Direct Primary Care

What is a Direct Primary Care practice (DPC)?

Direct Primary Care is the name given to practices which seek to provide a close relationship between the patient and the physician. This is accomplished in a number of ways.

No more meddling from insurance companies in your care. The DPC model eliminates payments, and thus instructions or demands, from any insurance company. All office care is paid for by the patient via a reasonable monthly subscription fee. ** Please Note: Unfortunately, Medicare does not permit their recipients to join a DPC practice. ** Medicaid and all private insurance recipients are eligible to join if approved by Dr. Goldberg.

Patients may contact their physician directly whenever they need to. Physicians are on call most of the time for all their patients. Usually, no need to explain who you are or what your medical history is to a different physician or to an advanced practice clinician (PA or NP). DPC practices tend to carry a smaller case load in order to allow the physician more time to care for patients.

How does a DPC model actually work?

Your subscription to the West Brattleboro Family Practice DPC means you will not have to pay anything more when you see Dr. Goldberg for an office, nurse, telemedicine visit, or a phone call. Your insurance will not be charged for medical visits and no copay will be collected. The only cost in the office would be for herbal or homeopathic remedies which are ½ price for DPC members.

** DPC members must sign a waiver to exclude participation of their insurance company for office visits. Anyone who already has medical insurance of any kind will keep that insurance as it will continue to be utilized for any other healthcare need such as labs, radiology, emergency room visits, hospitalizations, etc.

If you are approved as a member of the DPC practice you will receive an email with the necessary insurance waiver attached. We also have the waiver forms available in the office. Your access to the office for medical care is easy. You simply call the office to schedule an appointment whenever one is needed that has not already been scheduled as part of your ongoing care. You may also call, as usual, to cancel or change an appointment that was previously scheduled.

Prices and Payments:

Once you have been accepted as a patient for the DPC practice, you will receive an email containing all the information on how to pay the monthly DPC membership fee. It is important that the insurance waiver form is signed prior to submitting your first payment.

Below is a breakdown of the price list. Please remember that there is a sliding scale and if the amount you would pay based on the fee chart is too much for you then you may schedule a time to discuss this with Dr. Goldberg. The idea is to make this as affordable as possible for anyone who wants to join the practice.

DPC Membership Monthly Fee Chart

Ages 30 to 64 (or older, if not on Medicare) - $110.00 per month

Couples ages 30 to 64 (or older, if not on Medicare) - $190.00 per month per couple

Ages 18 to 29 - $75.00 per month

Ages 2 to 17 - $35.00 per month

Birth to 23 months - $100.00 per month

Family of 4 with all children 2-17 years of age - $250.00 per month

For other family groups not fitting into the above model, the monthly charge will be individualized depending on the situation.

If you have any questions about anything else discussed above, please do not hesitate to let us know and we will get back to you as soon as we can. The intention is to make this as easy for you as possible.

Access to Dr. Goldberg for DPC members

Dr. Goldberg will be on call for you almost all the time, days, nights, weekends, and holidays, except when he is away for vacation, conferences etc. His request is that you please be mindful of his need to stay physically and mentally healthy and only call after office hours if the situation is really urgent and cannot wait until the next business day. Allowing time to rest in the evening and on weekends will ultimately result in his ability to stay in practice longer and be your Dr.!

** Osteopathic treatments are separate events from the DPC practice and whichever insurance you have will be charged as usual for all osteopathic treatments.