Direct primary care

Direct primary care, or DPC, is an alternative to insurance-based fee-for-service primary care in which physicians directly contract with patients, cutting out insurance companies completely. For a flat, monthly fee, patients have unlimited access to their doctor—in person and by phone or by e-mail—for a full range of comprehensive primary care services including acute and urgent care, regular checkups, preventive care, chronic disease management, and care coordination.

AAFP’s DPC resources
The American Academy of Family Physicians has a variety of DPC resources. Family physicians can purchase the DPC toolkit, a web-based collection of tools to understand and implement the model into your practice.
> AAFP Direct Primary Care Toolkit
> AAFP’s Direct Primary Care information and list of FAQs

Direct primary care: An alternative to fee-for-service
Kate Alfano gives an excellent explanation of the direct primary care basics in this Texas Family Physician article, including two physicians’ discussing their experiences with DPC.
> Read this TAFP news story from the spring 2015 issue of Texas Family Physician.

Hybrid concierge: Best of both worlds?
The hybrid concierge model allows you to tailor services to your patients without completely eschewing insurance.
> Read this summer 2014 Texas Family Physician article

Direct Primary Care Coalition
The Direct Primary Care Coalition invites DPC physicians to join the effort in growing DPC and advocating for the payment model.
> Read more about the Direct Primary Care Coalition