What is Relational Primary Care?
*Relation Primary Care^TM is a “practicebusiness” model that makes independent primary care practice more rewarding by enabling the physician to make a compelling “simplify your life” and “secure your peace of mind” offer to his or her patients.

You can have a permanent relationship with me, and my practice staff, who will know you personally, and thoroughly understand your unique needs. We will give you all the routine, urgent and preventative, primary care you need. We will coordinate any care you may need from others in the healthcare delivery system, or from people in your family and social networks of help. We will assist you in maximizing the value of your insurance arrangements in order to minimize your out-of-pocket costs.We will also make available to you, a suite of optional products and services from third party vendors that will help you maximize your health and wellbeing. We deliver to you what you need, when you need it (24 x 7 x 365), in the way you need it, all for an affordable fixed monthly membership fee. Our goal is to help you maximize your health and well-being while minimizing, if not eliminating, your frustrating, time consuming interactions with a mammoth healthcare system that sometimes cannot see or care about “you.”

Your membership fee does not cover the costs of any medical services that may be covered and paid for by your insurance or healthplan. Membership fees cover the cost of extra services your insurance does not pay for. Your membership fee will vary depending on your insurance arrangements as they may be at any given time, whether you have Low Deductible Private insurance, High Deductible Private insurance, Regular Medicare, Med Advantage, or you are uninsured. You do not have to stop being a member of our practice because your insurance status changes. We also have membership fee assistance available to members who may need it from time to time. Generally, the more generous your insurance arrangements with respect to primary care, the lower your membership fee. We offer memberships that are specifically tailored and attractively priced for Seniors, Middle Adults, Young Adults, and Children.

*Relational Primary Care™ is a Certification Trademark of the Thomas Bonifield Research Institute. Used by permission

How does RPC differ from the typical Hybrid Concierge Practice (HC) or Direct Primary Care Practice (DPC)?

1.  It is not based on the value proposition “More time with your Doctor” (MTWYD). It is based on the value proposition “What You Need. When You Need it. In the Way You Need it. (WYN WYN WYN}. The Patient hears it as “What I Need. When I Need it. In the Way I Need It.” (WIN WIN WIN)
2. Member services, beyond medical care, are substantially more extensive than those offered by typical HC/DPC practices. They are designed to give the Member complete peace of mind by assisting them, when needed, in their interactions with the practice, the healthcare service delivery system, their insurer or third party payer bureaucracy, their out-of-pocket payment obligations, and their family and social networks of help. In addition, RPC Members don’t have to withdraw from membership just because their healthcare insurance arrangements change.
3. RPC practices address the ethical criticisms that are leveled at HC’s and DPC’s. The HC and DPC MTWYD value proposition necessarily limits patient panel sizes to the 300 to 600 range. Small panels necessarily mean higher member higher membership prices per member. This has left these practices open to the charge that they are serving only the affluent, not shouldering their “fair share” of the national primary care burden, and thereby pushing primary care health care demand into an already overburdened system.The RPC model is based on the ability to quantify delivery of the WYN WYN WYN promise in terms of practice hours consumed per year by age and sex cohorts. Lower utilizers of total annual practice hours have correspondingly lower membership fees. RPC individual member pricing also takes into account projected reimbursements from member insurance arrangements. The more generous the Member’s insurance plan in reimbursing primary care medical services, the lower the member fee.
   

   	Insurance Arrangements
   Annual Practice Hour Demand Profile	Medicare	LDHP	HDHP	Uninsured
   Seniors 65+	√	NA	NA	NA
   Middle Adults	NA	√	√	√
   Young Adults	NA	√	√	√
   Children & Youth	NA	√	√	√

   √ = Tailored Value Optimized Product. Tailored Demand Based Pricing
   The ability to serve all age and sex cohorts, and to rationally price memberships based on utilization demand means that practices sizes can typically range from 800 to 2000 based on the cohort utilization demand mix in the panel. Typical membership fees can range from $12.50 pmpm for Medicare Seniors, to $20 pmpm for an uninsured, urgent care only, male Young Adult, to $40 pmpm for a Middle Adult with a typical HDHP.

4. RPC can be legally and practically implemented in any existing practice type: traditional fee-for- service as well has HC and DPC. RPC practice memberships can be implemented in stages without disrupting the existing practice. It is possible to have a practice that is part RPC and part Traditional FFS, “Legacy” HC, or DPC.
5. RPC Solutions has created a complete RPC practice support package including contract models, support tools, methodologies, and training programs for implementing and operating an RPC practice. RPC Solutions works with alliance partners who, using this support package, offer a practice complete turnkey implementation of RPC including trained and dedicated offsite support staff where appropriate.
6. For the typical primary care physician, implementing the RPC membership model will significantly increase their net income as well as reduce the number of hours they are devoting to their practice.