Your DPC Questions Answered

Today’s corporatized medical system forces both patients and physicians to spend most of their time navigating the massive industry wrapped around healthcare—shrinking appointment time, driving up costs, limiting autonomy, and weakening the doctor‑patient relationship. Direct Primary Care (DPC) removes those financial and administrative burdens by eliminating insurance billing altogether. Because DPC practices are intentionally smaller, patients enjoy far greater access to their physician: more frequent visits, self‑scheduling, phone calls, emails, texts, and secure messaging through our patient portal.

At its core, a DPC is simply a traditional primary care practice that doesn’t bill insurance. At Independent Medicine, we care for patients ages 12 and up and provide the full range of services you’d expect from a primary care clinic—acute and annual visits, well‑child checks, preventive care, office procedures, and more. The only difference is that we operate on a straightforward monthly membership. DOT physicals, employment exams, and school or sports participation physicals are all included in your membership.

No—Direct Primary Care is not insurance. If you develop a serious medical condition that requires specialty care or hospitalization, you’ll still need insurance to navigate the traditional fee‑for‑service system. Fortunately (as anyone who has ever tried to decode a hospital bill or get help from an insurance company already knows), insurance is not healthcare.

Independent Medicine, DPC covers the vast majority of people’s day‑to‑day healthcare needs—typically 85–90%. But DPC membership should always be paired with some form of insurance, even a high‑deductible or “catastrophic” plan, to protect you in emergencies or major illness.

Yes, we happily treat Medicare patients, but we don’t bill Medicare for any services, and they do not allow you to submit bills yourself for DPC services.

Yes you can. Telehealth appointments make getting care easier, faster, and simple. When you live in a rural area, a “quick visit” can turn into a half‑day ordeal—burning gas, missing work, and rearranging your whole schedule. With telehealth, you skip all of that. You can meet with your doctor from the comfort of your home, from work, vacation, or wherever you happen to be.

Even better: you can usually get a telehealth visit the same day or the very next day. No waiting months. No fighting for an appointment. Just quick, convenient care that fits your life.

Whether you’re dealing with weather, distance, long work hours, childcare, or you simply don’t want to spend half your day traveling, telehealth gives you real access to your doctor—without the hassle.  

 No — you don’t have to live in Klamath Falls to be a patient.   If you prefer telehealth visits, you can live anywhere in Oregon or California. Many of our patients live far away or in rural areas, and telehealth makes it easy to get consistent, high‑quality care without the long drive or the months‑long wait times that are common in big cities. 

Yes, we happily treat Medicaid patients, but specific coverage organizations have barriers to receiving care through the DPC practices (some HMOs, CCOs which manage Medicaid benefits, eg). Make sure to check with your specific coverage organization and ensure that services offered by DPC (especially labs and radiology orders, referrals, and prescriptions) are honored.

We'll send you an invoice at the end of the month, so pay any way you'd like—cash, check, earn miles with your credit card.  Starting January 1st, 2026, you can also use your Health Savings Account (HSA), Flexible Spending Account (FSA), or Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) to pay for your DPC membership.

We offer a 10% membership discount to all active duty military, veterans, full-time teachers, nurses, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and first-responders.  The maximum amount any family pays is capped at $225 per month.

The answer is "probably," but it depends on your situation. Your membership

fee covers all visits and basic services—you’ll never have a co-pay for a visit, and there is no “maximum number” of visits you can have. You may have to pay for materials or medicine used during procedures (biopsies, sutures, joint injections, eg), but we provide these to you without markup, at a cost which is kept low by acquiring supplies through group-purchasing organizations—you will never be charged a “procedure” or “facility” fee.

By focusing on a smaller number of patients and spending a great deal more time with them, DPC doctors are able to do a better job managing chronic medical conditions, saving you the time and expense of dealing with unexpected medical complications. By providing easy access to your doctor, DPC can also treat problems before they require a trip to an urgent care or an emergency department, which cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.

We think DPC offers the best primary care delivery for everyone, period. If you’re frustrated with your current healthcare, if you’d like to be healthier, or you’d just like to have a physician who is YOUR DOCTOR and can help you navigate the maze of American healthcare, we have a place for you. Call today with any questions, to establish care, or schedule a no-cost “meet and greet” appointment to see what we’re all about!