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Arkansas patients have doctors on-demand in new healthcare landscape

The doctor-patient relationship is changing rapidly as attitudes toward care and technology change the healthcare landscape.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - Doctors across Arkansas are breaking the mold of traditional health care.

Many physicians are becoming more accessible to their patients, offering smaller clinics and the ability to be available by text 24/7. Some clinics are even bypassing insurance in order to better serve the patient.

On an average day, Dr. Allan McKenzie sees about six to eight patients. It’s a far cry from his life a year ago when he was seeing an average of 30 patients a day as a family medicine specialist at Baptist Health.

“Our population has spread to over 3,000 patients. When that happens it’s really hard to keep up. You lose that personal connection,” said Dr. McKenzie.

McKenzie opted instead for concierge medicine, or what he refers to as personalized primary care.

“In this model, we've shrunken the practice to a much smaller employee-based and patient-based so it’s just kind of like a small family,” said Dr. McKenzie.

Dr. McKenzie works out of his own home in Hillcrest in Little Rock and is one of six doctors in Arkansas who practice this model under a company called MD-VIP. The patient pays a retainer, in this case $1,650 a year, for a more comprehensive approach to their health.

“We charge an extra annual fee beyond what insurance covers. Annually, all of our adult patients come in and they spend about an hour with my nurse having screenings on their heart, circulation, body habitus, lungs vision, hearing. We can get them in the same day and we have a full lab. We have the equipment to do small surgeries and injections,” Dr. McKenzie said. “We still bill a copay and charge insurance just like other clinics do, but we don't limit the scope of how often our patients can see us.”

Deborrah Sears has battled an autoimmune disease for four years. She said was tired of having to make several different appointments and pay numerous copays. Now she said she has nearly everything she needs under one roof.

“I can say I’m not feeling good that morning and they will get me in. Or I can text. I can text him 24 hours a day if I need to,” said Sears. “I can be referred to someone, but I want one physician to control it and know everything that is happening.”

Dr. McKenzie said 98 percent of his patients have insurance, but a similar type of medicine is emerging in Arkansas serving a new patient population: the uninsured.

Dr. Daniel Weeden is a physician at Direct Care Clinic in Northwest Arkansas. He operates under the direct primary care model in which the patient pays the doctor directly, bypassing insurance.

“There are certain things that need to be insured. We feel strongly primary care is not one of those,” said Dr. Weeden.

Dr. Weeden said his patients pay an average of $60 a month. About 75 percent of his patients do have insurance, which he recommends in case of an emergency or chronic illness. However he said avoiding dealing with insurance companies, helps keep costs down for both the practice and the patient.

“The standard blood work we do is about $20. If we billed that through insurance it would be upward of $300,” said Dr. Weeden.

The concept is new to central Arkansas. According to Arkansas Business, Pinnacle Internal Medicine will open the first direct primary care practice in Little Rock in September 2018.

“The numbers nationally are still pretty small. I would say there are probably less than 1,000 primary care practices in the country, but it is growing,” said Dr. Weeden.

Concierge medicine and direct primary care are often used interchangeably, but they are not synonymous.

While both offer smaller clinics and allow the patient more access to their doctor, the biggest difference is that one charges insurance and the other does not.

Both Dr. Weeden and Dr. McKenzie encourage patients to do their research to find the best healthcare plan for them and their families.

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