What is a Direct Primary Care practice (DPC)?

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

The DPC model eliminates payments, and thus instructions or demands, from any insurance company or government entity. All office care is paid for by the patient via a flat 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. Most of the time there is 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) but occasionally there may be another clinician covering the practice.

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 Dr. Goldberg’s DPC practice means you will not have to pay anything more when you see Dr. Goldberg for an office visit, a nurse visit, a 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. 

** Please note: DPC subscription payments do not cover osteopathic evaluation and treatment visits. Those are billed to insurance companies as usual for both DPC and non-DPC patients alike.

** DPC members must sign a waiver to exclude participation of their insurance company for office visits. Please see the Insurance Waiver section of this website to choose the correct waiver for your situation. 

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 to cancel or change an appointment that was previously scheduled. If you need to reach Dr. Goldberg more urgently you may have him paged. The information on how to do that is supplied once you become a member of the practice. 

Prices and Payments:

Once you have been accepted as a patient for the DPC practice, you will receive an email containing an invoice from Stripe (an online payment platform similar to Paypal) for the monthly DPC membership fee. It is important that the Insurance Waiver form is signed prior to submitting your payment. 

For paying invoices via Stripe, the easiest method is to pay with a credit or debit card. After the first payment is authorized by you after you receive it by email, it will get turned into a subscription which will be automatically paid from your card on the first of each month. You may also pay via direct transfer from your bank. If you are interested in that option, please let Dr. Goldberg know and he will explain the details of how that can work. Paying by paper check is an option that can be worked out, however if you are able to pay electronically via the Stripe system it is preferred because it is easier for bookkeeping purposes. 

There will not be anything else you have to do unless you need to change the payment method you wish to use, which you may do at any time. 

If you are going to use a paper check then you will not receive an invoice, we will just keep a record of when the check arrives and it will be up to you to keep track of the due date each month (always the first!). You may pay for several months in advance if desired. 

If you ever have questions about the amount of your invoice, simply send Dr. Goldberg an email or speak with him during a visit and let him know. Once you are approved as a DPC patient, you will receive details about how to contact Dr. Goldberg. 

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 please feel free to discuss this with Dr. Goldberg. 

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.

Cancellations/Refunds/Changes:

DPC members may cancel their membership at any time. Upon notice of cancellation their card will stop being charged. There will not be refunds for the previous month’s charges that had already been assessed. 

Any time there is a need to change a credit or debit card simply let us know that you need a new invoice. We will stop charging the old card. Do not give us your new card information to enter into the system, you must do that yourself once you receive the invoice from Stripe. If we find that a card is declined by Stripe for any reason then we will cancel that card and request that you set up a new one. Once you confirm that you can do that, then a new invoice will be sent to you for approval and payment. If you need to remove or add someone to your DPC family list simply let us know and we will adjust the charges accordingly and remove or add your family member as needed at which point a new invoice with the new amount will be sent to you for approval. 

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.