Our waiting room is not typical for a doctor’s office. Sure we have chairs and a spacious area. But people aren’t sitting with masks on, looking at their watches, wondering when they will be called. Most times the waiting room is empty. People walk in and barely have time to sit before they are called back to the exam room.

Days like last Friday it is a kid-friendly fun place. One child had an appointment, and the two siblings were thrilled to tag along. They love hanging out with Sue, who provides coloring books and toys. And she plays games with them. Kallie the dog, our mascot, was wandering among the kids, receiving pats and treats. My year-old patient was wandering out of the exam room as mom and I talked. We knew everyone was safe, with Sue supervising. And we knew there weren’t other patients who were being bothered by the noise. It was a fun happy place.

Near the end of the visit, things were getting a little rowdy in the hallway. Suddenly I saw the dog go flying by! I stepped out to investigate. Kallie, who usually lies in the hall looking bored, was chasing a ball, flying back and forth in the hall, retrieving! That dog doesn’t do that! The laughter and excitement from everyone was palpable. What fun!

After a few minutes things wound down. The dog lay in the hall panting. The kids were bundled up and taken to their car. Five minutes later my next patient arrived, being escorted back to the exam room right away. Things were calm, like there never had been the happy tornado of excitement. But I was feeling quite refreshed!

I love my DPC (Direct Primary Care) practice. Medicine the way it should be.

“You can turn off the car. We don’t need to go to the ER,” Sara called to her husband. “Dr. Herrington figured out what the problem was.”

Sara couldn’t believe she had gotten such a quick response from her doctor this evening. She had used the Spruce app, which reached her doctor directly.

She had texted, “I just started having a problem with my eyes. It’s like a black and white abstract shape snakes.” She had received a response right away, and before she knew it, Dr. Herrington had called her, saying it was easier to ask some questions on the phone.

In the few minutes that they talked, the squiggles changed and started fading. Yes, she had a bit of a headache, but no other symptoms. She was told it probably was a migraine, a visual scotoma. Dr. Herrington said she thought Sara would be fine, but of course if she developed more symptoms, she should go to the ER or contact her doctor again.

She sighed. This had just saved her a lot of time and money. She was very glad she had joined Pine Creek Family Medicine’s Direct Primary Care practice, where in exchange for a monthly fee she had unlimited office visits and communication with her doctor. Tonight that access had been priceless!

Does your high deductible medical insurance plan have you hesitating to contact your doctor?

Do you find yourself waiting, hoping your problem will resolve on its own?

What if you could communicate directly with your doctor at the first sign of illness?

What if it didn’t cost you money every time you saw your doctor?

Many people are turning to a rapidly growing model of health care, DPC (Direct Primary Care), which eliminates insurance and administrators from the equation. Patients pay a monthly fee, and in exchange they are seen as often as needed and have direct communication with their doctor. No co-pays. No hidden fees.

Pine Creek Family Medicine near Jersey Shore, PA, is our area’s first DPC practice. I, Dr. Herrington, am loving the freedom of practicing medicine without having to answer to insurance regulations. It’s like no longer having some picky boss looking over your shoulder. I am able to provide personalized service to about 500 patients, rather than the usual 2000 patients that other Family Practice doctors see.

Patients see me every visit, so I know their medical issues. Because I have fewer patients, I can offer same day or next day appointments if needed. And patients have access to me through text, email, video visits, and phone.

I also love the relaxed atmosphere I can provide, spending 30 to 60 minutes (or more) with patients if needed. One patient wrote, “I can’t believe what a relaxing appointment that was.” Because I have the time with patients, we can work together on the underlying causes of medical issues, rather than just adding more medications.

We don’t bill insurance for services in our office, but patients can still use their insurance for ER visits, hospitalizations, tests and specialist referrals.

Check out my web site’s Blog page for many examples of prompt personalized service.

I’m working for my patients rather than for insurance companies. This is the way medicine used to be!

Clayton looked like a totally different person sitting there in my exam room!

When I first saw Clayton in November, he was rotund. He had gained 90 pounds in 5 years and had obvious sleep apnea that had not been investigated. His second appointment was specifically for discussion of diet. He said he was interested in learning, but as I talked, I would see his eyes going half-mast and his head drifting backwards. I had to tap him on the shoulder so he would wake up enough to sort of listen and participate in the discussion. I really didn’t give him much chance of improvement, especially since he surely had severe sleep apnea that was not being treated yet.

When I saw Clayton recently, I was amazed at the transformation. He was positive, energetic. He had lost 32 pounds since November! He was exercising 5-6 days/week. He was avoiding sweets, markedly decreasing carbohydrates. He said he was feeling much better.

What about the sleep apnea? There were delays in getting the sleep test, but he finally had been diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. His CPAP machine had not even arrived yet. So his improvements had occurred with diet and lifestyle changes. He was looking forward to how much better he could feel with the sleep apnea treatment as well as continued lifestyle changes.

I love being able to help my patients improve their health without continually adding medications. My DPC (Direct Primary Care) practice allows me time to work with my patients. Medicine the way it should be!

Mike wasn’t sure whether to worry or not. It was Friday morning, and he’d had this strange abdominal pain for a few days. Maybe it was just indigestion. Or gall bladder. Could it even be his heart? What if he was having a heart attack? His wife teased him that he might be pregnant!

He sent a message to Dr. Herrington, and within a couple of minutes he received a response, asking for more information. With another exchange of texts, she suggested he come to the office at 1:30 that day for evaluation.

After his appointment he felt better about this pain. It probably was a virus, or maybe stress related. But it didn’t seem to be anything serious. He also knew that he had access, via text, to contact Dr. Herrington if needed over the weekend.

Yes, it had been a good decision to become a patient of Pine Creek Family Medicine’s DPC (Direct Primary Care) practice. He loved the prompt personalized service.

Carrie was having terrible PMS. She had just yelled at her kids, and she had picked a fight with her husband. She couldn’t believe how angry she felt, raging. And she wanted to cry. She had a headache, and last night she couldn’t sleep. The last few months it had gotten worse, lasting 4 or 5 days until she finally had great relief when her period started. There had to be something wrong with her.

She and her husband had been working on their marital issues, but she just blew it when she screamed at him a couple hours ago. It had been some little annoying thing he had done. Normally it wouldn’t have irritated her, but today she boiled over.

Her previous doctor had wanted her to start birth control pills, but she had her tubes tied and didn’t need birth control. She didn’t want all those hormones if she didn’t need them. Her doctor had mentioned Prozac, but she had heard some people had problems with that. She needed to do something to get herself under control, though.

Carrie called her doctor’s office this morning, making an appointment the same day to discuss her issues. Dr. Herrington had shared some information about the natural process of the menstrual cycle, and that hormone imbalances could cause these mood issues. Dr. H explained that before she started exploring the “functional medicine” aspect of finding the underlying causes of medical issues, she would have prescribed things like antidepressants. But she had learned about natural ways to balance hormones through supplements and bio-identical hormones. She ordered some tests and sent Carrie some good information. Yes, this should work. She was glad she had become a patient of Pine Creek Family Medicine DPC (Direct Primary Care) practice.

Megan was in pain. She had spent half of last night in the Emergency Room with terrible back pain. She had blood tests, urine tests, and a CT scan, finally being diagnosed with a kidney stone. She was told that her urine looked terrible. She figured that meant she had an infection, but no one gave her an antibiotic. She was simply told that if she developed a fever, she should return to the ER. Now she had a fever and was feeling achy. Didn’t the ER staff realize how time-consuming and expensive it was to go to the ER? And she sure didn’t feel like leaving her house.

She had always heard kidney stone pain compared to labor pains. Oh, people were right about that. But at least if she gave birth, she would have a prized child at the end of the ordeal. With this pain, she might pass a chunk of stone if she were lucky.

The ER doctor had told her to use Tylenol or Ibuprofen for her pain. How the heck was that going to help this terrible ache in her back? Once again, she had been told if she had pain, that she should return to the ER.

She was SO grateful for Dr. Herrington, who had been communicating with her throughout the day. They had been texting back and forth, using the secure messaging app, Spruce. Dr. Herrington was surprised Megan hadn’t been prescribed an antibiotic or Flomax, another medicine commonly prescribed for kidney stones. And when it came to pain control, she definitely should have something stronger available. Dr. H sent all those prescriptions to the pharmacy, and Megan’s husband was on his way to pick them up.

Megan laid back on the couch, trying to relax. Oh yes, she was glad she and her family had become patients of Pine Creek Family Medicine’s DPC (Direct Primary Care) practice. For a monthly fee, all their office visits and communications were included. No co-pays or hidden fees. This kidney stone was just one of many times she had reached out to Dr. Herrington for prompt personalized medical care.

Of course this had to happen on a Sunday. Gina was at the hospital, and they didn’t have the rib x-ray order. Oh, she hurt so badly since she slipped and fell on the steps three days ago. Actually, she mainly felt terrible this morning when she turned wrong and felt a pop. She had been able to see Dr. Herrington the day after the fall, and together they had decided she didn’t need an x-ray yet. But when she had the severe pain this morning, she texted Dr. Herrington and got an immediate reply. Yes, she would send in an x-ray order.

Over the last few minutes, as the staff said there was no x-ray order, Gina had texted back and forth with her doctor, and finally the staff said they received it. She really loved having such easy communication with someone who knew her. She knew her doctor wasn’t always available so quickly on weekends, but it sure was handy today.

She was glad that she had become a patient at Pine Creek Family Medicine. This DPC (Direct Primary Care) model was great. For a monthly fee, she had unlimited office visits and communication. Dr. Herrington doesn’t bill insurance, so she’s free of insurance regulations. She is able to provide prompt personalized care to patients like Gina.

Stacy felt like crying. There might finally be an answer for why she had felt terrible for so many years. She had every scope and scan from top to bottom, had seen every specialist. She was told it was irritable bowel syndrome, depression, anxiety, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome. Or worse: “You’re just getting older.” She was prescribed pill after pill. Nothing seemed to work.

But now she was sitting at Pine Creek Family Medicine, looking at a colorful collection of stripes and words. Lots of things were out of normal range. Dr. Herrington was explaining about the “gut microbiome,” made up of good and bad bacteria, and how imbalance was related to inflammation which could cause all kinds of other problems. She was outlining a plan of supplements and dietary changes. Oh, could this be a solution?

Stacy was so glad she had become a patient at Pine Creek Family Medicine’s DPC (Direct Primary Care) practice. She paid a monthly membership fee, and in exchange she had unlimited office visits and communication. She knew Dr. Herrington was actively learning information on the underlying causes of medical problems, something called functional medicine. Sure, she still was a regular doctor of family practice medicine, but she was willing to expand her horizons to understand the human body and help her patients. This was so refreshing!

Nicole told me she was horrified when she got her bill for bloodwork from the hospital. She had been proactive, calling her insurance company, reading off the labs and the ICD10 codes I’d given her. She was told that her insurance would pay 80% of the bill. She knew she had the choice of paying for labs through my office, but she figured it might cost a bit less to go through her insurance.

BUT when she got the bill, it was nearly $2000! And her husband’s blood tests cost about $900!! They had to pay those bills, since insurance wouldn’t cover them.

I hadn’t ordered very many tests for her. I could have drawn the blood at my office self-pay, sending it to my lab. I would have told her up front what the price would be. Do you know what it would have cost (including a $10 drawing fee)? I added it up today…. $57.74!

And her husband’s bloodwork, which cost them nearly $900 …. would have been $71.38 in my office!

The medical system is broken. I don’t know why their bloodwork would cost so much (and it’s nearly impossible to find out the prices ahead of time). But it’s one more reason that my DPC (Direct Primary Care) practice makes so much sense! Patients pay a monthly membership fee and get unlimited office visits and communication, as well as the opportunity for low-cost bloodwork and other services. No co-pays, no hidden fees.