion – To save rural health care, bring it out of the Dark Ages

In an opinion piece arguing for innovative reforms to address the ongoing crisis in rural U.S. health care—exacerbated by doctor shortages, hospital and pharmacy closures, and recent federal cuts to Medicaid and ACA subsidies—author John C. Goodman highlights direct primary care (DPC) as a key payment model to revitalize access, particularly in underserved areas.

DPC continues to roll on, and we’ll keep sharing this information with you.

About Douglas Farrago, MD

Dr. Farrago is a retired family physician based in Forest, Virginia. Since 2021, he has run DPCnews.com, a leading resource for the Direct Primary Care (DPC) movement. He is the author of three best-selling books on Direct Primary Care: The Official Guide to Starting Your Own Direct Primary Care Practice The Direct Primary Care Doctor’s Daily Motivational Journal Slowing the Churn in Direct Primary Care (While Also Keeping Your Sanity) In 2016, Dr. Farrago conceived the idea for the Direct Primary Care Alliance and co-founded the organization alongside other pioneering DPC physicians. He is widely recognized as a leading expert in the DPC model and frequently lectures to medical students, residents, and practicing physicians on how to successfully start and run their own DPC practices.Dr. Farrago sold his Direct Primary Care practice in October 2020 but continues to receive care there as a patient.