Frequently Asked Questions

Direct Primary Care allows for a true direct physician/patient partnership by eliminating third party interests and needless barriers.  The patient pays for this care through an affordable monthly subscription which includes all offered primary care services, unlimited visits, no additional copays or hidden fees, guaranteed same and next day appointments, as well as off hours access to your physician.  Its ingenuity is in its simplicity.

Third party interests associated with accepting insurance plans add very high overhead costs, costly documentation demands, and high administrative time and fees to any practice.  The reason why truly independent primary care physicians are few and far between is because we have all joined large groups to offset these costs.  By personally choosing not to accept insurance plans, this frees up time, money, and resources, allowing me to focus solely on the patient.  Having a lower patient panel allows me to focus on quality over quantity giving you the best care that you deserve.  This further translates into longer visits, more frequent visits as needed, and increased and timely access to your physician via secured text, email, phone, and video chat at all times.

Direct Primary Care and Concierge Medicine are very similar and are frequently used interchangeably but there are some subtle differences.  Usually, Concierge practices will bill your insurance plan in addition to charging a monthly fee.  These monthly fees can be very high and are often justified by offering extra labwork and testing that might not necessarily be warranted.  At Sooriabalan Medical, all my patients will receive Concierge level care at Direct Primary Care affordable rates.

I believe that having Health Insurance does not necessarily translate into having quality Health Care.  We might have the best insurance plan that money can buy, but does that equate to knowing that you will be able to see your physician in a timely manner, will you be able to see only your physician or will you see someone else, will they answer your questions and calls promptly and directly or will you have to wait and go through the chain of command before speaking with them, are they accessible when clinic hours formally close?

Direct Primary Care memberships can actually work out to be more cost effective than a high deductible plan. For example, if your health insurance plan has a $1,000 deductible and counts all of your non-preventive care towards the deductible, these extra office visits, copays, etc can be more than your annual direct primary care membership.

That being said, I strongly recommend all our members to have Health Insurance for services that go beyond primary care such as specialty care, imaging, labwork, surgery, inpatient care, emergency care, catastrophic illness, etc.  

Nothing changes. You will still use your Medicare or Medicaid to cover medications, labs, imaging, specialty care and other services outside of Sooriabalan Medical. I have opted-out of Medicare which means that my services will not be billed to Medicare.

Potentially.  Please contact your health insurance provider and employer to inquire whether this is an option as an Out of Network Provider.

Membership at Sooriabalan Medical is NOT considered health insurance and is not a substitute for it.  I strongly recommend all our members to have some form of health insurance coverage. 

The goal of good primary care is preventative care. I will work with you to achieve a healthy lifestyle through counseling, screening, labwork, etc to prevent disease before it becomes a chronic problem.  It is better to put in the time now to prevent disease rather than backtracking later when it becomes an active issue.

Nothing changes.  All labwork, imaging, specialist referrals will still be processed as usual through your insurance plan. Prescriptions will still be sent to your preferred pharmacy.

 You may cancel at any time as there are no commitments. My goal is to provide quality care in a simple and uncomplicated manner.

Please click on the “Prospective Patients” button to schedule a complimentary tour of the office and meet and greet with myself. I recommend all new and potential patients to do this first so I can answer any questions you may have and to determine if this is the right fit for you.