What is Direct Primary Care?
My goal is to empower you to take charge of your health. With Direct Primary Care, I can do just that.
My goal is to empower you to take charge of your health. With Direct Primary Care, I can do just that.
Direct Primary Care means I don't submit any claims to insurance companies for the services I provide directly to you in the office. This allows me more time to spend with you which translates into better relationships and better healthcare!
When was the last time you fired off an email to your provider and got a response the same day or even within minutes? Wouldn't it be awesome to call your provider directly, asking for a medication to be refilled or email a picture of a rash which showed up on your arm and get a diagnosis quickly? With our practice, you can! Can't take off work but need to be seen by the provider? With our telemedicine platform, you can have a virtual face to face video visit or phone consult when medically appropriate. You can save drive time or connect while out of town.
Don't trade quality health care for affordable health care. You can have BOTH. Since appointment times are based on actual need, providers have more time to address your concerns and coordinate even complex medical care.
When insurance companies are billed for services, providers may not be reimbursed any more for a 30 minute appointment than for a 5 minute appointment. This makes it difficult for even the best providers to spend the time they need to establish a relationship with their patients and to deliver the quality of care the patients deserve.
Direct Primary Care eliminates these pressures, offering both affordable AND quality health care.
Direct Primary Care means direct billing to patients, instead of to insurance companies. You are then free to submit your receipt to your insurance company for any potential reimbursement.
Direct Primary Care means direct access to your provider with appointments, phone calls and e-mail correspondence, even after hours.
Know what you are paying and for what services you are paying up front. Oftentimes, with billing to insurance companies, you don't know what services are covered and how much your co-pay will be until after the service has been performed and when you are stuck with the bill. With Direct Primary Care, you will know exactly how much your bill for an annual membership or for a separate visit will be before you schedule an appointment.
Direct Primary Care offers the flexibility for the provider to spend more time with each patient. You can make appointments for the amount of time YOU choose without being limited by reimbursement from insurance companies or by administrative demands.
No. This is not insurance. Just as a community supported agriculture (CSA) membership is a way of supporting your farmer directly in order to receive high-quality produce from a small local farm, community supported family medicine is a way of supporting your primary care provider directly (bypassing insurance) in order to receive high-quality medical care from a small primary care practice. Even if you cannot afford comprehensive medical insurance, you should have a high deductible insurance plan to prevent bankruptcy in the case of major illness or injury.
As a CSFM member you will receive almost unlimited and appropriate office-based primary health care services provided by me, Jennifer Novotny, Family Nurse Practitioner, at no additional charge for my services up to 99 encounters per month. This includes well/preventive visits, sick visits, chronic disease management, lifestyle recommendations and monitoring, certain urgent care (that does not require imaging or other supplies I don’t have available), follow-up visits, basic wound care, suturing that does not require a surgeon, basic skin biopsies (pathology billed separately), spirometry with interpretation, as well as appropriate phone consultations/visits and web portal messaging (secure email). Every effort is made to accommodate urgent medical needs with same-day or next-day availability when during regular office hours but this is not guaranteed. Wellness or preventive visits, follow-up visits, medication refills, and non-urgent matters are not expected to be seen during same day/next day visits.
That’s great! I want you to have insurance for everything I can’t do in my office. Most people find that even with insurance, they have higher quality and more affordable care with me. You can still use you insurance for care outside of my practice. Most insurance will still allow me to order labs, write prescriptions, and make referrals. If you aren’t sure whether your insurance works with seeing me, call and ask if an out of network doctor can write a referral, etc. Some of my patients do have Kaiser or other insurance that will not let me do anything within their network…in this situation I am simply parallel to your regular insurance.
The monthly membership provides any care you need from me, Jennifer Novotny, as well as incidentals needed to provide that care (such as syringes or needles, gauze, and so forth, as well as durable equipment that is cleaned and reused, such as medical instruments). It does not cover anything outside my office such as lab work, hospital or emergency room visits, specialist appointments, or x-rays.
I can refer you to specialists or surgeons if needed, but their care is not included in your membership with CSFM. That said, I am able to care for a majority of medical problems such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma, and depression, as well as do minor surgical procedures such as biopsies, sebaceous cyst removals, and incision and drainage of abscesses. I can provide basic orthopedic care, including management of certain fractures, though I will refer you if needed. I am also able to provide basic gynecological care, including pap smears and contraceptive counseling. At this time, I am unable to offer colposcopy due to the cost of a colposcope. I will be very clear with you if something is outside of my scope of practice or if I do not have the appropriate equipment or supplies.
Because I am unable to provide the multidisciplinary approach that is now the standard of care for chronic pain management, I do not generally manage chronic opioid medications. However, I do help a number of my patients manage their pain with referrals to physical therapy and counseling, appropriate adjunctive medications, and education. Occasional pain medication or muscle relaxants for appropriate indications and acute pain medication for an injury will be considered on a case-by-case basis. In the state of Colorado, all prescriptions for controlled substances are listed on the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP). I do not write prescriptions for medical marijuana.
Because of the direct nature of my practice, you are able to communicate with me via secure portal messaging, cell phone, facsimile, video chat and e-mail. Since there are no staff complicating our interactions, you will get direct access to me.
Through our patient portal you can make non-urgent appointments, ask questions, request refills, etc.
Non-urgent line: calls will be returned at the end of each business day.
While the terms of membership are spelled out in more detail on our membership agreement, membership with Community Supported Family Medicine is designed and intended to be continuous, though you may terminate your membership at any time. The membership is paid in arears so your last payment will be at the end of your last month as a member. Your membership will automatically renew every month when your membership is paid. If you terminate your membership, you will have to wait 12 months to reinstate your membership (and go to the bottom of the waiting list, if applicable) and pay a reinstatement fee.