A recent Medical Economics article asked “Is the DPC model at risk of failing?”
The piece focuses on two large DPC-like organizations, Qliance Medical Management of Seattle, Washington and Turntable Health of Las Vegas, NV, working in partnership with Iora Health, which recently closed their doors. Qliance and Turntable were not actually DPC practices by strict definition; they were innovative large business operations providing healthcare services to patients and excluding third party payers. Their idea was commendable, but their closure indicates little cause for concern in regard to the growing Direct Primary Care movement.
Robert Berenson, MD, who admits to not being a fan of the DPC model, said “Qliance has been the poster child for DPC… If that one can’t make it… it suggests the business model (of DPC) is flawed.” He is correct about one thing; the “business” model of medicine is certainly flawed.
What Dr Berenson fails to realize is that DPC is not a “business” model; it is a “care” model. Whether accepting insurance or DPC in structure, we already know solo and two-physician practices deliver the best care and have been doing so for the past 100 years. These intimate clinics know their customers better than anyone else in the industry, and can devote the time necessary to their clientele; these micro-practices should be known as the small giants of healthcare.