Driving from New Stanton to the flat-fee doctor
Physician Timothy Wong’s third patient at his $35-flat-fee East Liberty practice on a recent Friday was Karen W., who’d driven in from New Stanton to have her sinus infection evaluated and treated.
After a 10-minute exam, Karen, who asked that her full name not be printed, related a personal story that too many Americans will recognize — and, like her, be tempted to turn to a medical practice like Dr. Wong’s that doesn’t deal with insurance claims or copays.
Karen, 54, works two jobs: driving a school bus and working as a secretary in Westmoreland County. She doesn’t have health insurance, she said, but she used to have coverage through her employer. The plan carried a $500 monthly premium.
She recalled using her insurance card once at an urgent care center near her home. Because she had not yet met her yearly deductible, the center billed her $130 for the visit, even though it charged uninsured patients only $119.
“That is simply not fair,” she told the clinic staff, who reluctantly agreed to adjust her bill to the lower amount.
After that episode, she decided to drop her health plan.
“I was paying $500 a month for insurance that I can’t even use.”
Compare that with her recent visit to the iHealth Clinic in East Liberty. The exam cost $35, and she paid Dr. Wong another $10 for an antibiotic.
“It was worth it to pay the turnpike toll and gas,” she said afterward. By the following Tuesday, she was feeling better.
Dr. Wong, too, is feeling better and more confident about the prospects for his approach to providing medical care, a practice model he calls “direct access primary care.”
He may be part of a growing number of independent doctors willing to try different practice models. Just last week, the Allegheny Medical Society, a professional association of local physicians, announced plans to collaborate and support independent doctors whose numbers here have dwindled because a large number of doctors are now employed by
one of the major hospital systems.
But going independent carries its risks and requires a strong business sense, as well as a medical license.
Since Dr. Wong opened his walk-in clinic last summer, the board-certified family physician has seen more than 1,000 patients at the two-room Centre Avenue practice.
The majority of his dropin patients have no insurance, he said. Typically, they’re dealing with minor infections or aches that would generate a major bill if they’d gone to an emergency room.
An uninsured patient is a demographic Dr. Wong rarely saw in his previous professional life at Indiana Regional Medical Center in Indiana County or during his residency training at UPMC Shadyside, just a mile or two down Centre Avenue from his clinic.
Dr. Wong, a graduate of
SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, cites reports that 8.5% of Americans don’t have health insurance to estimate that some 25,000 Pittsburgh residents must fall into that category. His 1,000 patients would represent 4% of that total, he said, “so there’s huge growth potential there.”
When he opened the clinic, Dr. Wong’s goal was to see 20 patients a day which, at $35 each, would bring in $700 a day. He hit that mark for a couple of days after New Year’s. The numbers went down slightly since then. The week-to-week uncertainty, he admitted, “is a little stressful.”
His marketing budget is less than $1,000 a month but he’s been helped by Facebook and coverage by local TV and radio outlets following a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story published on Aug. 25. A day or two after WPXI aired its story, he saw 24 patients in one day — his highest daily total so far.
Another highlight came after an Oct. 8 broadcast on local NPR member WESA that was picked up for the national program. He recalled that the story’s likes on NPR’s Facebook page hit 80,000 and, for several days afterward, “I can say I was more popular than Justin Trudeau,” chuckled the native of Canada.
Other than those periodic flashes in the spotlight, he said, Facebook has so far driven most of his patient traffic. Interestingly, he’s noticed a recent influx of Russian immigrants after a favorable review by an apparent influencer in that community.
Even with the periodic slow days, word about the practice is getting out, he said, adding that it usually takes about two years for a practice to establish itself.
“I’m 95% sure we’re going to attain financial sustainability.”