Some DPC News in DPC News
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:
Opinion: The facts show we aren’t serious about affordable healthcare
In this opinion piece, physician Kerry Willis, M.D., argues that despite widespread demands for affordable healthcare, policymakers and stakeholders remain unserious about real reforms, as evidenced by the Affordable Care Act’s shortcomings—such as millions remaining uninsured or underinsured with high deductibles and lost access to doctors—while both political parties fail to offer substantive solutions amid industry profits. He highlights that only about 4% of healthcare spending goes to primary care, despite studies showing it dramatically lowers overall costs (e.g., a VA study linking one visit to thousands in savings), and advocates shifting to direct primary care models funded via Health Savings Accounts for better access and efficiency. Willis criticizes the shift from independent physicians (from 70% in 1988 to 30% today) to hospital employment, which inflates costs by around 40% through facility fees and higher reimbursements, uneven payment rates that disadvantage rural and private practices, rising administrative overhead and insurer executive pay, and barriers like certificate-of-need laws. He calls for making direct primary care foundational, ensuring fair and consistent payment rates without facility fees, ending special-interest deals and anti-competitive rules, and pressuring leaders to prioritize patients over industry interests.
‘I’m Not a Referral Widget’: Why One Doctor Walked Away From Traditional Medicine
In this profile, Ohio family physician Dr. Leila Javidi describes how severe burnout from managing a panel of about 2,200 patients—with rushed 15-minute visits, endless after-hours paperwork, and pressure to refer rather than fully address issues—left her feeling like a “referral widget” unable to practice meaningful medicine or even use her clinical skills effectively, especially amid personal caregiving stresses. After leaving traditional insurance-based practice, recovering, and researching alternatives, she launched Rebel + Thrive Direct Primary Care, a membership model where patients pay a monthly fee for longer appointments (up to 90 minutes), text access, house calls, and true shared decision-making with a smaller patient load, restoring the doctor-patient relationship and her sense of purpose. She illustrates the model’s value with a complex case involving a patient’s evolving blood-clot issues that required ongoing communication and trust, shares her candid TikTok videos exposing systemic problems (which drew both widespread support and a medical-board investigation that cleared her), and argues that DPC returns time, access, and physician sovereignty—while not replacing specialists or insurance—allowing better care and helping rebuild trust in doctors without any desire to return to the old system.
Local physicians invest more than $2 million in new direct primary care clinic in Canton
Local family physicians Dr. Thushan Pathmalingam and Dr. Thivisa Rajagopal have broken ground on North Core Medical, a new $2-million-plus physician-owned Direct Primary Care (DPC) clinic under construction on State Highway 310 in Canton, New York, set to open in early 2027 and designed as a long-term investment in personalized, accessible care for the North Country community they have served for seven years. Unlike traditional insurance-based practices, the DPC model relies on monthly memberships that enable longer visits, same-day or next-day appointments, direct phone/text communication, and capped patient panels of no more than 500 per physician (starting around 250) to foster strong relationships and focus on prevention rather than volume; the 8,400-square-foot facility will feature 10 exam rooms, modern tech, and spaces for wellness education, offering comprehensive primary care for all ages—including chronic disease management, weight services, and acute care—while also providing limited same-day and telehealth options to non-members, discounted generic medications, and help finding lower-cost labs/imaging. The doctors stress that DPC complements (rather than replaces) insurance for hospital or specialist needs, thank local partners for supporting the project, and express commitment to building a practice where patients feel known and cared for in response to widespread feelings of rushed, inaccessible traditional care.
DPC continues to roll on, and we’ll keep sharing this information with you. Thanks for reading. Please share so the word about DPC keeps spreading. Oh, and don’t forget to join our newsletter list below!!
