How We Keep Overhead Low to Keep Your Care Affordable
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” — Leonardo da Vinci
One of the main ways we keep our overhead low is by choosing not to work with insurance companies.
Did you know that for every hour a doctor spends with a patient, she often spends two more hours doing paperwork (Siegler et al, 2015)? And does that paperwork actually improve patient outcomes? We don’t think so. In fact, we’re committed to flipping that ratio—so that most of the doctor’s time is spent with patients, not buried in documentation.
When we first set out to start a private practice, people warned us: “You’re not going to be in the business of healthcare. You’re going to be in the business of chasing reimbursements.” That idea was incredibly unappealing. We knew there had to be a better way—and for us, that path was Direct Primary Care (DPC).
DPC is a lean business model with remarkably low overhead because we don’t deal with insurance. That means:
Zero time spent on billing
No need to hire billing staff
No obligation to complete insurance-mandated paperwork that adds no value to your care
Because we’re not beholden to third-party payers, we don’t need to check boxes or gather vitals solely for insurance purposes. We only collect what’s medically relevant. That means our team can stay small—sometimes just the physician and one staff member—and still provide high-quality care.
Smaller staff means smaller space, which keeps our physical and operational costs low. All of this adds up to significantly reduced overhead—without sacrificing the value we deliver to our patients.
Ironically, stripping away all the administrative bloat makes the physician happier, too. It allows her to focus on what really matters: patient care. And when the physician is more present and less burned out, patients get more face time and better outcomes.
When you take a step back, it’s astonishing that we’ve allowed today’s bloated health insurance system to become the norm. Yes, moving away from it can feel risky. DPC is still a relatively uncommon model. But if you ask the hard questions—about cost, value, and experience—it’s difficult to justify staying in the old system.
Take something as simple as lab work. In the insurance-based model, the cost of a basic CBC panel is nearly impossible to predict. The price varies depending on which insurance company is paying and how the lab chooses to bill. But in a cash-based model like ours, we work directly with diagnostic labs—and the results might surprise you. That same CBC panel? Less than $10.
If you knew it only cost $10 to run such a vital test, would you really need your insurance to get involved?
That low-cost test is a perfect example of the inefficiencies baked into the insurance system—and how we keep our overhead low while staying focused on what matters: you.
