Direct Primary Care and Concierge medicine have revolutionized health care in recent years, offering members a more personalized and efficient health program. Members can make premium payments annually or monthly, and patients generally receive more than they pay for.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that the workforce is still essential and indispensable to the economy. Companies face the dilemma of reducing costs and retaining employees.
While different DPC practices may offer different healthcare packages, there are some common offerings between many DPC healthcare plans. These include:
In traditional healthcare models, copay tends to deter employees from seeking medical attention for these issues. With DPC, however, the lack of copay requirements helps encourage employees to go for a checkup as doing so would have absolutely no charge to them.
Direct Primary Care generally covers issues that working people commonly encounter. This ensures that you have a healthy workforce that is ready to take on the challenges of your business at all times.
Currently, the Treasury Department considers that DPC plans as a variation of a gap insurance therefore, it automatically disqualifies employees who have from using or contributing to a Health Savings Account (HSA).
However, advocates of DPC are trying to educate the IRS and the Treasury that the monthly fees cannot be considered as insurance premiums and therefore cannot be considered as a gap insurance.
As of the present time, the best tax-advantaged way to use DPC is by using an employer-provided health reimbursement arrangement.
In the limited circumstances in which an individual is covered by a DPC arrangement that does not provide coverage under a health plan or insurance or solely provides for disregarded coverage or preventive care. - says Rebecca Moore from Plansponsor
So, employers who choose DPC healthcare for their employees don't have to sacrifice traditional healthcare models' tax incentives and advantages. With proper planning, employers can still enjoy the tax benefits of an HSA.
This flexibility is another benefit that Direct Primary Care for employers has over traditional healthcare modes. With DPC, employers are free to pick and choose the types of services for maximum savings.
You can't use Medicare to cover DPC fees. This means that a patient on Medicare must pay out-of-pocket for the monthly membership fees if they wish to enjoy the benefits of a DPC practice.
Despite this, patients with Medicare still often sign up for a DPC plan because of the ease of access to physicians as patients can claim some medicare benefits such as lab fees and medication.
DPC practices can still provide services to patients who have signed up for Medicare. To do this, DPC physicians have to opt out of Medicare.
Patients will still get their medication and laboratory orders from their DPC physician done through Medicare in this arrangement. This essentially gives way for patients to take advantage of the services and benefits offered by DPC practices and the claims they're entitled to in their Medicare coverage.
On the other hand, doctors will not bill Medicare for any of the services they render. Instead, they get their fees paid by the patients themselves through the monthly membership.
This way, employers don't have to worry that their employees won't be covered by Medicare anymore because they're also enrolled in a DPC plan.
The inefficiencies of traditional healthcare models make Direct Primary Care worth shifting to. In addition, considering the poor quality of healthcare patients get and the ever-increasing health insurance premiums, the monthly fees for a DPC plan are an affordable alternative for employers.
In many ways, Direct Primary Care can help put the company's bottom line in a better place by reducing the company's employee healthcare costs while increasing the quality of the service. What's even better is that employers can also leverage employee negotiations to bring the overall payroll expense down.
To top all of the financial savings off, employers would also benefit from having a healthier workforce. Healthy employees use less sick leaves and are generally more focused on being productive at work.
The benefits of direct primary care and other health programs are innumerable. It lowers insurance costs and increases employee morale and productivity.
Employers excel in this global age of health. Investing in direct patient care enables the employer to help their employees at no additional cost but with enormous potential benefits.
Join the movement for improved patient-centred care and see a direct primary care physician in your area today. Find your nearest direct primary care physician at – findmydirectdoctor.com
