What is Uncommon Healthcare?
Uncommon Healthcare is Waco's first Direct Primary Care family medicine practice, a model of healthcare delivery that is highly personalized, comprehensive, thorough, affordable, and convenient.
What sets Uncommon Healthcare apart from today's traditional practices?
By refusing to allow any interference in the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship, we have returned family medicine to its core values: clinical excellence and the thorough knowledge and compassionate care of every patient. We are a patient-centered practice, free of the demands and distractions of third party bureaucracies.
Will I still benefit from Uncommon Healthcare even if I don’t require frequent medical attention?
Of course! Everyone benefits from a service tailored directly for them. That’s why we offer highly personalized healthcare. Our practice is devoted to maintaining your good health and the enhancement of your daily experience that only physical well-being can bring.
In wellness and therapeutic care alike, the great ally of the patient-physician relationship is time. As the months and years go by, we will build a comprehensive, intimate knowledge of your health, an invaluable understanding of you available in no other regimen of care.
Does Uncommon Healthcare accept health insurance?
No. Happily, no.
Perhaps the most critical distinction in our model of care centers on a direct, personal relationship between you and your doctor. This directness carries over into our business model as well. We forgo insurance payments in order to save our patients from the arbitrary, intrusive decisions that inevitably are imposed by third-party payers. Furthermore, this direct, fee-for-services arrangement frees us from the typical contractual agreements that prevent physicians from offering reduced prices for laboratory tests, imaging, and other services to their patients.
As a patient of Uncommon Healthcare, will I still need health insurance?
Yes. Some form of healthcare coverage is strongly encouraged but not required. We recommend that our members either carry traditional health insurance or maintain membership in a healthcare cost sharing program. We also strongly support investing in a health savings account, which can help ensure that financial resources are available should hospitalization, emergency, or specialty care be necessary.
Can you help me find affordable insurance for my family or my business?
We would love to! We work closely with several local professionals to assist our individual and corporate members with building cost-effective health insurance plans that compliment the care they receive as Uncommon Healthcare members.
If I have Medicare, can I still be a member of Uncommon Healthcare?
Of course! On joining you will sign a waiver declaring that neither you nor your DPC physician will submit a bill to Medicare for the services we provide for you. Medicare will continue to cover lab tests, imaging studies, medications, specialty care, and hospitalization in the traditional manner.
What happens if I need to go to the hospital?
At Uncommon Healthcare, we work very hard to prevent hospitalizations by providing excellent access and attentive, comprehensive, high quality care for our patients. Despite this, sometimes hospitalization is necessary. In these instances we rely on those providers with the most experience in treating conditions that require hospitalization. We will work with you to coordinate your admission, communicate with your inpatient team as needed, and follow-up with you once you have been discharged from the hospital to ensure the best possible outcome.
Can my children become members of Uncommon Healthcare?
Absolutely! As a family medicine practice we embrace the opportunity to care for the children (birth through 19 years of age) of our parent members. We are unable to accept children as members independent of their parents or legal guardians.
We strongly encourage vaccinating children but do not currently immunize in our office because we do not have a cost-effective means of doing so. Be assured however, that we will work with you to establish a plan to ensure that vaccinations are received on time. For the safety of all of our patients, we do not provide care for unvaccinated children.
Can I contact my physician after hours? And how?
Because illness and injury do not always respect our usual office hours, you may contact your physician directly after hours should the unexpected occur. You will be provided after hours contact information for your physician and with instructions upon enrolling as a member.
Are my medical records or health information ever shared with insurance carriers or governmental agencies?
We maintain scrupulous standards of privacy. Because we do not participate in commercial insurance or government plans, we are never obligated to provide any third party with information about your or your medical history, unless you specifically ask that we do so.
How will I know if Uncommon Healthcare is right for me?
You are invited to schedule a visit to discuss your needs, a visit that is free and unconditional. It is the only reasonable way to begin what, we trust, will be a long, productive relationship.