Sat. May 4th, 2024

You may want to check out the article 6 ways direct contracting is opening the door to direct primary care and see the author’s reasons for being excited.

While we can’t pretend that Direct Contracting is going to solve all of our problems, it does provide consideration for Direct Primary Care (DPC) practices, through which physicians can operate outside today’s insurance-based payment model. That’s because one of the biggest decision factors for those transitioning to DPC is how to handle their relationship with Medicare, since many have long-standing patients who are now or soon will be covered under traditional Medicare. There’s a few different reasons why the Direct Contracting program is being closely considered by DPC practices who want to support Medicare patients.

The author of the piece is Mark Nolan who is the COO of HINT. (Full disclosure: they advertise on DPC News). Mark is not a doctor but does have an MBA and an MPH. That being said, I want to offer a counterpoint to this “exciting news”. Here it is.

NO F%CKING WAY!

The reason we left the industrialized hospital processing plants to become FREE RANGE DOCTORS (I am not officially claiming this term as I just made it up) is to get away from the government. I don’t care what they may offer in the 6 ways, all of it will change and change for the worse. This is not saying some DPC docs won’t jump but if you think they won’t want data, metrics, coding, and other bureaucratic BS then you are sorely mistaken.

There are other ways to get patients. You don’t want to be lured back by the processing plants.

But that’s my opinion. I am open to yours. And no hard feelings, Mark.

63900cookie-checkShould You Work With Medicare If Direct Contracting Becomes a Thing?
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By Douglas Farrago, MD

Douglas Farrago MD is board certified in the specialty of Family Practice. He is the inventor of a product called the Knee Saver which is currently in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Knee Saver and its knock-offs are worn by many major league baseball catchers. He is also the inventor of the CryoHelmet used by athletes for head injuries as well as migraine sufferers. From 2001 – 2011, Dr. Farrago was the editor and creator of the Placebo Journal which ran for 10 full years. Described as the Mad Magazine for doctors, he and the Placebo Journal were featured in the Washington Post, US News and World Report, the AP, and the NY Times. Douglas Farrago, MD received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Virginia in 1987, his Masters of Education degree in the area of Exercise Science from the University of Houston in 1990, and his Medical Degree from the University of Texas at Houston in 1994. His residency training occurred way up north at the Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine. In his final year, he was elected Chief Resident by his peers. Dr. Farrago has practiced family medicine for twenty-three years, first in Auburn, Maine and now in Forest, Virginia. He founded Forest Direct Primary Care in 2014, which quickly filled in 18 months. Dr. Farrago still blogs every day on his website Authenticmedicine.com and lectures worldwide about the present crisis in our healthcare system and the effect it has on the doctor-patient relationship. Dr. Farrago’s has written three 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 and Slowing the Churn in Direct Primary Care (While Also Keeping Your Sanity) are all best sellers in this genre. He is a leading expert in direct primary care model and lectures medical students, residents, and doctors on how to start their own DPC practice. He retired from clinical medicine in October, 2020.

2 thoughts on “Should You Work With Medicare If Direct Contracting Becomes a Thing?”
  1. I love the idea of working with Medicare because I know that a lot of my Medicare patients are on a fixed income. As I understand it, the downside is that they require reporting of quality metrics, which is my least favorite phrase. There is just no way I would be willing or able to provide the reports that my old hospital-based practice was required to produce and send to Medicare. The only way I see this happening is if Medicare gives patients an allowance for DPC monthly fees (which would require trusting DPC doctors and trusting patients to vote with their feet if they are unhappy, which would happen when pigs fly). Any other ideas?

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