What is Direct Specialty Care?
Direct Specialty Care describes independent, physician led practices that strive to partner with patients to provide the highest level of quality care for accessible and transparent costs. Its a simple relationship between you and your specialist. By removing the insurance“middleman” we can remove the hourly rate paid to the army of administrative staff needed to sit on hold with insurance companies, fill out and fax mountains of paperwork required to code and bill your insurance, and handle claims denials when your insurance company won’t pay. As a result, our office can pass those administrative savings on to YOU by providing more affordable care, without sacrificing any of the quality. Given that high deductible insurance plans are getting more and more expensive every year, you may find that you actually SAVE money by paying a discounted cash price for care.
The main tenets of a direct specialty care are as below:
1. High quality care: physicians do their best work when they have time and energy to focus on you, hear your concerns, and perform the appropriate physical exams to reach a diagnosis and formulate a treatment plan. Rushing in and out of a new exam room every 15 minutes is a terrible system that doctors hate as much as you do! There is a better way!
2. Access: Ensuring that patients can communicate easily with their doctor, and be seen quickly if there is an urgent issue without having to wait weeks or months. Dr. Elert is available via text or phone, and personally responds to questions within 1 business day.
3. Affordability: Making office based appointments and basic procedure care affordable. Dr. Elert will also help you shop around for the best prices in the Twin Cities area for labs, imaging, physical therapies, and primary care or other specialty doctor visits, without sacrificing quality.
4. Price transparency: Elert Physiatry, and most DSC clinics, will share their prices with you during the free phone consultation so you know BEFORE you come in how much the visit will cost. This provides enormous peace of mind and better control over your personal budget. No more feeling powerless waiting to see if your insurance will pay your bills or bury you in debt.