What is Direct Primary Care?

Direct Primary Care is a way for patients to pay their physician directly. Instead of accepting insurance, you pay an affordable monthly retainer fee. This type of payment model reduces the overhead costs for the physician thereby reducing the stress of keeping the practice running. By reducing this stress, the doctor is able to see fewer patients in a day. This means more time to spend ensuring you are being listened to and thus giving you the confidence that your health is of optimal care. However, it is not a form of health insurance, and we do encourage that you at least have some coverage to cover catastrophes or major surgeries. But if you don't have insurance, we will still see you. It is not a barrier to becoming a member. In fact, the cost of paying the retainer fee oftentimes is much more affordable than paying a monthly premium for health insurance. Patients can actually save upwards of 80% yearly in health care costs.

Do you accept insurance?

We do not accept payment from insurance companies including Medicare and Medicaid. In reality, insurance companies do not fully compensate. for the standard fee of physician services, and thus forces many physicians to double-book and see upwards of 30-40 patients per day just to keep their doors open. By cutting out this third-party payor, there is no longer a need to rush through patients throughout the day. You can rest assured that your health will be of utmost importance to us. However, because we are not an insurance provider, New York state regulations require us to charge a copay of $30 per office visit or house call. The copay is waived once every year for the annual physical. The collection of copays will be used to reduce the costs of extra services such as in house tests and procedures.

I have insurance, will you still see me?

In most cases, it is not a barrier to using our services.. We just won't be charging your insurance company. Some insurance companies have been known to reimburse the cost of the retainer fee as out-of-network services rendered and may even pay for the cost of ancillary services such as lab, radiology and prescriptions. Also many people have used their Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) or Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) to pay for their subscriptions. Please discuss with you insurance company the terms of your coverage to determine if these situations may be options for you. More so, we do encourage coverage with a high-deductible or catastrophes-only insurance to pay for unforeseen circumstances. Unfortunately, due to the unique regulations associated with Medicare, we will be unable to accept patients with Medicare at this time. This situation is temporary, and we will be happy to place you on a waiting list for when the time comes that we will be able to accept patients who have Medicare. 

What is included in the monthly fee?

The fee includes exclusive personal primary medical care with near-unlimited access and flexible scheduling to our services. Services comprise of patient portal access, televisits, minor office procedures, in-house tests, OMT, and up to 12 visits per year, in addition to the yearly physical. Within reasonable hours, it also includes texting by downloading an app that we will invite you to join. To maintain your privacy, we advise to email us through the portal. We will do our best to answer emails and texts within the same day. You have access to these services even if you're out of town. For an upgrade, we will also provide additional house calls up to 6 per year within a reasonable distance from the office location. The fee does not include the cost of lab tests, radiology, prescriptions, medical equipment or referrals. However, we will do our best to find the most cost-effective ways to pay for these services should the need arise.

Do you accept credit card?

Yes. We accept all major credit cards. We also accept ACH, Venmo, and cash.

What are your hours?

Because we are newly established, we don't have any fixed hours at this time. They are by appointment only and are as flexible as you need. However, we do prefer that your requests are within reasonable hours between 8am to 8pm. Depending on the urgency, we will consider rare exceptions outside these hours. We are also not equipped to provide emergency services. Please call 911 if you have a life-threatening or immediate emergency.

What if I need to cancel my subscription?

Subscriptions are provided on a yearly basis. If you cancel your subscription early, you may be held liable to pay 30% less the net balance of the contract. If you should need financial assistance, please reach out to our office to determine how we can make arrangements to assist you.

I'm pretty healthy, why would I need to see the doctor more than once a year besides for a physical?

Stuff happens. Instead of waiting hours in the emergency room to be seen by a provider for 5 minutes for an upper respiratory infection, you can be seen by us in a timely manner without having to wait excessively in the waiting room. Furthermore, you won't have to give your entire medical history each time you see us, because through our established doctor-patient relationship, we will have all that information already. Plus, if you sprain your ankle, you will have the comfort of knowing you doctor, who already knows you, is taking care of you rather than some random provider.

Do you provide women's health? What about pediatrics?

Yes. We will provide basic preventative women's health. We will also see pediatric patients from 3 years and up. We will not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.

Do you treat pain, insomnia or panic attacks? What about weight management?

While we do discourage the use of narcotics, we strive to find more alternative and lasting treatments. We work on treating root problems rather than just ameliorating symptoms. Often times prevention and maintenance are key to controlling these problems and have lifelong effects.

Do you provide other services?

We also provide OMT and basic mental health maintenance and more to come.....stay tuned.

What if I need radiology or labs done...or prescriptions or medical equipment?

Depending on the terms of your insurance, these may be covered. Please discuss with your insurance provider the terms of your coverage. For those without insurance, we will do our best to find the most cost-effective means to obtain these services and we frequently try to tailor our orders based on your financial ability.

How is Bahay Medical different?

Bahay Medical strives to improve your experience and health as a patient while reducing your costs through a direct primary care model. We are here to provide an engaging doctor-patient relationship with you. We are switching the focus from the impersonal scheduling back to you as the patient. We offer a variety of ways to communicate with the doctor and flexible access to fit your schedule. Our goal is to provide an overall rewarding experience for our patients.

What is OMT?

OMT stands for osteopathic manipulation treatment/technique. As an osteopathic physician, Dr. Janet is trained in the philosophy that structure and function are interrelated. Through various physical manipulation techniques, the aim of OMT is to realign the structure of the body to allow for optimal functioning of all body parts. This can range from the musculoskeletal system to the organs and even to the capillaries and lymphatics. Many times this results in improvement in aches and pains, stress release and faster healing of several acute conditions among other benefits. It is a holistic approach to medicine. Overall it is a generally safe technique, but it is contraindicated in situations such as joint instability like active rheumatoid arthritis or neck instability. Other situations that are relatively contraindicated include metastases, osteoporosis and acute injury. However these decisions are made on a case by case basis. For further discussion, please feel free to contact our office.

Is a DO a physician?

Absolutely. DO stands for doctor of osteopathy. They are fully licensed, trained and tested similarly to their MD counterparts. They are also held to the same standards of care and liability. The difference is they are also trained to utilize an extra tool known as osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM). OMM has proven to be an invaluable resource for medical health and is an integral part of our practice.