Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Eight, eight thirteen ten Dobuiba and full scope with Wisconsin's
direct care doctor, doctor Nicole Hemkiss. Of course, doctor Hemkiss
comes to us from Advocate MD, a direct primary care
practice with offices right here in Madison and Rock County.
Of course, four convenient locations of Advocate MD mentioned Madison
(00:22):
of course, eastside location, west side in Middleton, the newest
location on Sayin Road right near the nature preserve. Right
in Fitchburg. There also down in Rock County right near
the hospital on ten twenty one Mineral Point Avenue, you
can find Advocate MD. You can also learn more about
Advocate MD on their website ADVOCATESDPC dot com. That's Advocates
(00:45):
DPC dot com. Great day to make an appointment to
come a member at Advocate MD. I gotta just pick
up phone game ring six eight two six eight sixty
two eleven. That's six h eight two six eight sixty
two eleven. And joining us this morning from Advocate MD
is doctor Nicole Amkins, doctor Hemkiss. How you doing this morning?
Oh there we go?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
How you doing this morning?
Speaker 1 (01:06):
I'm doing fantastic and it's great to talk with you.
And you know, I always get this, get this note
from people they say, I wish I had there was
more good news in the world. I wish there was
more things to be you know, happy and excited about.
And one of the things I've loved over the years
and doing this show with you, doctor, is learning about
some of the really exciting positive things going on when
(01:27):
it comes to direct primary care and helping people out.
And one of the things that has been really cool
is watching Advocate MD start out it was just you
and your clinic in Middleton and expand and grow to
four clinics and now there's eight doctors at Advocate MD.
And some big news this morning as well, speaking of locations,
(01:47):
is soon to be announced you are going to be
adding a fifth location of Advocate MD.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Am I right on that, doctor, Yes, So we are
excited that we will be building a clinic in sun
Prairie that our goal is to open that in February,
probably late February, early March.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
So we think that that's going to be great for
people that live in Sun Prairie or even further east
of that. So that's a very obviously fast growing community
out there. So we've been looking at trying to find
a space for a clinic for a few years now
and finally down the right location. And I won't disclose
the location yet, but it is in sun Prairie. It's
(02:28):
been a very easy to access location.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Oh, that's going to be exciting. You're going to want
to follow that for sure, and really great stuff too.
And it's funny you mentioned Sun Prairie. I've only I
should say only I've been in Madison for twenty probably
longer than night twenty five years now, so I guess
it's been a little longer than but I'm at that
point with like that area in sun Prairie as you
had out one fifty one there. I remember when that
(02:51):
was all I sound like an old man now, doctor,
remember when that was all farm fields and there was
a radio in ten and wow, And for good reason,
it's been developed. It's a really, really great location. So
we'll definitely keep updated on that. As we talk with
doctor Nicole Ampkiss of Advocate MD, I mentioned that website
Advocates DPC dot com. That's ADVOCATESDPC dot com. You can
(03:12):
learn more about direct Primarycare online. You can also learn
about the separate clinics as well as the doctors at
Advocate MD. And the different things that they can do
for you or and if your employer, if you're looking
for some great options for your employees, definitely check out
Advocates DPC dot com. That's Advocates DPC dot com. Open
enrollment season. I do believe it is under way right now.
(03:34):
I think so, and I know when it comes to
making those selections, there are oftentimes misconceptions in this time
of year about things like direct primarycare and other things.
And before we get into some of the misconceptions, let's
just talk real quick about about open enrollment and what
that means for folks that are looking to looking to
do direct primary care. Doctor.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yes, so, whether you receive health insurance, health benefits through
your employer, whether you're an independent contractor you own a
small business and you purchase those on your own, anybody
can do direct primary care. So they really just have
to figure out, you know, the plan that would go
along with the direct primary care, which for most people
(04:17):
is a high deductible health plan. But you can do
this with any health insurance plan, a health share plan.
So the idea behind it, and you know, I think
there's a lot of misconceptions about direct primary care, and
I think we'll talk about some of those. But one
of the biggest, biggest misconceptions is that direct primary care
is meant to replace your insurance. That's not true. We
do have a very small handful of people in our
(04:39):
practice that do not carry traditional health insurance, and so
they are kind of using this in lieu of that,
And we don't recommend that people do that because you
still need you need, you know, catastrophic coverage for the
unanticipated things. There's a lot we can plan for in life,
but you can't plan for getting into a bad accident
and needing to utilize the emergency room, you know, needing
(05:01):
your appendix taken out, or your gallbladder, or you know,
if you have an unfortunate event like your diagnosed with cancer,
you're going to need very expensive, potentially expensive chemotherapy and
radiation therapy. You know. But much of healthcare I like it.
Sometimes I hear speakers talk about healthcare in terms of
you know, what we can plan for, and even things
(05:22):
like if you're told that you have bad arthritis in
your knees and somebody says, well, you're going to need
a total knee replacement in a couple of years, or
you know your hip. You know, much of surgery are
things that we can plan for, we can anticipate, we
can shop around for, even though that sounds kind of
funny to think about healthcare in terms of something that
you can shop for, but it is truly something where
(05:44):
I hope that the future continues to be. As you mentioned, Sean,
you know, things have changed a lot in the last
five to ten years, just even locally here. So now
we have more options in terms of independent radiology facilities,
we have more options in terms of indefinite specialists. We
have a orthopedic group here that's building a surgery center
in Middleton that's going to open in a couple of months.
(06:04):
So it's it's an exciting time because that means that
we're giving consumers or patients more choices, right, So it's
not just you have the big box health systems, the
hospital systems, which let's be honest, they're ripping patients off, right,
So you have those, you have those choices, and then
you have the choice of Okay, well there's a wonderful
doctor here at this private clinic that they're not owned
(06:24):
by a hospital system, so they can charge you know,
a fraction of the cost because they're not paying for
this you know, big beautiful building and the player pianos
and the you know thousands of administrative staff that sit
in their ivory towers. So there's a lot of cost
savings there. But there's also better access. So maybe it's
going to take you two weeks to get the surgery
(06:45):
done rather than six months, which is you know, not
uncommon for large hospital systems, you know, and get that
appointment with the specialist in a week rather than six
to nine months. So I think these are exciting, very
exciting changes for patients. They're exciting for us, for me
as a doctor obviously, to see that we're able to
offer this. And I think it's like a snowball effect,
(07:06):
right like once this starts, then it promotes more independent docs.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
You know.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Obviously when I started the practice seven years ago, I
was the only person doing pure direct primary care. Doctor
Michael Klose. I always want to give him credit. He
is doing he was doing like a quasi He is
doing a quasi direct primary care model. This much much
of it is based on charity care, but there was
nobody else doing just one hundred percent DPC.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
And now you know now.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Because I think the success of our practice has a
lot to do with it that other people look at
that and they say, well, maybe I could do that.
You know, so you have more doctors that are now
venturing off on their own, and I think that that's
wonderful and I hope that you know, it also allows
doctors who are trapped in these big health systems to
view us as a viable option and you know, want
(07:54):
to join our practice too.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, We've talked a bit on previous shows and that
when you started Advocate m D years ago, it was
a it was a pretty bold move. I mean there
you took there was there was a lot of risk.
You know, it was something new to the area. It
was something you know here in Madison, Dane County, southern Wisconsin,
there's some really really big institutions out there, and you were,
(08:17):
you know, you were literally going head to head with them.
And I know that, you know, we think about the
amount of work that you've put into to building this,
uh that obviously doesn't go unnoticed. And the other cool
thing that's going on is as as more and more
patients and more and more folks have spread their experiences
with Advocate MD, you've seen the clinics grow, You've seen
(08:38):
more doctors come on board, You've seen obviously more physical
buildings and locations of Advocate m D. And it's it's
really cool to see how that's how that's happened, and
and you know, it's funny as we as we talked
this morning with doctor Nicole Hempkis of Advocate m D.
One of the reasons why I think sometimes folks become
members is the experience, uh using their insurance to try
(09:01):
and see their regular doctor, and they quickly realize you
don't really you know, you're paying for something that you
don't really have. With insurance and primary care, you don't
really have that. Like for a lot of folks, maybe
they see their doctor that initial time when they get enrolled,
and then every other time they go in they're they're
kind of months out, and hey, it's somebody else that's
(09:24):
going to be seeing you today. People really do like
being able to meet with their doctor when they need
to see their doctor. And I think for a lot
of folks that come to Advocate MD, it's after they've
had that experience they go, what am I paying for exactly?
Isn't it?
Speaker 2 (09:38):
It is very interesting nowadays how most of us, you know,
pay for health insurance and then we have the experience
of either not being able to get an appointment, having
to wait six months, nine months. You know, we've talked
about one of the local systems right now, the big
local hospital systems is telling patients that they are not
(09:59):
a accepting new primary care patients. And you know, I'd
seen something posted on a Facebook physician group that I'm
in and the physician said that she her doctor had retired,
so she went to go make an appointment with a
new doctor to meet them, and she had some concerns
or whatever, and she was told, you know, that they
were not scheduling any appointments with patients because they didn't
(10:20):
have any doctors to schedule those appointments with. So it does,
you know, bring up the question, you know, what exactly
are we paying for, because I think we're paying for
medical care. And you know, as we've talked about Sean,
a lot of people use the terminology of health insurance
anonymous with health care. And I always that always kind
(10:40):
of gives me a little, you know, the hairs on
the back of my neck stand up a little bit,
because obviously there's a ton of people out there that
have health insurance and it almost gives them kind of
the false sense that they have good health care. But
then when they try to seek healthcare, either they have
a high deductible policy, so they're basically paying out of pocket, right,
please hit your deductible. So like, if they do have
(11:03):
something you know, bad that happens, or if they can't
get in to see the doctor, that means that there's
a higher likelihood that they're going to hold off on
getting something seen or taken care of until it actually
turns into something worse. So yeah, there's so many different
implications of that.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
It's it's and it's one of those areas as we
talk and for those of you that have gotten a
chance obviously over the years, as we talk with doctor
Nicole Hamkiss each and every week to learn more about
Advocate MD, I hope you've taken the opportunity to become
a patient advocate MD. I also hope that you're sharing
with your friends and family what they're able to do
with direct primary care and at Advocate MD. And one
of the big misconceptions doctor, and one of the hardest
(11:40):
things I think for those of us in the in
the know to try to convey to those who are
just learning about direct primary care and advocate MD is
the cost is. That's always like, at least what I've
experienced is when I'm telling people about what you're doing,
they seem that they look at me very skeptically, like,
are you I'm missing? What am I missing here? And
it's funny because one of the examples you used years ago,
(12:04):
you said, it's kind of like the old way is
when you used to go see your doctor, and you
know your doctor knew the family, knew everybody. And when
you start to kind of explain it that way, you'll
see people's the gears start turning. They go, oh, I
get it now. But sometimes that is a tough barrier
for people to accept. Is really high quality where the
patient's the priority at a much lower cost. People sometimes
(12:26):
it takes a little bit for them to for and
I understand it takes a little bit for folks to
kind of grasp that concept.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Yes, I do think that there is that misunderstanding that
directs primary care is the same thing as concierge medicine.
You know, contier's medicine is something that started in the
eighties nineties where people would pay a membership fee, which
could be monthly or yearly, and then that basically got
you an in to a doctor who was going to
have a smaller panel of patients. So instead of them
(12:55):
having three thousand patients, they had three hundred patients. So
that means the same thing it means in our direct
premiary care practice. That means the doc takes more time
with you. You need to make an appointment, they get
you in in a few days and a week rather
than months. You have access to them after hours. So
all of that was part of that concierge model. But
the big difference was that in concierge people were paying
(13:16):
maybe two hundred dollars a month to twenty thousand dollars
a year. I think I always mentioned that there's a
dock out in California who has a concierge practice. I mean,
he must have one hundred or less patience, I would think,
but he charges I think it's either seventy five or
eighty thousand dollars a year for him to be your doctor.
And then the funny part is they still bill your
(13:37):
insurance when you come in, right because so they're getting
it both ways. But in our practice. We do not
bill insurance, so that's different than concierge. And the other
big difference is that our prices are The whole idea
behind direct primary care is that we want to make
this affordable, make this affordable to you know, middle class people.
You know, we do have people in our practice that
are are very wealthy, we have people that are are
(14:01):
you know, on the lower end of the socioeconomic you
know spectrum, but most of our patients are are middle
class people that you know, work you know, normal nine
to five jobs, and so they are utilizing us again
to fill that gap because they have a high deductible
policy and they also just want better medical care. So
you can see all of our prices on site. That's
another big thing is that everything is transparent, but you'll
(14:23):
see that, you know, for a middle aged adults, the
prices you know, around between seventy to eighty dollars a month.
So again seventy to eighty dollars a month, that means
that you're paying an additional eight hundred to nine hundred
dollars a year. And think about that in terms of
if I have a five or six thousand dollars deductible,
So that means even though I'm paying this extra eight
(14:45):
hundred dollars a year every time I go in to
get my blood work done, I'm saving four hundred dollars.
Every time I go into an office visit, I'm saving
a couple hundred dollars there, right, because I'm not going
to hit my deductible so easily. If I go in
for two visits a year, which is pretty much like
the average for a lot of you know, you know,
middle age people, is to visit the year. Maybe one
(15:07):
of those is an urgent care visit, one of those
is a follow up. But if I'm doing that, then
I am very much likely saving at least one thousand dollars.
So again, it becomes almost a mathematical calculation just on
the on the out of pocket saving. So if you
can get your labs with us, if you can get
your medications with us, if you do your X ray
in our office, you're saving with all those things. Plus
(15:29):
we're helping guide you if it's something outside of our
clinic that you need. You need an MRI or a
CT scan, you need to see a specialist, you need
a procedure done, We're going to help you figure out
where you can get that done and most likely that's
going to save you money. But then the other side
of it, of course, is that you're just going to
have much better healthcare. If you're going to have a
much better experience with your doctor, you're going to have
(15:51):
a doctor that's going to spend an hour with you
and be available after hours, and that doesn't really exist
in the big box system.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
It's yeah, I think one of the things you've mentioned
is you know, you can't buy this type of it
just doesn't doesn't exist in the insurance system. It does
exist though for you and your family. If you're an
employer looking for great options, check out Advocate MD in
direct Primary Care. Of course, all you do is head
on over to the website Advocates DPC dot com. That's
Advocates DPC dot com. You can learn more right at
(16:18):
the website. To become a member, make an appointment at
Advocate MD six eight two six eight sixty two eleven.
That's six h eight two six eight sixty two eleven.
We'll get into our conversation with doctor Coole Hemkiss. We
will do that next as full scope continues right here
on thirteen ten. Wui b A A twenty seven thirteen
ten Wi b A and full scope with doctor Nicole Hemkiss,
Wisconsin's direct Care doctor Online Advocates DPC dot com. That's
(16:41):
Advocate DPC dot com. Telph number six SO eight two
six eight sixty two eleven. That's six soh eight two
six eight sixty two eleven. Doctor. Before we wrap this morning,
I didn't want to ask you, as we're talking about
all the great benefits of Advocate MD and becoming a member,
how do people enroll? What's kind of that process?
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Like?
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Yes, if you go.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
To our web site under the contact us button, there's
a short, just little template that's going to ask you
your name and your email and maybe write a short message.
If you send me a message saying that you want
to enroll, then we send you an enrollment link and
a scheduling link and it's it's very quick and easy
to get that started.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Super easy stuff. Doctor Hemkis, thank you so much for
your time this morning. And again the doctor mentioned the
website ADVOCATESDPC dot com. That's Advocates DPC dot com. You
can enroll right online. You can also pick up phone
and McAll six oh eight two six eight sixty two eleven.
That's six so eight two six eight sixty two eleven.
I get an update on News Next thirteen ten, Wiba
News Times A twenty eight
Eight, eight thirteen ten Dobuiba and full scope with Wisconsin's
direct care doctor, doctor Nicole Hemkiss. Of course, doctor Hemkiss
comes to us from Advocate MD, a direct primary care
practice with offices right here in Madison and Rock County.
Of course, four convenient locations of Advocate MD mentioned Madison
(00:22):
of course, eastside location, west side in Middleton, the newest
location on Sayin Road right near the nature preserve. Right
in Fitchburg. There also down in Rock County right near
the hospital on ten twenty one Mineral Point Avenue, you
can find Advocate MD. You can also learn more about
Advocate MD on their website ADVOCATESDPC dot com. That's Advocates
(00:45):
DPC dot com. Great day to make an appointment to
come a member at Advocate MD. I gotta just pick
up phone game ring six eight two six eight sixty
two eleven. That's six h eight two six eight sixty
two eleven. And joining us this morning from Advocate MD
is doctor Nicole Amkins, doctor Hemkiss. How you doing this morning?
Oh there we go?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
How you doing this morning?
Speaker 1 (01:06):
I'm doing fantastic and it's great to talk with you.
And you know, I always get this, get this note
from people they say, I wish I had there was
more good news in the world. I wish there was
more things to be you know, happy and excited about.
And one of the things I've loved over the years
and doing this show with you, doctor, is learning about
some of the really exciting positive things going on when
(01:27):
it comes to direct primary care and helping people out.
And one of the things that has been really cool
is watching Advocate MD start out it was just you
and your clinic in Middleton and expand and grow to
four clinics and now there's eight doctors at Advocate MD.
And some big news this morning as well, speaking of locations,
(01:47):
is soon to be announced you are going to be
adding a fifth location of Advocate MD.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Am I right on that, doctor, Yes, So we are
excited that we will be building a clinic in sun
Prairie that our goal is to open that in February,
probably late February, early March.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
So we think that that's going to be great for
people that live in Sun Prairie or even further east
of that. So that's a very obviously fast growing community
out there. So we've been looking at trying to find
a space for a clinic for a few years now
and finally down the right location. And I won't disclose
the location yet, but it is in sun Prairie. It's
(02:28):
been a very easy to access location.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Oh, that's going to be exciting. You're going to want
to follow that for sure, and really great stuff too.
And it's funny you mentioned Sun Prairie. I've only I
should say only I've been in Madison for twenty probably
longer than night twenty five years now, so I guess
it's been a little longer than but I'm at that
point with like that area in sun Prairie as you
had out one fifty one there. I remember when that
(02:51):
was all I sound like an old man now, doctor,
remember when that was all farm fields and there was
a radio in ten and wow, And for good reason,
it's been developed. It's a really, really great location. So
we'll definitely keep updated on that. As we talk with
doctor Nicole Ampkiss of Advocate MD, I mentioned that website
Advocates DPC dot com. That's ADVOCATESDPC dot com. You can
(03:12):
learn more about direct Primarycare online. You can also learn
about the separate clinics as well as the doctors at
Advocate MD. And the different things that they can do
for you or and if your employer, if you're looking
for some great options for your employees, definitely check out
Advocates DPC dot com. That's Advocates DPC dot com. Open
enrollment season. I do believe it is under way right now.
(03:34):
I think so, and I know when it comes to
making those selections, there are oftentimes misconceptions in this time
of year about things like direct primarycare and other things.
And before we get into some of the misconceptions, let's
just talk real quick about about open enrollment and what
that means for folks that are looking to looking to
do direct primary care. Doctor.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yes, so, whether you receive health insurance, health benefits through
your employer, whether you're an independent contractor you own a
small business and you purchase those on your own, anybody
can do direct primary care. So they really just have
to figure out, you know, the plan that would go
along with the direct primary care, which for most people
(04:17):
is a high deductible health plan. But you can do
this with any health insurance plan, a health share plan.
So the idea behind it, and you know, I think
there's a lot of misconceptions about direct primary care, and
I think we'll talk about some of those. But one
of the biggest, biggest misconceptions is that direct primary care
is meant to replace your insurance. That's not true. We
do have a very small handful of people in our
(04:39):
practice that do not carry traditional health insurance, and so
they are kind of using this in lieu of that,
And we don't recommend that people do that because you
still need you need, you know, catastrophic coverage for the
unanticipated things. There's a lot we can plan for in life,
but you can't plan for getting into a bad accident
and needing to utilize the emergency room, you know, needing
(05:01):
your appendix taken out, or your gallbladder, or you know,
if you have an unfortunate event like your diagnosed with cancer,
you're going to need very expensive, potentially expensive chemotherapy and
radiation therapy. You know. But much of healthcare I like it.
Sometimes I hear speakers talk about healthcare in terms of
you know, what we can plan for, and even things
(05:22):
like if you're told that you have bad arthritis in
your knees and somebody says, well, you're going to need
a total knee replacement in a couple of years, or
you know your hip. You know, much of surgery are
things that we can plan for, we can anticipate, we
can shop around for, even though that sounds kind of
funny to think about healthcare in terms of something that
you can shop for, but it is truly something where
(05:44):
I hope that the future continues to be. As you mentioned, Sean,
you know, things have changed a lot in the last
five to ten years, just even locally here. So now
we have more options in terms of independent radiology facilities,
we have more options in terms of indefinite specialists. We
have a orthopedic group here that's building a surgery center
in Middleton that's going to open in a couple of months.
(06:04):
So it's it's an exciting time because that means that
we're giving consumers or patients more choices, right, So it's
not just you have the big box health systems, the
hospital systems, which let's be honest, they're ripping patients off, right,
So you have those, you have those choices, and then
you have the choice of Okay, well there's a wonderful
doctor here at this private clinic that they're not owned
(06:24):
by a hospital system, so they can charge you know,
a fraction of the cost because they're not paying for
this you know, big beautiful building and the player pianos
and the you know thousands of administrative staff that sit
in their ivory towers. So there's a lot of cost
savings there. But there's also better access. So maybe it's
going to take you two weeks to get the surgery
(06:45):
done rather than six months, which is you know, not
uncommon for large hospital systems, you know, and get that
appointment with the specialist in a week rather than six
to nine months. So I think these are exciting, very
exciting changes for patients. They're exciting for us, for me
as a doctor obviously, to see that we're able to
offer this. And I think it's like a snowball effect,
(07:06):
right like once this starts, then it promotes more independent docs.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
You know.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Obviously when I started the practice seven years ago, I
was the only person doing pure direct primary care. Doctor
Michael Klose. I always want to give him credit. He
is doing he was doing like a quasi He is
doing a quasi direct primary care model. This much much
of it is based on charity care, but there was
nobody else doing just one hundred percent DPC.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
And now you know now.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Because I think the success of our practice has a
lot to do with it that other people look at
that and they say, well, maybe I could do that.
You know, so you have more doctors that are now
venturing off on their own, and I think that that's
wonderful and I hope that you know, it also allows
doctors who are trapped in these big health systems to
view us as a viable option and you know, want
(07:54):
to join our practice too.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, We've talked a bit on previous shows and that
when you started Advocate m D years ago, it was
a it was a pretty bold move. I mean there
you took there was there was a lot of risk.
You know, it was something new to the area. It
was something you know here in Madison, Dane County, southern Wisconsin,
there's some really really big institutions out there, and you were,
(08:17):
you know, you were literally going head to head with them.
And I know that, you know, we think about the
amount of work that you've put into to building this,
uh that obviously doesn't go unnoticed. And the other cool
thing that's going on is as as more and more
patients and more and more folks have spread their experiences
with Advocate MD, you've seen the clinics grow, You've seen
(08:38):
more doctors come on board, You've seen obviously more physical
buildings and locations of Advocate m D. And it's it's
really cool to see how that's how that's happened, and
and you know, it's funny as we as we talked
this morning with doctor Nicole Hempkis of Advocate m D.
One of the reasons why I think sometimes folks become
members is the experience, uh using their insurance to try
(09:01):
and see their regular doctor, and they quickly realize you
don't really you know, you're paying for something that you
don't really have. With insurance and primary care, you don't
really have that. Like for a lot of folks, maybe
they see their doctor that initial time when they get enrolled,
and then every other time they go in they're they're
kind of months out, and hey, it's somebody else that's
(09:24):
going to be seeing you today. People really do like
being able to meet with their doctor when they need
to see their doctor. And I think for a lot
of folks that come to Advocate MD, it's after they've
had that experience they go, what am I paying for exactly?
Isn't it?
Speaker 2 (09:38):
It is very interesting nowadays how most of us, you know,
pay for health insurance and then we have the experience
of either not being able to get an appointment, having
to wait six months, nine months. You know, we've talked
about one of the local systems right now, the big
local hospital systems is telling patients that they are not
(09:59):
a accepting new primary care patients. And you know, I'd
seen something posted on a Facebook physician group that I'm
in and the physician said that she her doctor had retired,
so she went to go make an appointment with a
new doctor to meet them, and she had some concerns
or whatever, and she was told, you know, that they
were not scheduling any appointments with patients because they didn't
(10:20):
have any doctors to schedule those appointments with. So it does,
you know, bring up the question, you know, what exactly
are we paying for, because I think we're paying for
medical care. And you know, as we've talked about Sean,
a lot of people use the terminology of health insurance
anonymous with health care. And I always that always kind
(10:40):
of gives me a little, you know, the hairs on
the back of my neck stand up a little bit,
because obviously there's a ton of people out there that
have health insurance and it almost gives them kind of
the false sense that they have good health care. But
then when they try to seek healthcare, either they have
a high deductible policy, so they're basically paying out of pocket, right,
please hit your deductible. So like, if they do have
(11:03):
something you know, bad that happens, or if they can't
get in to see the doctor, that means that there's
a higher likelihood that they're going to hold off on
getting something seen or taken care of until it actually
turns into something worse. So yeah, there's so many different
implications of that.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
It's it's and it's one of those areas as we
talk and for those of you that have gotten a
chance obviously over the years, as we talk with doctor
Nicole Hamkiss each and every week to learn more about
Advocate MD, I hope you've taken the opportunity to become
a patient advocate MD. I also hope that you're sharing
with your friends and family what they're able to do
with direct primary care and at Advocate MD. And one
of the big misconceptions doctor, and one of the hardest
(11:40):
things I think for those of us in the in
the know to try to convey to those who are
just learning about direct primary care and advocate MD is
the cost is. That's always like, at least what I've
experienced is when I'm telling people about what you're doing,
they seem that they look at me very skeptically, like,
are you I'm missing? What am I missing here? And
it's funny because one of the examples you used years ago,
(12:04):
you said, it's kind of like the old way is
when you used to go see your doctor, and you
know your doctor knew the family, knew everybody. And when
you start to kind of explain it that way, you'll
see people's the gears start turning. They go, oh, I
get it now. But sometimes that is a tough barrier
for people to accept. Is really high quality where the
patient's the priority at a much lower cost. People sometimes
(12:26):
it takes a little bit for them to for and
I understand it takes a little bit for folks to
kind of grasp that concept.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Yes, I do think that there is that misunderstanding that
directs primary care is the same thing as concierge medicine.
You know, contier's medicine is something that started in the
eighties nineties where people would pay a membership fee, which
could be monthly or yearly, and then that basically got
you an in to a doctor who was going to
have a smaller panel of patients. So instead of them
(12:55):
having three thousand patients, they had three hundred patients. So
that means the same thing it means in our direct
premiary care practice. That means the doc takes more time
with you. You need to make an appointment, they get
you in in a few days and a week rather
than months. You have access to them after hours. So
all of that was part of that concierge model. But
the big difference was that in concierge people were paying
(13:16):
maybe two hundred dollars a month to twenty thousand dollars
a year. I think I always mentioned that there's a
dock out in California who has a concierge practice. I mean,
he must have one hundred or less patience, I would think,
but he charges I think it's either seventy five or
eighty thousand dollars a year for him to be your doctor.
And then the funny part is they still bill your
(13:37):
insurance when you come in, right because so they're getting
it both ways. But in our practice. We do not
bill insurance, so that's different than concierge. And the other
big difference is that our prices are The whole idea
behind direct primary care is that we want to make
this affordable, make this affordable to you know, middle class people.
You know, we do have people in our practice that
are are very wealthy, we have people that are are
(14:01):
you know, on the lower end of the socioeconomic you
know spectrum, but most of our patients are are middle
class people that you know, work you know, normal nine
to five jobs, and so they are utilizing us again
to fill that gap because they have a high deductible
policy and they also just want better medical care. So
you can see all of our prices on site. That's
another big thing is that everything is transparent, but you'll
(14:23):
see that, you know, for a middle aged adults, the
prices you know, around between seventy to eighty dollars a month.
So again seventy to eighty dollars a month, that means
that you're paying an additional eight hundred to nine hundred
dollars a year. And think about that in terms of
if I have a five or six thousand dollars deductible,
So that means even though I'm paying this extra eight
(14:45):
hundred dollars a year every time I go in to
get my blood work done, I'm saving four hundred dollars.
Every time I go into an office visit, I'm saving
a couple hundred dollars there, right, because I'm not going
to hit my deductible so easily. If I go in
for two visits a year, which is pretty much like
the average for a lot of you know, you know,
middle age people, is to visit the year. Maybe one
(15:07):
of those is an urgent care visit, one of those
is a follow up. But if I'm doing that, then
I am very much likely saving at least one thousand dollars.
So again, it becomes almost a mathematical calculation just on
the on the out of pocket saving. So if you
can get your labs with us, if you can get
your medications with us, if you do your X ray
in our office, you're saving with all those things. Plus
(15:29):
we're helping guide you if it's something outside of our
clinic that you need. You need an MRI or a
CT scan, you need to see a specialist, you need
a procedure done, We're going to help you figure out
where you can get that done and most likely that's
going to save you money. But then the other side
of it, of course, is that you're just going to
have much better healthcare. If you're going to have a
much better experience with your doctor, you're going to have
(15:51):
a doctor that's going to spend an hour with you
and be available after hours, and that doesn't really exist
in the big box system.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
It's yeah, I think one of the things you've mentioned
is you know, you can't buy this type of it
just doesn't doesn't exist in the insurance system. It does
exist though for you and your family. If you're an
employer looking for great options, check out Advocate MD in
direct Primary Care. Of course, all you do is head
on over to the website Advocates DPC dot com. That's
Advocates DPC dot com. You can learn more right at
(16:18):
the website. To become a member, make an appointment at
Advocate MD six eight two six eight sixty two eleven.
That's six h eight two six eight sixty two eleven.
We'll get into our conversation with doctor Coole Hemkiss. We
will do that next as full scope continues right here
on thirteen ten. Wui b A A twenty seven thirteen
ten Wi b A and full scope with doctor Nicole Hemkiss,
Wisconsin's direct Care doctor Online Advocates DPC dot com. That's
(16:41):
Advocate DPC dot com. Telph number six SO eight two
six eight sixty two eleven. That's six soh eight two
six eight sixty two eleven. Doctor. Before we wrap this morning,
I didn't want to ask you, as we're talking about
all the great benefits of Advocate MD and becoming a member,
how do people enroll? What's kind of that process?
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Like?
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Yes, if you go.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
To our web site under the contact us button, there's
a short, just little template that's going to ask you
your name and your email and maybe write a short message.
If you send me a message saying that you want
to enroll, then we send you an enrollment link and
a scheduling link and it's it's very quick and easy
to get that started.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Super easy stuff. Doctor Hemkis, thank you so much for
your time this morning. And again the doctor mentioned the
website ADVOCATESDPC dot com. That's Advocates DPC dot com. You
can enroll right online. You can also pick up phone
and McAll six oh eight two six eight sixty two eleven.
That's six so eight two six eight sixty two eleven.
I get an update on News Next thirteen ten, Wiba
News Times A twenty eight
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Two Guys, Five Rings: Matt, Bowen & The Olympics
Two Guys (Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers). Five Rings (you know, from the Olympics logo). One essential podcast for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Bowen Yang (SNL, Wicked) and Matt Rogers (Palm Royale, No Good Deed) of Las Culturistas are back for a second season of Two Guys, Five Rings, a collaboration with NBC Sports and iHeartRadio. In this 15-episode event, Bowen and Matt discuss the top storylines, obsess over Italian culture, and find out what really goes on in the Olympic Village.