Michelle Merrell, APRN

"Michelle Merrell grew up in Guthrie where her grandfather, Dr. Webber Merrell, was a family physician for more than 40 years. She was inspired by the positive impact his care and compassion had on the community. She has chosen a career in direct primary care so that she may have close, meaningful relationships with her patients, similar to the ones of small town providers of the past. Michelle describes her training as an “education divided” with degrees from the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University. She first attended OSU where she received a Bachelor’s in Broadcast Journalism. Her first job was at KFOR in Oklahoma City. She worked in television news for 5 years before taking time off to be an army wife and stay at home mom. When she returned to work, Michelle felt called to pursue a career in healthcare. She received her Bachelor’s in Nursing from the University of Oklahoma and her Master’s in Nursing from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. As a family nurse practitioner, Michelle is licensed to care for patients of all ages. Prior to joining Primary Health Partners, Michelle practiced with Mercy Primary Care in Edmond. Her passions include healthcare, motherhood, and home improvement."

"Our Mission is to return to the essence of healthcare Creating a Transcendent doctor-patient relationship. Recently, a study showed the burn out rates among primary care physicians to be in the top five of all specialties. Unfortunately in our current health care environment that is not going to change any time soon. Reimbursements are falling and physicians are being driven to see more and more patients and spend less time with them. Physicians desire to build relationships with their patients, but after a busy day of practice there is no compensation to further connect with patients much less the energy to do so. In a nutshell health care in the primary care setting is broken. DPC involves patients paying a monthly subscription fee to the practice. In return they get to be a part of a smaller patient panel and thus have more access to the physician. They usually can text, email or call the practice 24/7 and rarely have to wait for an appointment. They also get longer visits and generally have a very high satisfaction with the arrangement. We believe that over time, third parties, because of investor and market pressures, have compromised the quality of the patient experience. When you remove those third parties (insurance companies), no longer do we have to serve their demands, but can focus only on the patient concerns. Those third party relationships increase cost and decrease physician-patient time. PHP believes without those third parties, the doctor-patient relationship can thrive. The result is increased patient satisfaction, cost savings and improved clinical outcomes."