Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Michael Tremblay.
Dr. Tremblay, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I had been practicing traditional corporate medicine since 1990 at my current site. I was getting progressively more frustrated with my inability to spend time with patients and the pressure to see more and more patients each day. I happened upon an alternative for traditional medicine called direct primary care. In this model we don’t bill insurance and there are no copayments. I have a direct contract with my patients to provide all of their primary care needs for a monthly fee of approximately $80. This includes almost everything that we do in the office including same-day visits, urgent care, most procedures and they also get direct access to my cell phone so they can text me or email me or call me after hours. This affords me much greater time with each patients and we typically schedule an hour for each visit. We have deep discounts on labs and we can even get discounted medications. I have a nurse practitioner that works with me so there are two of us in the office most days. We started this practice in October 2017. This is the type of medicine that I signed up for years ago and I’m glad we can get back to it. We also do home visits. We do encourage patients to have health insurance in case they need to see a specialist or if they end up in the hospital but they don’t need their insurance to see us.
An example of how this system works. A patient of mine got bit by his dog and came over to the office. He had a large wound in his lower leg. We took him in immediately and stitched him up. He did not have to go to the emergency room and wait and pay a large copayment. We were able to see him immediately and take care of this because we have the time to do that. He was able to go to work the same day.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been a bit of a struggle to convince some of our former patients the value in what we do. It’s not uncommon for them to use their insurance and go elsewhere and then have they come back because of dissatisfaction with the service. It has also been a bit of a challenge to get the word out to the general public regarding what we do. There are about seven or eight other practices in the state doing what we do. We hope that eventually this will reduce the cost of healthcare in Massachusetts which has been escalating out of control
Action Medicine – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
My company is called action medicine direct primary care. Our website is www.actiondirectcare.com. We are a direct primary care practice which means that we do not bill any insurance company for anything that we do and we have a direct contract with each patient or corporation to provide primary care services either within this office or at the patient’s home or workplace. We have a full range of services and we can take care of newborns the grandparents. We do routine gynecologic care, sports medicine, joint injections, laceration repair, exercise instruction, dietary consultation, meditation, yoga and a sleep medicine. We are able to see patients on the day that they call. Patients can access us by email, text messaging, video chat or telephone during the office hours or after hours. Our phones are always answered by a live person and we don’t have a phone tree. I specialize in family medicine and sports medicine and I am also a physical therapist. My nurse practitioner also specializes in women’s health.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I had a new patient come in who was 70 years old. He had not seen a primary care physician in many years. He was referred here by his 90-year-old mother. He came in for a routine physical exam. We spent almost an hour doing his history and physical exam and going over his old records. On the way out he turned around to me and said that’s the first time a doctor ever sat down and really listened in all the years that he can remember. This is why I became a physician.
Pricing:
- Up to age 21, $60 a month
- Age 22 to 64, $80 a month
- 65 and older $100 a month
- 10% discount for veterans and first responders and 10% discount for payment one year in advance
- Couples pay $70 a month each
- Family membership discount and creative pricing for financial hardship
Contact Info:
- Address: Action medicine, DPC
175 N. Franklin St.,
Holbrook, MA 02343 - Website: Www.actiondirectcare.com
- Phone: 781-767-0910
- Email: Dr. Mike@actiondirectcare.com
- Facebook: facebook.com/actionmedicine
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