What Is Direct Primary Care?
Direct Primary Care is a membership-based model designed to support an ongoing collaboration between you and your physician — allowing care to be organized around time, continuity, and thoughtful decision-making.
A Simpler Structure for Medical Care
At Metronome Family Medicine, patients become members of the practice rather than paying for individual office visits through insurance.
This structure allows care to be guided by clinical judgment and long-term understanding of your health, rather than the constraints of billing systems or visit volume.
The result is a practice designed around continuity, accessibility, and a sustained physician–patient relationship.
Continuity
One physician who follows your health over years, not a rotating cast of providers.
Accessibility
Direct text, call, or message access — no phone trees, no waiting weeks for an appointment.
Sustained Relationship
Decisions made with someone who actually knows your history, not a stranger reading a chart.
Insurance-Based Care vs. Direct Primary Care
Traditional Insurance-Based Primary Care
- Care organized around billing codes and visit volume
- Short visits, limited time to think through complex issues
- Access depends on next available appointment
- Continuity varies by provider turnover and network changes
Direct Primary Care at Metronome
- Care organized around clinical judgment and your history
- Longer visits, time for thoughtful decision-making
- Direct access to your physician when you need it
- One physician, one relationship, sustained over time
How Insurance Fits In
Direct Primary Care is not insurance. Membership supports comprehensive medical care but does not replace coverage for hospital care, major procedures, or unexpected medical events.
Many patients maintain high-deductible insurance plans or other forms of catastrophic coverage for those situations — DPC and insurance work together, not as substitutes for one another.
What Membership Covers
- Ongoing primary care and preventive medicine
- Direct access to your physician — text, call, message
- Coordinated hormone, metabolic, and chronic disease management
- Same-day and next-day visits for acute issues
What You'll Still Want Insurance For
- Hospitalization and emergency care
- Major surgeries and procedures
- Specialist care requiring insurance referral or coverage
- Catastrophic or unexpected medical events
A consultation is a conversation, not a commitment.
It's an opportunity to ask questions and determine whether this model aligns with the way you want to structure your care.