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.
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?
Any promises they make will be broken