Why Direct Primary Care?

Direct Primary Care (DPC) means that your primary care doctor contracts directly with YOU, the patient, to provide your medical services for a reasonable upfront fee. The core structure has several basic principles that return the privacy, quality and time to the doctor-patient relationship. If you have a commerical insurance plan (ie insurance through your job or the healthcare exchange), we won’t accept your insurance. ​

Unlimited visits with no copay. You can schedule as many appointments as you need, call, or send a secure text whenever you need. Everything that is routinely done in the office is included (physicals, forms, EKG’s, lesion freezing or removal, nebulizer treatments, on-site testing, etc.). For any tests that must be sent out, you have the option of using your health insurance to cover those costs. If you do not have health insurance, we have discount arrangements with a lab that allows you to get charged at our cost, which is usually the lowest price available. ​ More time with the doctor. Because we are taking the middleman out, we can maintain the practice with fewer patients. Visits are scheduled for between 20-60 minutes long depending on what you need. We already try to be thorough and discuss lots of issues at one visit, but sometimes we aren't able to fit it all in. Now, if we need to schedule another appointment to take care of other issues, there’s no extra cost to have another visit the next week or as many visits as it takes to get you squared away. ​ More access to the doctor. You’ve always had after-hours access via phone. Now we will also be able to communicate with our DPC patients via secure text message. There may be times when you need to go to the ER or urgent care center, but most times, we can figure out how to get you taken care of without that extra expense. ​ We will reserve space on the schedule for same day/next day DPC visits either in person or via telehealth. ​ Discounts on other services. We have discounted pricing agreements with certain vendors for medications, labs, & imaging. These costs are often pennies on the dollar and can be applied to an HSA, FSA or out-of network deductible. Some costs reimbursible through insurance. You may be able to off-set the cost of the upfront service fee through submission of a fee slip to your plan when you have an office or telehealth visit. This is generally available to people with out of network benefits. ​ Your doctor is less restricted in how they practice. There are no denials of care we provide or insurance company restrictions on what is ordered. The art of healing cannot be timed, quantified, or restricted. ​

All Office visits All Telemedicine appointments Extended appointment times Special after hours access line & secure text service Free forms completed Medical marijuana certifications for appropriate patients included 25% off Pure Encapsulations orders Discounted labs* Free in-office testing** Free/discounted procedures*** Care coordination – Our office can help coordinate with specialists No- "no show" fees *Labs done by a third party will be at a discounted rate. ** Our office in office testing includes; strep test, pregnancy test, flu and urinalysis. ****Examples of procedures that are done in office include; joint injection, nebulizer treatment, laceration repairs, IUD insertion (must buy device before insertion) and ear lobe repairs. ​

The cost of the annual medical service will be based on the payment plan you choose: $1200/yr for adults or $600/yr for children under & young adults aged 0-21 when paid in one lump sum. $119/month ($1200/yr + $228 processing fee) if paying in 12 monthly installments. First 2 months due at sign up. Families with 5 or more people will receive a 12% discount on the total cost of their family's membership. ​ As we withdraw from participation in various insurance plans, our current patients will have a window of time to enroll at a discounted rate. When we announce that we are going out of network with a particular plan, we will let our current patients know how long they have to sign up for the discounted price of $999/yr when paid in full or $99/month ($1188/yr) when enrolling in an automated monthly payment plan. Your year of service will start on the date that we are officially out of network with your insurance. ​

Yes! If you live >100 miles away and you never plan to come in for an office visit, you can enroll in our Virtual DPC plan for $900/yr for adults and $450/yr for patients 16-21 when paid in one lump sum. At this time, children younger than 16 may not be enrolled in the Virtual DPC option. The processing fee as shown above will be added if you choose to pay in monthly or quarterly installments. If you decide to schedule an in-office appointment, you will be charged $200 per visit.

We will continue serving our Medicaid and Medicare patients to make sure that those most in need will be able to keep Dr. Shabazz & Fountain Medical Associates as their PCP using their government benefits. However, we will only have a limited number of Medicare Advantage Plans with which we participate. When the next open enrollment period rolls around, we will further streamline to the Medicare Advantage plans that are easiest for us to work with. You should expect that by 2023, we will only be accepting Health Partners Medicare & Medicaid, Cigna Medicare, and Medicare Part B (with or without a supplemental plan). ​

No. Unfortunately, government regulations prohibit physicians and other medical providers who participate in Medicare from enrolling Medicare beneficiaries in Direct Primary Care services. Many Medicare beneficiaries may be eligible to enroll in Chronic Care Management services using their Medicare benefits. ​

Yes…and no. While insurance is not required to stay with us as a DPC patient, we strongly recommend that you maintain some type of coverage. While primary care services are affordable, unexpected health expenses like hospitalization are one of the leading causes of bankruptcy. We are negotiating discounts for many common outpatient services, but it is wise to have something in place for big medical expenses.