As I look towards the future and designing the practice that will allow me to best serve our patients, I am constantly considering what are the biggest issues our community is facing and how might we do better to address them? One area that has been quite problematic for us in Monterey County, at least since my arrival here to start residency in July 2015, is lack of affordable access to addictions treatment. Suboxone (a medication used to treat opiate addictions that is used in a manner similar to methadone but without the abuse potential) is offered in multiple clinics locally, but only ONE that I am aware of accepts MediCal for payment and routinely has a waiting list for patients seeking this service. Per the reports of my patients, other clinics are charging cash prices typically around $600 monthly, which most of them find to be financially out of reach.
As I've been working towards obtaining my own Suboxone prescribing privileges for use at a Federally Qualified Health Center in Santa Cruz, I started considering how this type of treatment might be better incorporated into primary care and a Direct Primary Care practice in particular. Fortunately, someone else has already written an excellent piece about exactly how this can be beneficial and more financially viable for the average patient.
Rather than charging people on a per-visit basis for the privilege of being forced to show up for added office visits just to receive one's maintenance medication, Direct Primary Care will allow me to prescribe for these patients while also treating the rest of their basic and likely interrelated health care needs. At Proletariat Health, we will choose to focus on the health and overall well being of each patient rather than seeking to nickle and dime people and generate extra revenue by requiring separate visits for each problem due to time constraints.
Consider that many patients who currently struggle with opioid addictions initially accessed these drugs in an attempt to treat chronic pain. While we can work to stop the cycle by no longer prescribing the drugs of abuse and possibly starting treatment with other agents to control the addiction, how often does the underlying concern that created this situation remain unaddressed?
The answer is: far too frequently.
For a low monthly fee with no added charges for additional visits and a totally transparent pricing structure, patients can get their needs met in a more affordable manner than is oftentimes possible even with a comprehensive private insurance policy. Better yet, visits are unhurried because we aren't incentivized by volume or trying to pay the exorbitant overhead costs associated with a typical insurance-based practice. We are free to focus on our patients and their concerns rather than an insurance company's arbitrary metrics about what we should be discussing today.
This is what Proletariat Health is all about and we're thoroughly looking forward to the future. Join us and see what it's like to be part of the health care revolution.
