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Insurance-free primary care offered in Lewes

In-home visits available until office opens
February 6, 2018

Direct primary care is now offered in Lewes. Coastal Direct Primary Care offers convenient and straightforward primary medical care, outside of traditional insurance, to individuals and families looking for a better alternative to current medical plans.

As health insurance premiums and deductibles rise again this year, resulting in increasingly higher healthcare costs to the patient, many wise consumers are seeking simpler and more cost-effective options such as direct primary care. Coastal Direct Primary Care, now enrolling patients, will be the first practice in Sussex County to offer DPC. While awaiting the opening of the office building this spring, Dr. Christine Degnon is providing in-home visits.

Degnon is a board-certified family physician and highly regarded doctor who has returned to the much-loved coastal Delaware community where she vacationed with her family throughout her youth. After dedicating many years of her career to teaching young doctors as a medical school professor, she is eager to focus the work of her new practice on patient care -- which is why she became a doctor in the first place.

Coastal Direct Primary Care is part of a healthcare trend sweeping across the nation. By adopting the DPC model, doctors contract directly with patients for routine healthcare needs. DPC allows doctors who are frustrated with the restrictions of insurance to leave traditional insurance concerns outside the exam room and instead offer price transparency. As a result, patients often save 20 to 30 percent off their out-of-pocket medical costs. And this model allows doctors like Degnon to focus on patient care, instead of dealing with frequent billing changes and restrictions imposed by insurance companies.

While Coastal Direct Primary Care is the first DPC office in Sussex County, it will operate like other DPC offices around the country, using a monthly medical service fee model. For a low monthly fee, patients will be entitled to visits with a doctor without a copay, will obtain laboratory tests at discounted rates and can purchase many prescription medications in the office at a fraction of retail prices. No insurance is billed, and there are no hidden costs.

Patients who are frustrated with long waits to see the doctor for short visits are finding great satisfaction in the convenience and access to their physician offered through the DPC model, which also includes text, email and video visits so patients can easily communicate with their doctor, even after hours, and on weekends and holidays. And because DPC offices like Coastal Direct Primary Care limit the number of patients they accept into the practice, established patients get same-day or next-day office visits.

"Direct primary care allows me to focus directly on each patient and eliminates the unnecessary hassles, red tape, and additional costs imposed by insurance companies," said Degnon. She also plans to offer home visits, bringing back old-fashioned care to her patients. "Developing a strong relationship with my patients through compassionate listening is essential to providing the care I believe patients deserve. This just can't be done well in the typical seven-minute visit in traditional fee-for-service medicine. Direct primary care allows me to spend much more time with patients, typically 30, 60 or even 90 minutes, when needed."

Coastal Direct Primary Care will be at 1409 Savannah Road, Lewes. For more information or to enroll as a patient, go to www.CoastalDPC.com or call 302-786-0828.

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