Can Direct Primary Care Lead Private Practice Out of the Hole?

COVID-19 Sparks Interest in Direct Primary Care

Direct primary care is still in its infancy, with nearly 1,300 direct primary care practices operating across 48 states, according to the DPC Mapper from DPC Frontier, LLC. But about 70 percent of direct primary care practices were established in the last four years, indicating the model’s growing reach in healthcare as of late, the SOA found in its recent report.

The Future of Primary Care

From long wait times to inadequate reimbursement, primary care had a long list of issues prior to COVID-19 but the pandemic seems to be ushering in a new era for providers in the field.

Primary care practices transformed their business model in a matter of days in response to the public health emergency, ditching their main source of revenue for unprecedented utilization of telehealth and other virtual care services. And they did this while still serving as healthcare’s gatekeeper, identifying potentially infected patients, and directing them to the appropriate source for care.