Get Answers to Your Questions About Our Clinic
Memberships
The membership fee allows us to provide the vast majority of a person's primary care in an innovative way for a simple, fixed price. Much like Netflix or a gym membership, it allows members to budget their healthcare finances better, without worrying about extra costs, co-pays and deductibles for routine care.
We do not think of our services as extra, rather an independent, alternative and better way to do your primary care. Most of our members save money when combining Benessere membership with a high-deductible health insurance or medical cost-sharing plan. (vs. standard low-deductible / "co-pay" insurance plans)
No. To keep things simple and consistent for all of our patients, we do not provide visits or care outside of our standard membership system. If you’d like to come check out our clinic and meet us before joining as a member, we’d be happy to show you around and answer any questions.
We do not require members to sign any contracts that commit them to a certain period of membership. Memberships are ongoing and open but must be paid ongoing in order to maintain service with us. If you decide to cancel, we request 30-days advanced notice.
Yes, we do allow for re-enrollment after cancellation, but members will be charged a re-enrollment fee of $99 per member before service can be restarted.
A little, but without the high price tag — or valet parking! We provide a concierge-level of service to all members but try to make things affordable for people of all incomes, with or without insurance.
Yes. Our memberships (eligibility or fees) are not based upon any existing medical issues or conditions.
No, we do NOT have any income or health guidelines to become a member. Our fees are the same regardless of income, insurance arrangement, level of health or utilization of our services.
That is great! Our primary focus is to keep members well and avoiding lots of "medical" care. As such, we can dedicate more time to prevention and lifestyle issues to continue to keep you away from the expensive, cumbersome health care system. However, when you do need care, we are available 24/7 to help get you back on track and avoid trips to ER or urgent care.
Fees
Nope. We provide most care to members without any fees at all! If we do charge for non-covered services, we always list prices upfront. If we recommend outside services, we try very hard to find you an upfront, reasonable price if paying cash.
All members have access to many basic labs and diagnostic testing (diabetes testing, strep, EKG, urine dipstick, etc.) for no charge at all. For non-covered labs, we offer significantly discount wholesale prices — 50 - 90% less than insurance-based prices. If you require labs not listed, you can contact us for pricing of just about anything.
For any fees for non-covered services, we expect full payment at time of service for most services, including medications, labs, procedures, etc.
We do not charge "per visit." New members must pay an enrollment fee of $99. If any non-covered services are required (labs, procedures, etc.), the first visit cost may be slightly more.
All wellness visits (including most routine labs and pap smears) are provided at ZERO cost to all members!
Visits
Currently our regular clinic hours are 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, Monday-Thursday. However, all members have access to the provider 24/7/365 by phone and after-hours visits are available if required.
While we can always offer same- or next-day to our members (even newbies), we do recommend scheduling all visits.
As long as you need! Taking into the consideration the number and complexity of medical issues, most of our clinic visits are scheduled for 20 - 60 minutes. As long as you need! Taking into the consideration the number and complexity of medical issues, most of our clinic visits are scheduled for 20 - 60 minutes.
Yep.
We can order or refer just as any insurance-based doctor can do. For some outside services, we can help find reasonable "cash" prices if you are paying out-of-pocket — especially radiology and lab. We can provide many urgent care and minor emergency services during regular hours or after hours (stitches, simple fractures, etc.) that can help people avoid a trip to the ER. However, we do recommend having health insurance in the case of an unexpected, expensive event such as surgery, ER visit or hospitalization.
We think of "virtual visits" as a supplement to good primary care — not a replacement for in-person care. Generally, if the issue does NOT require a physical exam, a virtual visit is fine. Many chronic issues (e.g., diabetes, hypertension, etc.) can be largely managed by email and virtual visits. However, any issue requiring a physical exam (e.g., coughs, sinus infections, ear infection, new pain, etc.) we will recommend a traditional clinic visit.
Insurance and Health Plans
Heck no!
No. Benessere membership is a great way to receive high-quality primary health care, but we do believe insurance is needed for unexpected and expensive events.
No. Benessere does NOT contract with any private or public insurance plans.
Not likely for individuals. However, this type of practice is loosely termed direct primary care and is mentioned briefly in the Affordable Care Act as "participating in insurance exchanges with a wrap-around insurance plan." The details of such are still very unclear, but we are not waiting around for Washington or any other capitols to provide our community with high-quality, affordable primary care.
We do not contract with any Medicaid plans and cannot bill them for our services. Medicaid recipients are welcome to join Benessere but will likely also be assigned a "network primary care physician (PCP)" that may be required to access other health plan benefits and services.
We can contract with Medicare beneficiaries to provide stellar primary care services. Our charges cannot be billed to Medicare by us, and the beneficiary must sign a private contract prior to joining acknowledging this fact. As Medicare is an open network, patients may continue to use their Medicare benefit elsewhere with accepting providers as usual.
In most cases, yes. Your insurance plans will continue to operate as usual at other doctor's office, hospitals, and pharmacies. PPO-style plans do not require a designated gatekeeper doctor for referrals, medications, tests, etc. We can order or refer just as another doctor would do.
For the time being, insurance companies do NOT recognize our membership fees as a reimbursable expense. For non-covered service fees (meds, labs, x-rays, etc.), we can provide a receipt of payment so you can process with your insurance plan if you wish. However, most of our members have not found it not worth the time and effort to do so.
Please contact us or an accounting professional to discuss this matter.
We are not financial or health insurance advisors and recommend you speak with a professional in that industry if you have questions. However, our members often find that high-deductible (or catastrophic) insurance plans are very pleased with their arrangements when combined with our services. Benessere can provide day-to-day services and a high-deductible plan can help limit the enormous expenses of a major event.
Medical Services and Medications
We think of our business model as an alternative to managed care medicine; Our provider practices traditional medicine with a holistic view and an open mind to alternative therapies. However, we are generally very conservative with the ordering of tests and medications.
Yes. We can provide standard women’s and gynecologic services, including pelvic exams, pap smears, birth control, and menopause management.
Absolutely! We love little tikes of all sizes. We can provide all standard childhood health care services, including yearly physicals, acute care (sore throats), and chronic disease management (asthma, allergies, etc.). We are NOT currently giving childhood vaccinations but can review records and send you elsewhere for completion.
I think it’s quite reasonable to be cautious of injecting or ingesting artificial substances into your body — and maybe crazy not to be! However, I generally believe the benefits of vaccines far outweigh their risks. I recommend a standard schedule of childhood and adult vaccines per CDC schedule. However, I am comfortable caring for anyone.
Currently, we only stock TDaP (tetanus) and influenza seasonally. We can review vaccine records and refer you several places to have them completed as needed.
There are many modalities available to help minimize the pain of chronic conditions and aggressively work with people to achieve adequate comfort. We generally have a cautious and conservative approach to using narcotic / opiate medications such as hydrocodone, morphine, Lortab, etc. and will only use them in select situations for acute injuries.
We are comfortable providing primary care for most any mental health problem, including associated medications. We generally have a conservative and careful approach when using medications (particularly benzodiazepines such as Xanax or Valium) in this area and strongly promotes the use of non-medicine therapies and lifestyle changes.
We do require psychiatric evaluation and diagnosis of ADD / ADHD. Once evaluated and appropriate records are received, we can provide prescription management in our facility.