Returning to Quality

Direct primary care is a modern version of the old-time patient physician relationship. Specifically, the physician provides the patient with medical care without any insurance or government involvement. The physician sets a fixed fee for medical care and the patient pays this charge directly to the physician. In exchange, the physician provides more personalized and attentive medical care thourgh preferred services, such as extended office visits and direct access with modern technology.

Care is generally provided at the physician’s office, but can include home visits and assisted living or nursing home rounds under special circumstances. The number of patients in direct primary care practices tends to be small, usually limited to between 400 and 600 patients. This smaller number ensures a much more personalized and higher level of professional care.

Direct primary care is not insurance. It does not cover any medical services or supplies outside the physician’s scope of practice (ie: sub-specialty care, hospitalization services, imaging studies, outside labwork, prescriptions, etc.).

Better for More Patients

The modern movement towards direct primary care integrates the advances of medical science with the qualities that made the old-fashioned family doctor so beloved. This hybrid approach is ideal for many different groups of people, including:

• Patients with lower cost, large deductible insurance policies ( catastrophic plans), as these products typically do not pay for outpatient visits.
• Patients with complex medical histories typically requiring frequent medical visits and needing more time with their provider.
• Patients who want to take charge of their own health care, without government or insurance interference.
• Patients who make too much income to qualify for Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies.
• Patients who are self-employed, and those who receive little or no insurance from their employer.
• Patients who are between jobs and have no insurance coverage, or those whose insurance coverage has been cancelled.

Busy working professionals, small business owners and their employees as well as active families find the convenience, affordability and accessibility attractive in their daily routines. Once they discover the benefits of direct primary care, they rarely go back to the traditional model.

A Clear Advantage

A Higher Standard of Care

Direct primary care is an emerging system of medical service that can have vastly superior outcomes when compared to the traditional model largely practiced today. Analysis of several key factors displays the comparative strength of the DPC model over the traditional system.

Failures of the Traditional Model

Fragmented Care: Medical care is often delivered exclusively by multiple subspecialists. A similar phenomenon, however, occurs in a primary care office as well, where the patient is often seen by a provider who is not the patient's physician. Frequently a mid-level provider such as a physician assistant or nurse practitioner provides fill-in care. This problem of multiple medical professionals is further compounded after hours and on the weekends when yet another provider sees the patient in an urgent care clinic or the emergency room setting.

Impersonal: Traditional offices tend to be larger, more crowded and often less personal. Larger staff sizes make close professional relationships with patients more difficult.

Production Oriented: Reimbursement to the physician is primarily based on the number of patients seen. Time spent with the provider is therefore often limited, and patients may feel like "just a number."

Third Party Interference: Insurance and the government often modify care that is provided by the physician, which frequently is not in the patient's best interest.

Inconvenience: Crowded office schedules often limit appointment time options, frequently making waits to see the doctor days to weeks away. The doctor's office is typically the only place to see the provider, with after-hours and weekend care delivered at another location, often involving hours in a crowded waiting room to see yet another provider.

Reactionary Care: Traditional offices are typically so crowded and busy that there is little time for wellness visits and preventative counseling, which has been shown in many studies to decrease illness and extend life.

Hidden Charges: Unlike most businesses, the traditional medical model generally does not publish charges and fees. This is largely due to the third-party payer (insurance) system. As a result of this lack of transparency, many patients who pay for treatment out-of-pocket are reluctant to seek medical care.

Improvements with Direct Primary Care

Longitudinal Care: Medical care is delivered by one provider in a variety of settings including, but not limited to, the office, home, workplace or assisted-living facility. This care covers evening, nighttime and weekend hours for urgent and emergent matters. If a medical problem is deemed too complex, the direct primary care physician consults and coordinates care with the appropriate subspecialist.

Personal: Direct primary care practices tend to be quite small, generally limited to between 400 to 600 patients. Staff size is small, and patients are known on a first name basis.

Patient Oriented: Due to the small size and the direct payment structure of these practices, physicians have plenty of time to spend with each patient. This ultimately saves the patient money by reducing unnecessary medications, subspecialist appointments, ER visits and hospital stays.

Autonomy: Direct primary care practices provide medical care that is not modified or dictated by insurance companies or government entities. Third party interference is therefore not an issue.

Convenience: Medical care is provided at a time and place that is convenient for the patient. Some care can be delivered by webcam, email or phone, saving the patient even more time and money.

Preventative Care: Direct primary care encourages wellness visits due to the nature of the prepaid membership fee. Patients are more apt to seek preventative care since this fee has already been paid, ultimately decreasing unnecessary illness and other medical problems.

Transparency: Membership fees are clearly posted, and there are no hidden charges. This encourages physician-patient interaction on a more regular basis, saving money and promoting health.

Doctor Scheerer Gets It

Patients deserve a doctor who doesn’t make assumptions, takes time to listen to her patients, encourages them to ask difficult questions, and takes the time to make sure they understand explanations. They deserve a doctor that navigates the healthcare landscape, coordinates care between specialists, and makes sense of a complex health history. Patients deserve a doctor that looks at them as a whole person and puts their health into context with their life and their budget. Dr. Scheerer gets it and is delivering outstanding care to her patients at Pioneer DPC.

Dr. Scheerer was inspired to be a doctor after experiencing her own family's struggles with healthcare. Like many of her patients, she was heartbroken after witnessing the failures of the traditional healthcare system. Her family was often treated like numbers instead of people, and left with few options to pursue the level of healthcare they deserved. These experiences have fueled her passion to be the very best for her patients and to continually treat them how she would want her own family to be treated.

Family

Originally, from Kauai, Hawaii, Dr. Scheerer moved to Florida when she was in middle school. She met her husband, Jake, while they were in high school and they have been together ever since. They have two beautiful children and enjoy watching them grow and learn. She enjoys quality time with her family, the beach, and day trips to Disney World.

Education

Dr. Scheerer obtained her bachelor’s degree with high honors in biochemistry and economics from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. She obtained her medical degree from the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida, where she was also inducted into the Gold Humanism in Medicine Honor Society. She completed her family medicine residency at Halifax Health in Daytona Beach, Florida and was awarded the prestigious Y.B. AuYeung award.

Comprehensive Primary Care

Pioneer DPC strives to eliminate the boundaries of traditional healthcare systems in order to bring patients exceptional care. In addition to the comfort and peace of mind provided by having affordable quality, patient-centric healthcare easily accessible, all Pioneer DPC members have access to the following benefits:

Extended Appointment Times: Appointments are generally scheduled for 30-60 minutes.

Unlimited Visits: Our membership works much like a gym membership. If you join a gym, you can access that gym as often as you want. With our membership, there is no limit to the number of appointments you can make as long as Dr. Scheerer agrees they are medically indicated.

Same or Next Day Appointments: When you have an urgent need arise, we want to make sure we are here for you when you need us. We will have time set aside every day to fit in our acute patients.

Afterhours Access: Dr. Scheerer is available after hours and on weekends by phone for urgent needs. Routine requests should be reserved for office hours or sent via email or voicemail after hours.

Direct Physician Contact: We offer virtual visits through phone or webchat appointments. Patients can also contact us via email or text messaging. Please note, if there is an urgent concern, patients should call the office. Non-urgent messages left outside of business hours will be returned the next business day.

Low Cost Labs, imaging and medications: Dr. Scheerer has been in this community for several years and already has several connections to be able to help her patients obtain discounts on labs, imaging and medications. We are working hard to directly contract on bringing our patients even better and lower prices.

Consultation with Specialists: If you require consultation with a specialist, we will work closely with that specialist.

House Calls: For existing members, we will do house calls based on distance, availability and medical need. Additional charges may apply and will be communicated to patient prior to the house call.

Annual Exam: Each patient can schedule an annual exam that focuses on health maintenance/preventive care and strategies to keep them as healthy as possible for the year ahead.

Comprehensive Primary Care: Acute and chronic disease management as well as medication management and assistance developing health and wellness plans.

Care for the Whole Family: Dr. Scheerer provides care from newborns to adults. When families join, we can work on wellness goals for the entire family and then customize goals for each individual.

Transparency: There are no hidden costs. The monthly membership covers your primary care needs. The only time there are additional costs would be for house visits or to cover supplies and/or pathology fees on office testing and procedures. Any charges will be communicated prior to service being performed.

Services and Procedures

Services Performed:

• Annual exam, which includes well woman exams, school and sports physicals if needed.
• Chronic disease management such as high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, hypothyroidism, asthma, COPD, etc.
• Management of acute conditions.
• Weight management plans.
• Lactation Counseling.

In Office Testing: *

• Glucose
• Rapid Strep
• Flu
• Urinalysis
• Pregnancy
• Stool Hemoccult

Procedures Done in Office:*

• EKG
• Simple Laceration Repair
• Joint Injections
• Trigger Point Injections
• Abscess Incision and Drainage
• Mole Removal
• Skin Biopsies
• Ear Irrigation
• Cyst Removal
• Pap Smears and Pelvic Exams

*Additional costs may apply for supplies and/or pathology fees and will be communicated to patients at time of service.

What is Direct Primary Care?

Direct Primary Care (DPC) is an innovative alternative payment model improving access to high quality health care with a simple, flat, affordable monthly membership. Patients are connected directly to their doctor and receive a full range of comprehensive primary services, including routine care, regular checkups, preventive care, and care coordination. Additionally, preferred services, such as extended appointment times, direct physician access, and select in-office tests and procedures are all included with membership.

DPC practices enjoy smaller patient panel sizes, which means they can devote more time and attention to each individual patient. Having a low monthly membership model means there are never any copays, deductibles, or surprise hidden charges. DPC practices remain independent, which allows them to removing third-party barriers and focus on what’s really important, patient health and developing a comprehensive personalized plan of care.

How can Pioneer DPC help me save money?

Depending on the frequency that patients need primary care services, many find that they pay less for Pioneer DPC membership than they would traditionally with regular copays. Additionally, by having easier and more direct access to their own primary care physician, patients can avoid costly urgent care and emergency department visits. Pioneer DPC is also able to utilize our resources to help patients save money on labs, imaging, and medications. Often, these prices are below what patients would expect to pay even with their insurance coverage. Pioneer DPC helps patients save valuable time by offering phone visits and direct email contact. Since patients can manage their healthcare while taking less time away from work or their demanding schedules, many find the convenience and peace of mind provided by Pioneer DPC priceless.

Is Direct Primary Care the same as concierge care?

While many people consider DPC “concierge level” care, because of how easy it is to access their physician and how much time gets devoted to each patient, actual concierge care and DPC have some important differences. While both models offer more direct physician access, concierge practices generally charge a membership premium that is in addition to regular billing for services. With concierge care, patients may still be required to provide copays for visits and services; additionally, concierge practices are usually contracted with third parties, mostly insurance providers, and will bill for reimbursement of covered services. This means that most concierge practices are required to adhere to certain methods and procedures to ensure reimbursement.

In contrast, DPC relies on monthly memberships to cover costs of included services. Since DPC practices do not rely on third-party reimbursement, they are free to practice care as they see best for each patient, without interference from third-party restrictions.

Do you take insurance?

No, we do not bill insurance or Medicare. Our monthly membership is a direct agreement between our practice and each patient. By removing the need for complicated third-party contracts, billing, and coding, we can offer extended appointment times and devote more resources directly to each patient. It also means that visits are not be bogged down by repetitive, mostly irrelevant, questions and procedures, which generally exist only to satisfy third-party requirements.

I have great insurance. Why should I join?

Great insurance does not always equal “great” health care. In the traditional model, visits “covered” by insurance are often rushed in 15 minutes or less while the doctor stares at a computer screen, and the patient is told they aren’t allowed to discuss more than one problem or will need to return for another appointment. Those types of visits might be “covered” by insurance, but may not be the type of high quality, personal, and accessible care you need.

At Pioneer DPC, you will have personal access to a highly qualified primary care physician with benefits that include extended appointment times, same or next day appointments for urgent visits, and access to your physician via phone, text and email.

Is Direct Primary Care health insurance?

No. While many patients use DPC membership to cover services in place of traditional insurance, DPC is not considered health insurance.

Should I still have health insurance?

Yes. While Pioneer DPC provides excellent care and access that keeps patients healthy and helps prevent the need for costly medical services, we still recommend that all patients have at least a high deductible health plan to cover events such as hospitalization, major surgery, or extensive specialist treatment.

Can I still use my insurance if I join Pioneer DPC?

You can still use your insurance as you regularly would for ancillary services, such as labs, imaging, medications, specialty visits, hospitalizations, and surgeries. However, in many cases, insurance copays can be more expensive than the discounted prices we are able to provide. We encourage patients to check with their insurance providers for the fine details about what is and isn’t covered.

What ages does Pioneer DPC see?

We treat children and adults of all ages.

Can I contact my physician after hours?

Yes. We will be available by phone for urgent needs after hours. For non-urgent issues, please contact us by leaving a voicemail or sending an email.

What if I go to the hospital or see a specialist?

The level of care that patients receive with Pioneer DPC isn’t restricted to just office visits. Our commitment to providing excellent care and access means that we are always working for our patients to ensure that they are receiving the best care possible. We seek to prevent or reduce hospitalization and specialty referrals as much as possible; however, in instances where those types of care are required, we will continually coordinate with the specialist or hospital caring for you.

How affordable is Pioneer DPC membership?

Our membership rates are very reasonable, often less than what many people pay per month for things such as cell phones, cable, lawn maintenance, and eating out; however, most see healthcare as a more meaningful expenditure. Our membership provides outstanding primary care for less than what many people spend on thier daily coffee. Depending on how you decide to set your budget, our plans are easily affordable.