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April 4, 2010
  King 5 TV News: Doctors Using Flat Fee System
Jean Emerson of King 5 News introduces the "flat-fee system" of direct primary care.
March 29, 2010
  Associated Press
The health care overhaul is likely to strain America's primary care doctor shortage, according to a recent study.
March 23, 2010
  Health Care Legislation Paves Way for Direct Primary Care
A provision in H.R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law by the President, creates an affordable new choice for individuals and businesses by allowing flat-fee direct primary care practices to compete within the state-based insurance exchanges where many Americans and small businesses will be able to shop for health coverage beginning in 2014.

March 22, 2010
  Primary Care Shortage Could Crimp Overhaul
From National Public Radio: For all the changes put in motion by yesterday's historic vote passing health care overhaul, an expansion of coverage for tens of million of uninsured people raises a really big question: Who will take care of them all? It's already tough to find a primary care doctor in many parts of the country.

December 19, 2009
  Marketwire: Primary Care Doctors See Hope in U.S. Senate Action
Primary Care Doctors See Hope in Today's U.S. Senate Action That Could Deliver More Americans Lower-Cost Alternatives to Health Insurance:

New Amendment Allows for Flat-Fee Direct Primary Care Practices Nationwide to Compete in Proposed Insurance Exchange, Modeled From House Version

December 2, 2009
  Huffington Post
Health Care Reform Irony: Thousands Could Be Denied Low-Cost Coverage

November 9, 2009
  Our statement on the passage of the Affordable Healthcare for America Act
Dr. Garrison Bliss sent out a press release on behalf of the Direct Primary Care Coalition. The press release comments on the passage by the U.S. House of Representatives of H.R. 3962, the Affordable Healthcare for America Act. Passage of the H.R. 3962, the Affordable Healthcare for America Act by the U.S. House of Representatives this weekend means that the approximately 45,000 Americans who have elected to receive their medical care through a direct primary care medical home will continue to have that option – for now.
November 6, 2009
  Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Blogger Dave Chase gives a nod to direct primary care in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer: I'm a free market guy but observing what was going on had me seriously considering that some kind of government system might be the only way out of this mess. That is, until I heard about "concierge medicine" several years ago. Rather than focus on the fact that it was initially being delivered to the wealthy, I thought it wouldn't be much different than flat screen TVs. That is, initially only the wealthy could afford it but the model would rapidly evolve and be available to the masses at a much more approachable price point after it proved itself.
October 28, 2009
  ENToday.com
"With some form of health insurance overhaul likely to accelerate the trend of rising practice costs coupled with declining reimbursement for physicians, some doctors will join those who have already exited a practice model funded by insurance payments. Physicians such as Garrison Bliss, MD, a Seattle-based primary care physician and vascular surgeon John Kenagy of Belmont, MA, disgusted with governmental and insurance company constraints on how they practice medicine, have escaped health care hell by stepping away from the madness. They hearken back three-quarters of a century to pioneers like Dr. Fred Mott, an internist who established a cooperative prepayment plan for physicians serving Depression-era farmers at risk of losing their farms due to ill health."
October 15, 2009
  Marketwire.com
"Could there be a low-cost, high quality fix for much of what ails American health care - a fix that requires no new legislation and no additional taxes? Could such a fix help stem the exodus of primary-care physicians from medical practices and restore the personal relationship between patients and doctors? And could it possibly originate in Seattle, the city that gave us grunge rock and entertains tourists by throwing fish?"
October 7, 2009
  VentureBeat
VentureBeat takes a look at how "information technology drastically brings down cost and improves productivity in other sectors, healthcare remains a “cottage industry” with many barriers and inefficiencies. Healthcare really is the last frontier where technology innovations can drive profound changes and grow brand new business models."

October 1, 2009
  DB's Medical Rant
Dr. Bob Centor continues to push on insurance-free primary care in his well-read blog, DB's Medical Rants.
September 29, 2009
  The SunBreak
The SunBreak Asks: Can Qliance Revive Primary Health Care? Dr. Garrison Bliss calls our health insurance dependency "learned helplessness," and likes to reference Marcus Welby when talking about the direct primary care. "You can design this so that 80 percent of American can pay for primary care out of pocket. And the other twenty percent could do it with some subsidy," he argued. "I'd like to prove that." His first point is that whether you're insured or not, if you want or need quality primary care, you're mostly out of luck."
September 28, 2009
  xconomy.com
Dr. Norm Wu contributes to Xconomy.com: It's About Health Care, Not Health Insurance. Dr. Wu says,"Health care reform discussions almost always revolve around health insurance, as if care and insurance are synonymous. Understanding the difference can lead to the delivery of better care for less money, and help break the health care reform logjam in Congress."

September 8, 2009
  CNN
David Goldhill, who wrote an article in Atlantic Magazine called "How American Health Care Killed My Father" and is interviewed on CNN about his concerns about health care.
September 5, 2009
  Seattle Voices
Dr. Garrison Bliss from Qliance talks about the availability and affordability of direct primary care to Seattle Voices host Eric Liu.
September 3, 2009
  The New York Times
David Brooks from The New York Times talks about how he would help President Obama prepare for his health care speech to Congress.
September 1, 2009
  The Atlantic
In The Atlantic, David Goldhill sheds light on why America's insurance-centric structure needs to be changed and direct primary care has emerged as a result of America's fraying insurance system.
August 25, 2009
  CNN
Dr. Vance Harris, a primary care physician, writes an insightful piece for CNN about how health care reform assumes doctors will be available. This is an unfortunate assumption. Find out why a number of primary care doctors are dropping out of the business.

August 21, 2009
  The Kent Reporter
The Kent Reporter takes a look at a direct primary practice in Seattle leaving insurance out of it and creating a new health-care network. Patients can receive comprehensive primary and preventive-care by paying a monthly fee, like a subscription.
August 19, 2009
  Bankrate.com
Millions of uninsured and underinsured Americans need cheaper health care. Nancy Mann Jackson takes a look at some affordable consumer options like direct primary care in her Bankrate.com article.
August 14, 2009
  Puget Sound Business Journal
The Puget Sound Business Journal reports how the direct primary care model is catching the interest of some venture capitalists.
August 14, 2009
  Examiner.com
On Examiner.com, Aqiylah Collins notes direct primary care as an option for the millions of Americans without health coverage just want to see a doctor.
August 9, 2009
  ABC News
ABC News features direct primary care providers in “Cutting Out the Insurance Company.” ABC compares the flat rate health care as an insurance alternative as easy as a gym membership.

August 4, 2009
  Q13 Fox News
Q13 Fox News in Seattle, Washington covers how direct primary care providers can help save money for doctor and patients. Meanwhile, congress works on its new plan to give health care to everyone, direct primary care providers offer a successful alternative solution.

August 1, 2009
  Your Health Care Today
Erik Smith from Your Health Care Today writes about direct primary care practice in Seattle, Washington. Smith explains, "Here’s something even more telling. The idea works by cutting out insurers at the most basic level of care, and by leaving out the kind of high-level care that hospitals provide. But now one of the state’s leading insurance companies and one of the state’s most advanced hospitals are getting into the business themselves."
July 29, 2009
  Real Change
Assistant editor, Rosette Royale, of Real Change wrote an important piece on direct primary care. Royale notes how important health care is for every single person and direct primary care is a great approach to ensuring the well-being of our friends, families, and communities.
July 13, 2009
  The Huffington Post
Terry Leach reminds readers that,"for every 1% uptick in the unemployment rate, approximately 1 million Americans stand to lose their health insurance." Leach makes a valid argument in her blog post: Barack Obama Stay Home: Health Care Reform Is Dying To Hear From You.
July 13, 2009
  The Huffington Post
Nick Hanauer, a Seattle-based entrepreneur and venture capitalist, makes a strong case for direct primary care listing four key ways: 1) No insurance means lower upfront costs. 2) Monthly care fees align incentives. 3) Coordinated, high-quality care and downstream savings. 4) Increased provider and patient satisfaction.
June 20, 2009
  The Washington Post
This Washington Post article explains how "there are not enough primary-care doctors to meet current needs, and providing health insurance to 46 million more people would threaten to overwhelm the system."
May 14, 2009
  kuow.org
Chapin Henry, Director of Business Development at Qliance, explains how a Washington-based direct primary care practice can provide patients with better heath care and help patients save money.

May 12, 2009
  Just Cause
Mike Lewis' article feeds readers the bottom line, "The insurance model is so broken that the only way to fix it is to abandon it entirely -- at least for the bulk of the nation's health care needs."

February 3, 2009
  HIS Talk
Dr. Garrison Bliss is interviewed on HIS Talk, which focuses primarily on hospital-related IT topics.
February 2, 2009
  CNN/Money.com
Qliance is featured on CNN/Money.com as one of the six entrepreneurial companies are doing to fix health care.
January 21, 2009
  The Stranger
Dominic Holden of The Stranger sheds light on why using Seattle direct primary care practice is beneficial for employers.
January 21, 2009
  The Stranger
Writer Brendan Kiley tells us why people with and without insurance are thrilled about a new approach to primary care.
January 21, 2009
  The Stranger
Dr. Garrison Bliss, a primary-care internish in Seattle for 30 years, explains how he has "watched medical care descend into a deep abyss—one in which quality, access, and cost have all been severely compromised."
January 18, 2009
  The Seattle Times
The Seattle Times' Carol M. Ostrom takes an interesting look at "the brave new experiments, the out-on-a-limb efforts to provide a model to reinvent and—their proponents hope—resuscitate primary care, the care most patients need most often."
December 22, 2008
  xconomy.com
Following up on their December 3rd article, xconomy.com continues its investigation with an in-depth look at why Qliance chooses to operate outside of traditional insurance. Offering an objective perspective, xconomy.com writer Luke Timmerman seeks to understand why Qliance does not bill traditional insurance yet still advocates for high deductible plans. Timmerman discovers how Seattle direct primary care practice does what it does and still provides exceptional primary care.
December 3, 2008
  xconomy.com
Nick Hanauer, a Seattle venture capitalist, spoke passionately at Seattle University on Wednesday night about new venture companies and cited Qliance as an example of a great start-up. Speaking to a room of nearly 130, Mr. Hanauer described a few particular attributes of attractive start-ups; what to look for and what to avoid. Speaking specifically about Washington-based direct primary health care practice, Mr. Hanauer articulated why he is so excited about the possibilities this model presents to the healthcare industry.

November 21, 2008
  Puget Sound Business Journal
Many local employers in the south Puget Sound region are showing their support for Qliance-and are not afraid to say so. The Green Room and Partners, both production companies with health care concerns, spoke with the Puget Sound Business Journal about the possibilities it presents. By pairing a direct primary care practice with an Health Savings Account (HSA) or a high-deductible traditional insurance plan, employers, workers and individuals alike are able to experience the benefits of primary care, while sill saving money.
March 26, 2008
  Washington Association of Health Underwriters' 2008 Symposium
An insightful and at times humorous presentation by Dr. Garrison Bliss to health insurance brokers at the WA Association of Health Underwriters' 2008 Symposium about the forces that are driving the health care crisis in this country and how the simple economic model of direct primary care practices may hold the key to reviving the ailing industry.
March 3, 2008
  Harvard Medical School Weekly
Harvard Medical School Weekly concludes new Seattle direct primary care model "has the potential to grow significantly, to serve millions of people instead of thousands."
January 23, 2008
  The Stranger
This half op-ed, half feature story by Dr. Norm Wu discusses the demise of the caring family doctor who always had as much time as his patients needed. He was so wonderfully portrayed from 1969 to 1976 in the popular ABC television series Marcus Welby, MD.
January 21, 2008
  HealthDOT
Last December, Dr. Garrison Bliss accepted the Pioneer in Medical Practice Award from Consumers for Healthcare Choices. In this just released video, Dr. Bliss describes the genesis of his vision for patient-centered care using a direct practice model.
November 2, 2007
  Senator Chris Marr speaks at Qliance Launch Party
Senator Chris Marr, co-sponsor of the Innovative Primary Health Care Delivery Senate Bill 5958 that supports the Qliance model for primary care, described how “direct practice medicine is very elegant in its premise of putting doctors and patients at the center of the health care equation while reducing cost. Even more compelling is how this high touch primary care model works to improve the efficacy of preventive care.” Senator Marr concluded his remarks by saying that, “This piece of health care policy improves quality and cost, without additional government intervention and regulation, and on top of that, without requiring additional state funding. As a state policy maker, that’s like the trifecta.”
November 2, 2007
  Governor Chris Gregoire speaks at Qliance Launch Party
Governor Christine Gregoire discussed the need for innovation and risk taking in serving the uninsured and especially the under-insured. “Our theme is: drive up safety, drive up quality, drive down costs. So what you are doing here with your vision is really what we’ve been trying to embrace. But we can’t achieve it if we simply look at it through the old same lenses that we’ve had historically,” said the Governor. “What Qliance has as a vision and a model is to allow doctors to do what they love and what they feel passionate about, to give patients like the two from whom we have heard tonight what they so richly deserve at an affordable cost and with high quality. It is patient safety. It is driving down costs. So I come simply to say, thank you to those who are investing. Thank you to those of you who are providing the care. Thank you to those of you who are getting the care.”
August 5, 2007
  The Entrepreneurial MD
Dr. Garrison Bliss is interviewed on The Entrepreneurial MD. Read about how Dr. Bliss "pushes a medical practice model to its limits."

July 3, 2007
  The Seattle Weekly
Seattle Weekly writer, Nina Shapiro, explains how a Seattle direct primary care practice is an affordable option to low-income patients.
May 25, 2007
  Puget Sound Business Journal
The Puget Sound Business Journal explains how a direct primary care practice in Seattle challenges the status quo with their monthly fee model.
May 3, 2007
  Governor Chris Gregoire's Newsroom
This bill is a watershed event for Washington-based direct primary care practices. Entitled “Creating Innovative Primary Healthcare Delivery,” it acknowledges that primary care practices that bypass insurance by charging patients a direct monthly fee to avoid the high overhead costs and restrictive care associated with insurance reimbursement are not insurance companies, health carriers, health maintenance organizations nor health care services contractors. As such, it enables direct primary care providers to offer affordable prices for high quality, high access unhurried care, while providing substantial consumer protection.

August 31, 2006
  New England Journal of Medicine
Thomas Bodenheimer, M.D. gives an excellent analysis of primary care in the New England Journal of Medicine. Fortunately, "primary care professional societies are designing and testing new practice models."

Primary Care:

Essential to Good Health

Primary care includes disease prevention, health maintenance, patient education and counseling, diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic illnesses. It spans preventive care (such as immunizations and check-ups), routine treatment of common injuries and complaints, and maintenance for ongoing health issues.

Primary care is the foundation of good health. It's the key to preventing debilitating and expensive problems. A health care solution that doesn't address primary care is no solution at all.

 

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