By design, primary care should be the foundation of your entire healthcare journey. However, the rise of insurance mandated policies has created an environment where doctors find themselves too busy to show their patients the care that inspired their career to begin with. Traditional healthcare shifted focus from supporting someone’s health journey to managing sick care between annual visits.

The devolution of primary care leaves individuals to fill in extensive gaps of navigating their own, sometimes complex, health without the guidance of the one person who should help them navigate, their primary care doctor.

Are Doctors Too Busy To Care?

Most primary care doctors truly care about their patients.The revolving clinic door, which limits them to ten minutes face-to-face with their patients, makes it nearly impossible to provide the comprehensive care people deserve. Systematic deficiencies create multiple barriers to quality care. Doctors are no longer standing by quietly while it happens.

Shortage of Primary Care Doctors

A New York Times article expresses, “Doctors aren’t burned out from overwork. We’re demoralized by our healthcare system.” The article reports over 117,000 physicians left their positions in 2021. They could no longer standby while the overall healthcare system forced people to accept worse and worse conditions in an area where they should receive the utmost attention.

Seeing Your Doctor is Never Easy.

People across the country sympathize over the ordeal of going to the doctor. Seeing your primary care doctor is such a pain. Instead of facing the crowded waiting room for a short visit with very little communication, many choose emergency rooms and urgent cares to get treatment for conditions easily handled by their PCP. They would much rather spend the extra money than deal with the hassle when they’re already not feeling their best.

 This feeds into more systematic issues experienced by physicians and patients alike:

·     There is only time to treat the symptoms, not get to the root cause.

·     If a patient doesn’t bring up an issue, the subject never gets discussed.

·     There are limited proactive or preventative health plans. Patients are just expected to exist between appointments on mere suggestions from their doctor.

·     People are expected to navigate the medical landscape of specialty care without assistance. There is no quarterback for their primary care to help them.

·     Everyone is pressed into a mold of traditional primary care. Their care is not built around their unique health journey.

These, and countless other reasons, are not only inconvenient to those in the community, but so much more to doctors that many left traditional healthcare. Though, a good number of them didn’t leave the career field. Many primary care doctors transitioned to a direct-pay model of care, or concierge medicine.

 And their patients followed.

Concierge Primary Care Solves the Pain Points of Traditional Healthcare

Modern healthcare is run by insurance companies, as they are the primary payer of the American healthcare system. Being the primary source of revenue for all major hospital systems means they determine nearly all aspects of patient care. This removes autonomy of care from the doctors as well as removes the humanity from patients. In the system, patients are money, not people. The more patients walk through the clinic door, the more money the clinic receives.

Direct Primary Care is the Answer

Doctors who move their practice to a membership-based, concierge primary care get to treat patients as they would want to be treated, with attention, care, and familiarity. Their caseloads range from 250 to 500 patients instead of 2,500 to 3,000 patients. This change alone allows for open communication from patient to medical team, as well as greater availability to be seen for acute illnesses and injury. For a monthly membership fee, there are no up-charges for sick visits, phone consultations, or additional office visits.One fee gives you unlimited access to a medical team you know and know you.

What Does Open Communication Look Like?

Connected Health offers Concierge Primary Care for a monthly membership fee of $235 for individuals. Our clients do not pay a dime more for primary care, no matter how many times they speak with their healthcare team.

When they reach out to us, these are some things they say…

“First, this is by far the best medical care I have received in my life. You are amazing. You are patient, a great listener, really knowledgeable, and obviously very smart. I am grateful to have found you and the whole concierge experience… It was such a unique experience to have that kind of dialog with a really knowledgeable doctor that I just got lost in the moment — talking and asking questions…”

“I am doing very well, thank you! I feel like a million pounds have been lifted from me, and I feel like a new person. You are so down to earth and caring…not to mention, quite skilled. I have a new friend who just happens to be my doctor!”

“I wanted to thank [you] for coming out to check on my mom and putting her mind to ease. I think she improves in some ways, just because she sees you! I just want to tell you again how much my brothers and I appreciate you all!!”

“I just wanted to tell you how much [my mother] loves you. She told my granddaughter and daughter, ‘ [The doctor] is going to save my life.” She has total trust and faith in your care. Thought you would like to know how much your patients love you.” 

Ready for a Doctor Who Can Care?

Connected Health has a medical team eager to close the gaps left by traditional healthcare with 24/7 access to communication and a swift response at any time of day or night. Our physicians have time to get to know you and your health journey so they can help you navigate the best choices for your health and goals. You’ll never be left to hunt down your own specialty care, nor be responsible for reporting information back to your PCP. They do all of that for you.

Still have questions? Call our friendly and helpful front desk staff at 724-933-4300 and schedule a tour of our facility where you can meet with a doctor and see if Connected Health is a good fit for you.