Answer:

Direct Primary Care (DPC) is a new health care model that allows patients to have direct access to their physician by paying a monthly fee. We believe that many will benefit from having direct access to their physician as we work together to improve your overall health and manage your chronic health conditions. 

Answer:

1. Dr. West has worked in traditional practices and found that it was very difficult to provide the  patient quality service that she was called to do as a physician. Her time was often limited under the current health care model.   Her desire is to care for the whole patient and to repair the doctor-patient relationship.

2. Direct Primary Care allows physicians to spend more time with their patients than a traditional practice. The smaller panel size (500 patients vs 2500+ patients) allows each patient to spend more time with their doctor and also allows them to be able to be seen when sick.

3. Insurance can be great to pay for unexpected, expensive events. However, health insurance is not timely health access. Many practices accept insurance but will book out for weeks to months. With DPC, when you are sick or
injured, you can utilize our easy online scheduling, extended availability, and make timely appointments. Primary care is fairly predictable generally speaking, and most issues are not really expensive when you drill down
to the actual hard costs.

4. DPC focuses on the sacredness of the doctor-patient relationship. When using insurance, the physician is required to provide information to your insurance company in order to receive their payment. This data can then be used against you in the future. Our electronic health record is secured to ensure your privacy. Your data is only shared at your request to specialists, insurance companies, etc. Your data stays with us unless you specify otherwise.

5. In most traditional practices today, physicians no longer have any control in their office staffing and processes. The saying, “you get what you pay for” is a strong belief of ours. Our staff will be as compassionate as we are about
your health.

Answer:

• Your monthly membership covers unlimited office visits (we will never charge you a copay)
• Basic in office testing, simple procedures (laceration repair, I&Ds and ear irrigations) annual physicals, sports physicals, employment physicals (case by case basis)
• Yearly thorough physical with age appropriate testing.
• Chronic disease management for high blood pressure, diabetes, and a host of other medical ailments
• Extended availability & timely appointments
• Extensive access to your personal physician

-Answer:

We do not file insurance, however your insurance may cover labs, imaging, and referrals. We contract directly with these companies to get you the cheapest price. We would like for our patients to have some form of insurance to cover unforseen and or life changing events such as hospitalizations, surgeries, and ED visits. We will not turn you away if you do not have insurance.

Since this is a Direct Primary care practice, we are limiting our practice size.

A traditional practice generally has around 2,500 patients per physician and in some cases, 3,000 to 5000 patients per physician.

We charge a membership fee of $1,200 a year for an individual, broken into monthly payments of $100. Membership includes all your office visits and many in-office procedures. Checkout our membership page for details.

Answer:

• Great insurance does not always equal great medical care. Give us a call today so that we can show you the difference!
• Waiting for weeks or in some cases months for an appointment is counter productive. When you are sick we offer easy online scheduling and extended availability. We are always available via email, text, and phone. Not every ailment needs an office visit.

• Insurance is good for things like major illnesses and hospitalizations, but for basic primary care and typical illnesses and injuries, most patients will save a ton of money by not going through their insurance company. Using health insurance for a cold or sinus infection or even blood pressure monitoring is comparable to using car insurance for an oil change. There is no need to pay for a car insurance deductible for an oil change.

• Your insurance may not pay as much as you think. In some cases, people think they are better insured than they actually are. Our pricing is transparent and if we don’t have a price for something, we will get one for you.

• You are a real person to us and an individual. We will not treat you like a number because we care about your well-being.

Answer:

Bear Fruit DPC tries to be as inclusive as possible with our professional services however there are some low cost extras at times.

Any services not performed by Bear Fruit Direct Primary Care are not included.

Example: If you need a pap smear, our physicians do not charge for the procedure, but there will be a charge for the pathologist to look at the samples under a microscope and deliver their report.

Answer:

Absolutely not. However, membership can allow you to have a peace of mind that your doctor is available when you need her.

It also allows you to know that you will always be able to access your personal physician, not an unkown doctor who is working on call.

A membership allows us to schedule you for timely appointments, so you will not have to wait weeks to be seen or end up in an urgent care facility.

Answer:

No.

Bear Fruit DPC physicians will see you as a patient even if you don’t have insurance. The membership fee covers all of your visits and insurance is not billed.

It is still a good idea to have a health insurance policy for unexpected emergencies and expensive events like surgeries.

Membership in a direct primary care practice allows you to receive the very best primary care to ensure that you are your healthiest version of yourself.

We can assist you in locating some coverage options. Call our office for details.

Answer:

We will try to treat as many issues as possible ourselves, but sometimes a patient will need to see a specialist.

Dr. West is local to Little Rock and will refer you out to a great local physician specialist.

If you don’t have health insurance, Dr. West will speak with the specialist about pricing. If you do have insurance, the specialist can bill your insurance company.

Answer:

In practicing quality healthcare, we believe in following the Center for Disease and Control (CDC) recommendations. https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/pdf/aha-patient-opioid-factsheet-a.pdf

Answer:

We hope that you never have to go to the hospital, but sometimes it is necessary.

Bear Fruit DPC Physicians are currently not seeing patients while they are in the hospital, but will communicate with the hospital physicians, obtain records related to your hospitalization, and see you quickly when you get out to help you get back to your healthier version and keep you there.

Answer:

Great question! Since we have numerous ways to communicate, we can frequently assist you while you are out of town with either phone calls, email, text, or video conferencing visits.

There is also a network of Direct Primary Care physicians in other areas of the country whom we can contact and try to get you scheduled to be seen if your injury or illness requires it.

Answer:

We recommend that you verify this with your employer, accountant, or financial advisor to see if this is a good option for you. There are many changes happening right now with healthcare which makes this difficult to answer.