One of the biggest challenges companies have to overcome is how to make sure their employees get full health benefits at an affordable price. But how all-encompassing is traditional healthcare exactly?

This dilemma is not just limited to start-up companies, but also companies that have been operational for years. Health coverage can either be an asset or a liability to your company. And the idea that your employees are already enjoying it all together with just healthcare insurance coverage, can be rather tricky and misleading.

Here are three big reasons why direct primary care (DPC) should be every company owner’s consideration in terms of health benefits.

The ideal way to show that a company truly values its employees is by giving full health benefits. In fact, it has become common practice to provide an employee with health benefits the moment they are hired and ready to assume their workload.

But time and again, companies lose revenue for health coverage that actually does not cover the basics. Furthermore, some companies are obliged to reimburse for extra health services that could have been the direct result of the client’s inability to seek early or timely medical attention.

Direct primary care emphasizes the importance of timely medical intervention.

Preventive care fills in the “full” of what we refer to as a “full health benefit”. Preventive care helps facilitate timely medical intervention against both acute and chronic ailments, even before complications start to set in. 

Traditional healthcare only takes care of ailments as they happen. DPC helps prevent these ailments from happening.

The importance of timely medical intervention cannot be stressed enough. Overall awareness of the patient’s lifestyle, diet, and physical activity, on top of pertinent medical history and family history, is vital for an overall improved health outcome. 

These help clinicians provide relevant medical advice for patients and help spot early signs of a potentially chronic disease. Patient education, for instance, is a known predictor for better care outcomes.

However, there are too many barriers in the current healthcare system that almost makes it impossible to come up with timely medical interventions.

One of the most consistent barriers to timely medical intervention is the inability to book an appointment, or may even be as simple as the inability to get through on the clinic’s line. Another common barrier is waiting too long outside the clinician’s office, or clinic unavailability just when the patient is ready. 

What makes DPC very efficient in delivering the timely medical intervention is that it readily gives the solutions to these very common barriers. Fewer patients mean more available consultation schedules and fast access to their healthcare provider. Telemedicine solves issues regarding clinic unavailability. 

The DPC model gives the unparalleled benefit of early and timely medical intervention, thereby increasing the reach and effectiveness of patient care.

Direct primary care helps patients and employers save up through discounts at their in-clinic pharmacy

What gives DPC an edge over traditional healthcare is easy access to both lab work and medicines. Moreover, since money spent on prescriptions inevitably adds up to the existing burden of healthcare, direct primary care works in a patient-friendly way around this barrier. 

Many believe that full health benefits in direct primary care only refer to consultations. The unique DPC set-up helps patients navigate their way through unlimited access to affordable medicine.

Having consultations, lab work, and medicines in a single setting encourage patient compliance. Patients get to save money and effort by transferring from one place to another.

Moreover, less congested primary care clinic pharmacies are also expected to spend more time educating patients regarding dispensed medications. 

Health care services should not be limited only to the diagnosis of an illness and the dispensing of medications. It should also be an avenue for proper patient education regarding drug indications, potential drug adverse effects, and even drug interactions. This further ensures patient safety and proper compliance.
The advantages of in-clinic pharmacies are therefore not just limited to savings, but to overall patient protection as well. Ideally, pharmacists should be given the opportunity to shift their focus from the product to the patient. And this is made possible in the DPC healthcare model.

Direct primary care offers unrushed clinic visits

What is frequently overlooked is that quantity does not always equate with quality. Even if the clinician already has an outstanding clinical eye, the essence of establishing rapport with a patient cannot fully take place in a 5-10 minute interaction. Although healthcare providers may be trained on how to ask the right probing questions, patient responses can never be boxed – it is always different from one patient to another.

Moreover, the costs of a misdiagnosis or a missed diagnosis can be detrimental not just to the patient, but also to the employer and the healthcare provider as well. Having unrushed consults is just one very simple and practical way to avoid these kinds of mistakes in the medical world.

The importance of gathering a thorough medical history and having a physical examination is incomparable. DPC does not believe that the quantity of patient consultations is reflective of the quality of the clinic visits each patient gets. Unlike the traditional healthcare model, a patient at the DPC can spend 45 minutes to an hour talking to her clinician about almost everything. 

This shows that DPC respects both the patient’s time, and the clinician’s time. With both sides fully satisfied with every clinic visit, there is no reason not to look forward to better health outcomes.

Takeaway

Even with full health benefits in place, there is definitely no reason not to include DPC in the roster of health benefits. Only DPC directly inspires patients to be proactive toward personal health and well-being.

Timely medical intervention, easy access to prescriptions, and unrushed patient-clinician interaction essentially make DPC a very attractive healthcare option even for companies with existing full health benefits. 

With these advantages on the table, there’s no reason to settle for anything less than a DPC coverage. Schedule that appointment with us, today!