Finding healthcare that not only meets your needs but is also affordable and feels right can be a challenge. Having one local professional who is attentive to your personal situation while helping to avoid outrageously priced care sounds like something from the long-ago past.
Health care seems to be big business nowadays, but one Lowell physician is looking to bring back the small-town, community-focused local doctor. He wants to be the doctor that the community can turn to for regular medical care at a reasonable cost.
Dr. Paul Troost opened a new practice, Family Doc Direct Patient Care, at 508 W. Main St. in January and is eager to take on more patients and grow his roots deeper in the Lowell community. His practice uses a direct patient care membership system instead of the traditional model involving insurance companies. With the DPC system, patients pay a monthly fee and receive all primary care functions from Troost.
Because there is no need for processing insurance claims or handling complicated billing and referrals, Troost does not need extra staff. By keeping the cost of running his office down, he is able to pass on those savings to his patients with low fees and near-wholesale prices on medications. He is also able to have longer appointment times with his patients.
Troost says without the pressure of being part of a large corporation or hospital, he can run his practice the way he wants – giving patients as much time as they need for appointments and making sure they get the treatment and referrals required.
He wants to run his practice based on his patients’ needs, not allowing insurance companies to dictate what treatment a patient gets. He says people shouldn’t have to fight an insurance company to get what their doctors have prescribed for them, which is something he has had to endure with his own past health issues.
Troost says most family practices have been reduced to being referral centers due to the short amount of time physicians are allotted to each patient.
“They want you to see someone every five minutes. You don’t have time to sit down and talk to your patient, get to know your patient, take care of your patient, all the basic stuff your family doc used to do,” he says.
“I’ve had a farmer come in with husk from a sugar beet jammed up in his fingernail. You show up at the doctor’s office with that now, and they’re going to tell you to go to the ER. These are all things that we should be taking care of that we’re not,” he adds.
Troost says with appointments taking about a month or so to schedule at some health care centers and referrals taking even longer, patients often have to wait months before their issues are addressed. He offers same or next day appointments.
“We need to get people in; we need to take care of people the way it used to be,” Troost says. “That’s where the direct patient care model came about.”
Troost’s patients pay a membership fee that ranges from $59 a month for a single person to $158 per month for families with two adults and two children. Additional children can be added to the membership for $20 a month. College and trade students receive discounts.
Appointments are based around the patient’s needs rather than scheduled around a tight time allotment.
“I do longer visits, a half hour on up. Whatever is needed so we get to know you,” Troost explains. “It’s like having a doctor in the family – someone who knows you, someone you’re comfortable talking to, someone you trust.”
Troost says he helps patients save on all common prescription drugs because he passes on the wholesale prices he receives.
“The cost of medication is going up. People can’t afford their medicine so they go without. A blood pressure pill that you’re going to pay $35-$40 a month at the pharmacy, I can get it to you for $1.50-$2 a month,” he says.
Also, because he draws blood himself for labs, he passes the savings of not needing to use a hired phlebotomist. He said a basic physical requiring a blood count, lipid panel, and thyroid test would normally cost about $300. He says the lab he contracts with would only charge about $25.
Before Troost went into family practice, he did three years of a general surgery residency.
“I’ve got a lot of experience with surgeries, removing things, sewing up things,” he says. “The only thing I don’t do is deliver babies.”
Originally from Dutton, Troost went to medical school at Michigan State University and did his residency at Metropolitan Hospital in Grand Rapids. He also did a rotation as a medical student with former Lowell physician Dr. Paul Gauthier.
Troost’s past practice was in Bad Axe in eastern Michigan where he served the rural small town for more than seven years. He says his doctor fees there were occasionally paid for in chickens and beef. A downturn in the economy shut down the local automotive supplier company that employed most of the local residents, which led to Troost closing his practice and moving back to West Michigan about 12 years ago.
Troost says his practice is picking up slowly, and he currently has about 15 patients. He also provides Department of Transportation physicals, drug screens, and sports and Coast Guard physicals.
There are two other places in West Michigan who, according to Troost, use the DPC model. One practice is full and not accepting patients, and the other is close to being full. Troost’s ideal practice size is 400-500 patients.
His hope is to be known as Lowell’s community physician and that people will feel comfortable asking him about their medical issues, even outside the office.
“We live in a small town. I want to be your small-town doc,” he says. “I want people to feel comfortable coming up to me and saying, ‘Hey doc, can you take a look at this?’ That’s part of being your small-town doc.”
You can learn more on the Family Doc DPC website or Facebook page.
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