Direct primary care (DPC) is a cash-based membership model for a more rational delivery model, benefiting both doctors and patients. It reduces care to the fewest number of intermediaries and stodgy layers, while allowing patients to insert insurance for protection against large claims.

Mark Twain said “There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope.” Paying cash for primary care is not new, but it’s a model that’s resurging after decades of being overly tangled with insurance*.

Ed Winters Ronaldson of HealthDirectly and I wrote a whitepaper on DPC. It takes the novel approach of combing survey data, utilization data from multiple DPC practices, trends in claims data pre- and post-DPC implementation from 19,000 members, and public data on an alternative DPC-leaning model.

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Consulting services are available for research, analysis and data on pricing by age-gender utilization, and solutions for bundling of outpatient services.

*Insurance is designed for tail risk, to protect against financial ruin.