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Medicine with a Personal Touch
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by Joseph Lilli | photos by Ron Pritchett
Around 8 p.m. one evening, Dr. Sara Stuart, D.O., owner of Cibolo Family Medicine (CFM), a family medicine practice in Boerne, received a call from a patient who was suffering a bad reaction. As a Direct Primary Care (DPC) practice, Dr. Stuart gives her patient “members” unlimited 24/7 access and a bevy of in-office procedures at no additional fee. “I returned to my office at 9 p.m. to see the patient and help take care of him so he wouldn’t have to go to the emergency room,” says Dr. Stuart. “I called and checked on the patient at 11:20 p.m., and he was doing much better.” This is a typical example worth every penny of the monthly
membership fee CFM charges. If the man had been treated at the local ER, the bill would have cost thousands of dollars. Direct Primary Care is a medical practice model which charges patients a monthly fee in exchange for access to a broad range of primary care services. Patients can schedule as many appointments as they need, whether it’s for stitches, nutrition counseling, or body composition analysis. Primary Care Outside of Insurance Physicians like Dr. Stuart who provide Direct Primary Care do not take insurance, though they can bill insurance for labs, imaging, prescriptions, and specialist referrals. “This model eliminates the insurance middleman and provides
pictured above: Colin Stuart, Dr. Sara Stuart, D.O. and Lina Villarreal
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B OERNE B USINESS M ONTHLY | January 2017