In 2020, DPC membership increased 21%, at a time when fee-for-service primary care visits dropped 10%, due in part to the COVID pandemic.
A new report on direct primary care (DPC) shows the model of providing employer-sponsored care grew dramatically between 2017 and 2021. Other data from the report showed that both employers and providers seem to be more comfortable with the model, which allows employers to contract directly with providers, rather than leaving contracts to insurance carriers.
The report was issued by Hint Health, a company that offers membership management, billing, and infrastructure for DPC systems and membership-based providers. Hint Health officials noted that their solution is seen as an alternative to traditional fee-for-service health care, which dominates the primary care options for many employer-based plans.
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"From the data presented, it's clear the fee-for-service care model is not an effective pathway to resolve our health system's greatest challenges for cutting costs," said Zak Holdsworth, CEO and co-founder of Hint Health. "Working to eliminate preventative care services will only increase the number of costly chronic conditions down the road. Clinicians and employers are seeing the impact of the movement to do right by the whole system. It's incredibly important that more clinicians and employers consider adopting the DPC model to protect consumers' health and simultaneously shed the misaligned incentives and wasteful bureaucracy of the fee-for-service status quo."
By the numbers: strong growth for a new model
The report showed that DPC membership in the U.S. grew 241% between 2017 and 2021. The states with the highest number of active DPC members per 100K people were Utah, Indiana, and Idaho.
During that four-year period, the number of active DPC clinicians per 100K people increased 159%, as the new model was gaining attention. And DPC networks grew from being offered in 20 states to being offered in 40 states.
In 2020, DPC membership increased 21%, at a time when fee-for-service primary care visits dropped 10%, due in part to the COVID pandemic. Hint Health officials said this shows the resilience of the DPC model.
A more affordable option?
The proponents of DPC argue that employers can see significantly lower costs when they contract directly with providers. The report noted that at a time when most health insurance premiums were going up, the costs of DPC remains relatively stable. The researchers from that from 2017 to 2020, the median annual price of an individual, retail DPC membership changed only slightly, from $77 to $75. In addition, the median price an employer-paid in 2021 for a monthly DPC membership for a family of four remained low at $158.
"In 2021, employer-sponsored health plans experienced the highest annual increase in per-employee costs since 2010 at 6.3%, as employees and their families resumed the care delayed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic," the report said. "As health care costs continue to outpace growth in the rest of the economy and cost containment efforts fall short after years of investment in fee-for-service insurance, employers are looking for alternatives."
Although some questions remain about how well DPC would scale up for larger segments of the population, the Hint Health report offers more encouraging news for employers seeking to address high health care costs.
"More than half of private health care consumers ranked the cost of care as the most dissatisfying aspect of their current health care option. Health care costs are steadily outpacing income growth and inflation," said Aimee Leidich, head of operations for Hint Health. "Alternatively, DPC memberships remain affordable with little of the price inflation seen elsewhere."
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