Another Way to Healthcare in Springfield

Shelley Wehner is the co-owner of Concepts by Design, a Springfield, Missouri company that designs and manufactures cabinets and closets. The company finds new and innovative ways to improve the spaces around their clients, with a personalized approach to every project they take on.

It’s meticulous, detail-driven work, which requires exceptional craftsmanship—and talented team members to do it. Five years ago, Matt and Shelley Wehner decided to make the investment in their team by providing healthcare benefits. As a small business owner, she needed a custom, personalized solution, and found Equality Healthcare, a direct primary care (DPC) provider. “At the time we offered it, we were not ready to incur the cost of full-blown traditional insurance,” she says. “It has given us a strategic advantage by promoting employee health, satisfaction and productivity, while also controlling healthcare costs.”

Equality Healthcare is one of many direct primary care providers offering affordable, personalized healthcare options in 417-land. Designed to be a complement to traditional healthcare systems and insurance, direct primary care provides a low-cost, high-quality care option for small businesses not ready to offer health insurance, says Dr. Michael Bauer, co-founder and chief medical officer of Freedom Health Systems, LLC.

“We are a bridge between insurance, healthcare and patients,” says Dr. Bauer. “Patients have the freedom to pursue an executive style of care, when providers have the time to develop a tailored, personalized approach, with unlimited visits at no additional cost. For employers, it’s a very affordable option.” At Freedom Health Systems, businesses with fewer than five employees can offer unlimited visits to a medical provider for as little as $80 per month per employee. Plus, same-day or next-day visits get employees well sooner and back to work faster, with upfront pricing.

Direct primary care’s model of a flat, recurring fee also covers routine check-ups, preventative care and basic lab tests. Plus, direct primary care can be offered by a business in a variety of ways: as a perk to recruit top talent, paying for the monthly fee in full, covering half the cost of the monthly fee and cost-sharing with employees or providing their members access to join the DPC.

For Concepts by Design, it’s the ease of access to a provider for personalized care that makes a difference to employees and to the business’s bottom line. “Direct primary care is a holistic approach that can create a more positive work environment and contribute to the long-term success of the business,” says Wehner. Freedom Health Systems owner Kelbie Abercrombie is proud of the quality of care her team provides with direct primary care—and the way it supports the overall quality of healthcare options in the Ozarks. “We’re a complement to the healthcare systems in town,” she says. “We work together for the betterment of the community. It’s not us versus them; we have excellent hospitals in our community and great providers in every system. We’re just giving patients and businesses another option in Springfield.”