Do You Actually Examine Your Patients?

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I remember seeing “studies” showing that doing a yearly physical exam is not worth it. It blew me away, but then I realized that there was a bigger force behind these studies: insurance companies. The researchers are propping up herd medicine, trying to figure out how to jam as many patients in the doctor’s schedule as possible.

There is this:

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF)

Cost-Effectiveness Concerns: While screening for certain high-risk groups, such as pregnant women or those over 70, has shown to be cost-effective, the cost-effectiveness of routine screening in the general population, particularly in younger asymptomatic individuals, is not definitively established and remains a topic of discussion.

Or this:

Although many doctors still recommend people get an annual checkup, growing research suggests that these visits have not had a significant impact on patients’ long-term health.

I never bought into this, especially when I started doing Direct Primary Care. I think this doctor shares my sentiments:

But Direct Primary Care changes all that. What we have on our side is:

  1. Time
  2. Lack of insurance oversight
  3. No bosses
  4. The desire to do a great job

I hope all of you are doing what we were taught in medical school. Ignore the ivory tower idiots. I have saved people’s lives by finding things on their full yearly examinations that would have been missed if I rushed through it. I am sure many of you have as well.

DPC fixes so many of the problems created by the industrialized model of medicine. Direct Primary Care is a free-range model and is the way family medicine was supposed to be. We would make Dr. Osler proud.

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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.