Direct Primary Care news, analysis, and insights for physicians.
Buried in the CY 2027 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule is a request for information asking whether Original Medicare should pay primary care as a monthly prospective amount covering an interval of care. The phrase direct primary care never appears in it.
Next Level Urgent Care sells Houston employers a membership product staffed like urgent care, and Douglas Farrago, MD, reports the chain was behind a Houston Business Journal article promoting DPC. He calls it DINO. Neither of the two definitions the field quotes clearly excludes it.
MyMD Select, a five-office direct primary care practice in East Texas, has joined Timshel Health, a search-fund holding company that says its investors are not waiting on a near-term exit.
A 2026 DPC industry trends report found employers now fund the majority of direct primary care memberships for the first time in the model's history. This week, Medical Economics published its first dedicated DPC issue to explain the model to physicians who haven't switched yet.
At the PrimaryCare26 conference, the DPC Alliance president, an Elation Health primary care lead and two practice founders laid out what it will take to make direct primary care a household name.
Dr. Michelle Cooke won the DPC Physician of the Year Award at the 2026 DPC Summit in New Orleans after founding Sol Direct Primary Care in East Point, Georgia — a practice built explicitly around Black women's health in a state where they die from preventable causes at more than twice the rate of white women.
A Medical Economics article this week captures a shift in how DPC advocates are framing the model: not just as a career alternative, but as a systemic answer to the primary care physician shortage.
The NC State Health Plan built its 2026 Preferred Provider benefit around independent primary care. The Plan says the only way to become a Preferred Provider is through three clinically integrated networks. Additional phases are expected to be considered by the Board, and that's where DPC has an opening.
BestDPC's July 2026 directory shows Direct Primary Care clustering hard in Texas and Florida while whole states barely register, complicating the industry's 'national movement' story.
Delaware Senate Bill 1, which requires insurers to spend 11.5 percent of medical costs on primary care, became law four months after hospital lobbyists tried to kill its rate cap provision.
On July 14, CMS proposed cutting Medicare physician pay 1.68 percent for 2027—the latest step in a 25-year inflation-adjusted decline. The next day, physician-lawmakers from both parties introduced the Patients First Act to permanently tie Medicare updates to inflation and create a monthly-payment pilot for independent primary care practices.
Choice360 packages DPC as a standard component of a self-funded employer health plan and distributes it through 200-plus benefits advisors, live for the 2027 plan year.
Dr. Sana Siddiqui left a Concord hospital system to open VitalCare Internal Medicine, a women-centered direct primary care practice built around the midlife and menopause care that short insurance visits rush. Her timing lines up with a wave of insurers and startups betting menopause is the next women's health market.
Josh Umbehr of Atlas MD breaks down the real economics of a direct primary care practice, and the overhead gap that makes the model work.
The January 2026 Premise-Crossover merger created the country's largest employer primary care platform — nearly 900 clinics, 400-plus employer clients, projected to approach $2 billion in revenue. A Health Affairs study published in June shows what private equity does to primary care practices after acquisition: more billing, more patients, and higher clinician turnover.
With roughly 1.4 million members, DPC has reached about 1% of the U.S. population, and the constraint on its growth has shifted from patient demand to physician supply.
The Improving Seniors' Timely Access to Care Act passed the House Ways and Means Committee unanimously on July 15, requiring Medicare Advantage plans to report denial rates and implement electronic prior authorization. DPC practices have operated without any prior authorization since day one.
A June op-ed argues that private equity has found what it wants in direct primary care: recurring cash-pay revenue. Here's the ownership data driving the concern.
Weave launched an authorized integration with Elation Health that auto-syncs patient and appointment data, aimed squarely at the disconnected tools independent and DPC practices run every day.
The ACO Primary Care Flex Model is a five-year CMS experiment that replaces fee-for-service billing with prospective monthly payments for primary care — the same structural logic DPC has run on for a decade. In a single week, two separate branches of the federal government independently arrived at that same payment model.
A new CMS demonstration program gives Medicare patients access to GLP-1 weight-loss drugs for a $50 monthly copay — and prescribers can participate without being enrolled in Medicare, a detail directly relevant to DPC practices.
SONATA raised a $7M seed round from Lux Capital to offer physician-led preventive care memberships combining whole-genome sequencing, blood biomarkers, and ongoing physician access, positioning itself between data-only testing services and traditional concierge medicine.
Dutch researchers tracked 100,450 patients across 48 general practices and found that duration of care — not just visit frequency — drives meaningful reductions in urgent hospitalizations and costs. The finding isolates the mechanism that DPC practices are built to deliver.
The bipartisan Patients First Act of 2026 includes a five-year Medicare pilot that pays primary care providers a per-member-per-month fee on top of regular reimbursement, the same payment structure DPC practices already use.
The One Big Beautiful Bill made DPC memberships HSA-compatible starting January 2026. IRS Notice 2026-05 defined exactly which arrangements qualify — and three conditions determine whether yours does.
A Cureus study of a multi-physician pediatric DPC network found that 69 percent of member families avoided at least one emergency department visit—and saved a minimum of $1,171 per year—by texting, calling, and sending photos to their doctor directly.
MI Partner Health is expanding its direct primary care model into MVP Athletic Club locations across West Michigan, starting with a Kentwood gym this month.
The DPC Alliance surveyed 465 physicians for its 2026 State of DPC Report, putting the national average membership at $98.46 per month and revealing that two-thirds of DPC doctors are women.
Plante Moran published employer guidance recommending direct primary care as the final layer of a self-funded health plan strategy, a sign that DPC has entered the mainstream benefits-consulting playbook.
The $50 billion federal Rural Health Transformation Program explicitly names independent primary care physicians as eligible providers. Several states have application windows open this month — and the clock to shape how the money flows runs out October 30.
Amazon One Medical launched a nationwide GLP-1 management program in April with transparent pricing and pharmacy integration. Twelve days after the Medicare Bridge went live, here is how DPC practices are positioned in the GLP-1 landscape.
Dr. Aaron Neisen runs a DPC practice in northeast Missouri and works ER shifts at a rural hospital. He recently lobbied Congress for rural hospital funding, then announced a second Healthspan DPC clinic in Canton.
Grove Family Health in Leonardtown, Maryland wins the St. Mary's County Chamber of Commerce 2026 Emerging Business Award, as Health Affairs data shows nurse practitioners now make up 40% of the DPC workforce.
A new MedCentral survey finds departure intent among physicians jumped nine points in a single year. Direct primary care practices are reporting a meaningfully different experience.
Jared Dashevsky, MD, outlines a 100-patient subscription pulmonary practice modeled on DPC in a new HLTH article, signaling the direct-pay model's expansion beyond primary care.
A Virginia family medicine physician published a data-backed response to the ten most common criticisms of the direct primary care model, citing HRSA shortage data, the Milbank 2026 report and a JAMA quality-measure analysis.
The House Education and Workforce Subcommittee heard testimony from DPC Action president Chad Savage and Nomi Health CEO Mark Newman on employer savings through direct contracting, with data showing up to 29% cost reductions.
ALEC's health policy director argues states should pass model legislation exempting DPC from insurance regulation as 5.8 million Americans face losing ACA coverage.
A June 2026 KevinMD essay by Dana Y. Lujan maps specific private equity firms and deals reshaping direct primary care ownership, from Goldman Sachs Asset Management to Charlesbank Capital Partners.
Dr. Cory Annis used an AI scribe at her North Carolina DPC practice for two years. The clean SOAP notes it produced revealed the invisible cognitive work that 45-minute visits make possible.
Nebraska launched Medicaid work requirements May 1. Montana follows July 1. CMS projects 2.3 million people will lose Medicaid coverage by FY2027. Here is what that means for primary care access — and where DPC fits.
Early 2027 rate filings show ACA marketplace premiums rising 6.5% to 22.4% depending on the state, with seven carriers exiting and enrollment already down millions from 2025 peaks.
Two Cureus studies surveyed 73 pediatric DPC physicians and 59 member families, finding high satisfaction, a documented income curve, and $1,171 in annual healthcare savings avoided per family through telehealth.
A bipartisan House bill would require hospitals and insurers to publish prices by 2028 with escalating fines, mandating what DPC practices have done since inception.
The same law that opened DPC memberships to HSA users in January added an 80-hours-per-month work requirement for Medicaid expansion adults. The effective date is five weeks away.
A physician cataloged every coordination failure in preparing for cataract surgery. His KevinMD list is a point-by-point case for DPC.
After enhanced ACA premium tax credits expired, Wisconsin marketplace premiums surged 45–800% depending on county. DPC practices across the state are fielding new patient inquiries at an unusual rate. Blue Cross Blue Shield says DPC still can't replace the insurance model.
Rep. Eric Burlison's Great American Healthcare Plan proposes eliminating the $150/$300 monthly limits on DPC membership fees as HSA-qualified expenses.
A February 2026 report from the Milbank Memorial Fund, Robert Graham Center, and Physicians Foundation found that adults with a usual source of primary care spend 54% less on chronic disease. The phrase 'usual source' is doing the real work — and it points directly to what DPC delivers.
Iowa House File 2434 takes effect July 1, barring health insurers from denying coverage or charging more on specialist referrals made by DPC providers outside their network.
CommunityCare, owned by Saint Francis Health System and Ascension St. John, is partnering with Mending to carry DPC-embedded ACA marketplace plans forward in Oklahoma beginning January 2027.
The 2026 DPC Summit runs July 16–19 at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans, co-hosted by AAFP, ACOFP, FMEC, and the DPC Alliance. Three learning tracks, hands-on procedural workshops, and 23.5 CME credits — arriving at a moment when the DPC model has arguably become mainstream.
Starting July 1, Medicare Part D beneficiaries with obesity and qualifying conditions can access Wegovy, Zepbound, and Foundayo for a flat $50 per month. DPC physicians can prescribe under the program without Medicare enrollment — but a prior authorization step is required.
A DPC network in rural Pennsylvania is fighting a PBM that dropped the local pharmacy's network contract, and the fight is drawing national attention — including from Mark Cuban's Cost Plus Drugs.
The 2022 Nurse Practitioner Modernization Act gave experienced New York NPs the ability to run independent practices — including direct care offices. The legislature adjourned June 5 without passing the bill to make it permanent.
Federal student loan changes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act cap medical school borrowing at $50,000 per year starting July 1, 2026. For residents weighing DPC, the financial calculus on practice ownership just shifted.
Marathon Health and Lantern linked employer primary care to specialty surgery coordination. Their pilot produced a 47% jump in successful referrals and 53% savings against standard network surgical rates.
Hint Health's 2026 Direct Primary Care Trends Report documents 837% membership growth since 2017 and a milestone that's new: employers now fund the majority of active DPC memberships — and the fastest growth is happening in California, Illinois, and New York.
A Charlotte pediatrician grew a house call DPC practice from 8 to 200 members in 18 months, with an 85% retention rate and 36% adult conversion from pediatric households.
The Massachusetts Senate voted this week to require that 15% of commercial healthcare spending flow to primary care by 2030 — nearly triple today's level. The fight plays out inside insurance. DPC never needed to have it.
A new startup is packaging direct primary care with transparent specialty pricing and catastrophic coverage into a single employer benefit, raising $2.5M to prove the model works.
The 2026 World Cup brought millions of visitors from universal healthcare countries into the most complex healthcare market in the world. DPC's cash-pay model was already built for this.
Massachusetts has no dedicated DPC law and restricts physician dispensing more than most states. A bill backed by the Massachusetts Medical Society would change both.
A market report puts the DPC sector at $59.68 billion. The 2026 DPC Summit is five weeks out. And Wisconsin shows what DPC looks like when the legislature declines to help.
ICHRAs let small employers hand employees a stipend and step back from managing group health plans. DPC fits cleanly into the resulting coverage stack under new 2026 rules.
The DPC-HSA rule addressed tax friction, not the navigation barriers that keep patients out. Six months in, front desks are still fielding the same questions.
Mending is exiting its ACA health insurance carrier role after 2026, dropping the insurer side to focus entirely on Mending Access, its DPC integration platform for self-funded employers and TPAs.
Marathon Health is expanding employer-sponsored primary care across 41 states, and its new CEO came from UnitedHealth Group. Here's how the model works and what independent DPC physicians should understand about it.
A new PAI and Avalere Health report tracking physician employment from 2018 to 2026 finds 82% of U.S. physicians now work for a hospital or corporate entity, with consolidation accelerating sharply in the final two years.
The American Medical Association published a balanced direct primary care guide for residents during its annual meeting week in Chicago, following the AAFP's similar guide in March.
Elation Health acquired Aster, an AI startup that built a voice agent for front-office automation, as part of a push to build an agentic operating system for primary care.
Revenue Procedure 2026-24 confirmed 2027 DPC fee caps stay at $150 per individual and $300 per family. Here's what that means for your practice.
The Cost Plus Drugs founder's proposed family-of-five model includes a $200/month direct primary care line. A recording of his conversation with a DPC physician comes to the DPC Summit in July.
Mark Cuban's Cost Plus Wellness connects self-funded employers directly with healthcare providers via published contracts. He also just sat down with a DPC physician to talk about employer health benefits ahead of the DPC Summit in July.
In a Medical Economics interview published May 28, Atlas MD co-founder Josh Umbehr describes a new 2026 patient type: people quitting their insurance mid-cycle because the premium became unaffordable, and landing at DPC as the most financially workable option left.
Sermo's May 2026 data shows 94% of DPC physicians are satisfied with their practice versus 57% of non-DPC physicians — and traces the gap to specific structural differences in how each model is built.
Congress proposed giving VA-enrolled veterans a direct primary care option outside the system in February 2025. The bill sits in committee as wait times worsen in key specialties and VA staffing shrinks.
A May 2026 Health Affairs study from Brown University found private equity-acquired primary care practices expanded their workforce and patient volumes. What the researchers explicitly couldn't assess is exactly what DPC is designed around.
AdvocateMD opened its fifth location in Sun Prairie on May 21. The ribbon cutting drew more people than the practice's founder expected — and it says something about demand for DPC in communities where insurance-based care is the only option.
Sunshine Pediatrics launches July 1 in Woodbridge, Virginia: a mobile DPC practice where a nurse practitioner visits sick children at home for $50 per month per child.
Four physician-researchers published in JAMA a proposal to pay primary care practices directly, outside insurance. That's the DPC model. Nobody in the article said so.
A 2020 employer study compared a DPC health plan to a traditional PPO side-by-side. The hospital utilization numbers were striking. So are the limitations.
An insurance company is cold-calling DPC practices with network deals that ban membership fees and pay 75-90% of Medicare rates. A Texas physician broke down the terms.
Hint Health surveyed 1,534 DPC patients across 12 practices and found an 89% PCPCM score and a Net Promoter Score of 85 — plus one result that tells the real story about how the model creates value over time.
Amanda Gaskin turned pandemic-era frustration into Lake County's first direct primary care practice, reaching half her first-year patient goal in just 30 days.
As Direct Primary Care attracts corporate investment and employer adoption, a DPC physician is raising an uncomfortable question: are small, solo, and diverse practices being written out of the movement they built?
As employer money floods into DPC and platforms build infrastructure for scale, a 2014 DPC pioneer argues the movement is losing track of the physicians who built it.
Six weeks after clearing committee, Delaware SB1 still hasn't reached a Senate floor vote — blocked by hospital lobbying over a provision that would cap reimbursement at 250% of Medicare rates.
In 28 states with full NP practice authority, nurse practitioners are adopting the DPC membership model — flat monthly fees, limited panels, no insurance billing. A Rhode Island practice is pre-enrolling members right now.
Income predictability and patient recruitment are the two questions physicians ask before switching to DPC. The 2026 data makes both easier to answer.
H.R. 1162 and S.3298 would authorize state Medicaid programs to pay for direct primary care arrangements. The House already passed a version in 2024. The Senate is the remaining step.
A prominent health policy economist argues in The Hill that the One Big Beautiful Bill's DPC-HSA provision stopped short — the Americans who need DPC most live in rural communities and they're on Medicare and Medicaid.
The nation's largest insurer is eliminating prior auth for select services by year's end. DPC doctors stepped off the prior auth treadmill years ago. Here's what the gap says about where primary care is heading.
The AHA's new PREVENT calculator reclassifies cardiovascular risk for more than half of U.S. adults. The old model overestimated risk so badly that 17 million people might have been prescribed statins they didn't need.
Medical Economics is asking whether DPC worsens physician shortages. The data shows a more complicated picture than either side wants to admit.
Mansion Global covered concierge medicine as a luxury lifestyle trend with fees up to $50,000 a year. Most DPC practices charge under $100 a month. The framing gap matters.
Five months after the One Big Beautiful Bill made DPC memberships HSA-compatible, Michigan companies are expanding direct primary care offerings and new matching services are launching to meet demand.
Medical Economics, the 100-year-old physician business publication, is devoting its May 12 digital issue entirely to direct primary care. The mainstream framing matters — DPC is being covered as a real career option, not a fringe experiment.
The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association publicly criticized Direct Primary Care models on local news, even as 2026 premium increases are driving a surge in consumer interest.
A DPC physician argues that practices have real bargaining power with aggregators and employers, and shouldn't act like the smaller party in their own market. The argument matters as more contracts hit physicians' inboxes.
A generational staircase is forming: 10% of boomers, 20% of Gen X, 30% of millennials, and nearly 40% of Gen Z lack a primary care doctor. Urgent care chains are rushing to fill the gap. DPC practices should be paying attention.
Nossaman LLP's new legal primer on membership medicine highlights the critical regulatory differences between DPC and hybrid concierge models that physicians need to understand.
Kyna Fong's back-to-back recognition by Becker's Hospital Review and EY reflects Elation Health's growth to 50,000 clinicians and 24 million patients, and signals that DPC infrastructure is earning mainstream credibility.
TytoCare's AI-powered eardrum analysis earned FDA De Novo classification, creating an entirely new device category. For DPC practices leaning on telehealth, remote diagnostic tools like this expand what's possible without an office visit.
Dr. Samir Qamar, who co-founded one of America's first DPC companies, just launched a free AI health companion that connects to his virtual direct primary care practice.
Medicare's Advanced Primary Care Management codes pay doctors a monthly per-patient fee for 24/7 access and care coordination, mirroring the DPC model at lower rates with more rules.
Women make up 55% of medical school enrollment but face 27% higher burnout and leave medicine years earlier than men. A DPC physician argues the model directly addresses the factors driving them out.
Hint Health's 2026 Trends Report reveals employers now pay for 60% of active DPC memberships, with 837% membership growth since 2017 and stable pricing that traditional insurance can't match.
Rising health insurance costs in Maine are pushing families toward direct primary care and health sharing plans, highlighting growing consumer demand for alternatives to traditional coverage.
A new CMS proposal could waive the 15-year-old ban on physician-owned hospitals for a bundled payment model, signaling a broader shift toward physician autonomy that mirrors DPC's own fight.
A Harvard-led study finds concierge and DPC clinicians grew nearly 80% from 2018-2023, while critics warn the trend worsens primary care shortages for everyone else.
The DPC Alliance's Pediatric DPC Conference 2026 in Savannah sold out with the AAP's past president delivering the keynote, signaling that direct primary care is no longer just an adult medicine story.
As ACA enrollment drops and millions skip premium payments, direct primary care offers an affordable alternative for Americans losing health coverage in 2026.
As direct primary care crosses 1.4 million members and approaches 1% of the U.S. population, the specialist referral gap is becoming the model's most urgent infrastructure problem.
A new Elation Health survey of 280 primary care physicians finds widespread financial anxiety, and independent doctors are already adopting DPC and membership models in response.
Rep. Marie Hopkins' HB7427 would let Rhode Island doctors charge insured patients extra fees alongside traditional care. The framing is primary care access. The mechanism is concierge medicine.
Northwell, University Hospitals, Endeavor Health, and Inova are aggressively expanding concierge medicine programs, validating the membership model but at dramatically higher price points than DPC.
Ultralight, formerly Vibrant Practice, raised $9.3 million to build an AI-native operating system for DPC and cash-pay practices. Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is among the investors.
Frontier Direct Care started in a borrowed desk in Harlingen in 2018. Now it operates 11 clinics across Texas, serves 100+ employers, and is expanding to Dallas.
Oklahoma's direct primary care physician count grew from 3-4 to nearly 150 in a decade, mirroring national DPC growth that now serves 1.4 million patients. Here's what's driving it.
Bronze plan enrollment surged 26% in 2026, and HSA-eligible plan selection jumped from 2% to 43% on HealthCare.gov. Combined with the new DPC-HSA compatibility rules, this creates millions of potential patients who can pay for DPC with tax-free dollars.
A new MedCity News analysis maps the four forces competing for control of primary care, and what that battle means for independent DPC physicians.
UberDoc launched a specialty referral program at Hint Summit 2026, giving DPC physicians access to 50+ specialties with upfront pricing and same-week availability.
PartnerMD's 2026 State of Primary Care Report surveyed 500+ patients and found an average experience score of 45/100, with 62% waiting a week or more and 80% worried about health issues slipping through the cracks.
Hint Summit 2026 kicks off April 8 in Nashville with CMS Deputy Administrator Chris Klomp and former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist headlining, signaling federal attention on direct primary care.
Rhode Island's AG and House Speaker are sounding alarms about membership medicine draining primary care access. But the pricing they're describing is concierge, not DPC, and that distinction could define the movement's future.
Colorado HB 26-1096 would have let Medicaid recipients pay out of pocket for direct primary care. It passed the House 40-22, but a Senate committee voted 4-3 to postpone it indefinitely.
A Health Affairs study shows DPC and concierge practices nearly doubled from 2018 to 2023, but corporate-affiliated sites grew 576% while independent ownership dropped from 84% to 60%.
Seven Days profiles the growth of direct primary care in Vermont, featuring Blue Spruce Health's expansion to three locations and over 1,000 patients.
Mending, formerly Taro Health, launches Mending Access to connect DPC practices with TPAs and self-funded employers, already covering 100,000 lives across 12 states.
California, Oregon, and at least ten other states are passing laws to restrict private equity control over clinical decisions. The regulatory backlash reinforces what DPC was built to protect: physician autonomy.
A physician's account of seeing 4-6 patients per hour with double bookings shows why the traditional primary care model is breaking, and why a growing number of doctors are choosing a different path.
VITL closed a $7.5M Series A led by SignalFire to build e-prescribing infrastructure for cash-pay clinics, including DPC practices. Here's what it signals about the market.
A new MedCity News analysis warns that DPC's rapid growth could trigger adverse selection in traditional insurance pools. Here's what the data actually shows and what it means for your practice.
Minnesota HF 1724 would establish direct primary care service agreements in state law for the first time, clarifying that DPC is not insurance.
Family Practice Management's March 2026 issue features a step-by-step guide for new graduates launching DPC practices, written by two physicians who did exactly that.
Match Day 2026 set records for primary care positions, but family medicine's declining fill rate signals a pipeline crisis that DPC's autonomy-first model is uniquely positioned to address.
Amazon expanded its Health AI agent to 200 million Prime members, offering $29 virtual visits and AI-powered triage. What this means for direct primary care physicians.
Premise Health and Crossover Health completed their merger on March 12, 2026, creating a 900-center employer primary care network. Here's what it means for independent DPC practices.
Delaware's Senate Bill 1 would force insurers to invest more in primary care and cap hospital prices, exposing why the traditional system keeps failing and why DPC keeps growing.
A major Health Affairs study confirms DPC and concierge practices grew 83% from 2018 to 2023. Here's what that means for physicians considering the switch, and the access challenge the movement hasn't fully reckoned with.
With over 7,200 employers now offering DPC benefits and HSA eligibility barriers falling in 2026, employer-aligned direct primary care is moving from niche experiment to structural shift.
The One Big Beautiful Bill made DPC memberships HSA-compatible starting January 2026. IRS Notice 2026-05 spells out the rules. Here's what every DPC physician needs to understand right now.