FAQs

Your time is valued and honored. With dedicated staff, we anticipate greeting you personally and promptly, with little to no wait times to see us. We will take the time to address your health concerns and questions; your office visits will never feel rushed.

We will have more time to develop relationships, which fosters trust and allows us to have a more proactive role in your health and well-being…and be there when you need us.

The aim of LSA Direct Care is to create an experience that will not just meet, but exceed, your expectations for healthcare.

LSA Direct Care is available to non-Medicare patients of Dr. Pritchett and Dr. Winkeler. Membership medicine (sometimes referred to as direct primary care) is an exciting and rapidly growing model to provide primary care without the costly interference and constraints of health insurance companies. Instead, members of LSA Direct Care pay us directly through a convenient and affordable flat monthly fee.

This enables us to provide you with extremely convenient, personalized, and preventive care when you need it, while being especially respectful of your time and schedule. This focus ensures the strong and satisfying doctor-patient relationship that is key to helping you achieve optimal health.

In fact, it's the way we envision the future of medicine!

Your membership covers all of the primary care services we offer in our office. This will include an annual comprehensive physical exam that incorporates appropriate screening and diagnostic tests and focuses on nutrition, fitness and exercise, mental wellness, stress management, and strategies to minimize the negative effects of chronic disease on your health goals.

The result is a customized wellness plan for achieving and maintaining optimal health and disease prevention.

LSA Direct Care includes appropriate follow-up intervals in the office and other forms of communication support through virtual visits and direct connection to your doctor (Dr. Pritchett or Dr. Winkeler) via phone, secure text, and/or email.

We are working hard to create a service where you can reach us when you need us without having to jump through many hoops! We are available to members to discuss urgent concerns when you have them, even nights and weekends.

You will enjoy greater convenience and peace of mind. You may even find a reduced need for visits to specialists and the emergency department or urgent care.

Absolutely. We believe patients would see their doctor more if it were convenient, less expensive, more private, and less hassle.

As a member of LSA Direct Care, we make it easy for our patients to communicate with us and visit us in the office. We have more time to listen carefully to you to understand how your life, work, and family situations may be affecting your health—physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Besides acute care and managing illness, our focus is on adopting healthy lifestyle habits. We want to identify and prevent disease and other risk factors, concentrating our efforts on your lifetime health and wellness.

Having extended time with members helps us identify risk factors and health issues before they cause disease, saving you money, time, suffering, and higher costs in the long run. The membership model allows us the time to deliver this type of comprehensive and detailed care.

LSA Direct Care works especially well if you:

• Desire easy and direct communication with your doctor
• Are too busy to spend time waiting in a doctor’s office to be seen
• Want a doctor to address the underlying cause of illness, not just treat the symptoms
• Want to take part in improving your health and staying well
• Have high-deductible health plans, a healthcare cost-sharing plan, or no insurance

This model also works very well for small businesses seeking to provide their employees with affordable health care and improved well-being, while simultaneously reducing everyone’s healthcare spending. Ask us for details.

This can be a stressful and often confusing experience for patients and their families.

You will be cared for by a hospitalist team. We are happy to communicate with them, review your plan of care, answer questions, and make recommendations as needed. As your healthcare advocate, we can communicate directly with you and your loved ones and help you navigate the healthcare system.

Yes. For an additional fee, we offer home visits in medically appropriate situations and on a case-by-case basis.

As your primary care physicians, our comprehensive training allows us to handle much of your healthcare. If you need to see a specialist, we will help you find the right care at the right time. When making referrals, we will make sure your specialist has all relevant information prior to your appointment.

After your specialist visit, we will follow up to discuss any of your questions or concerns and arrange additional testing if needed.

If you have a life-threatening emergency, call 911 immediately.  

A family member or caregiver can call us so we can be in contact with the emergency room as appropriate.

For urgent problems that are not life threatening, you can contact us when you need to. Often, we can diagnose and treat your needs without a visit to the ER and urgent care. In fact, membership medicine has been shown to result in fewer ER and urgent care visits for members because we can discuss your medical needs when you need to. And you know you can see us the same or next day!

You can speak with us wherever you are, and we will help with any medical conditions that can be handled by virtual visit. If you have a condition that requires in-person evaluation and treatment, we will direct you to appropriate nearby care, and coordinate follow up when you return home.

Our college program allows you to easily contact us by cell, text, email, or video. We can also communicate directly with your student health clinic if necessary and may help you avoid a visit to the clinic altogether. You will have a trusted doctor who knows you well and can coordinate your care while you are away from home.

As a member of LSA Direct Care, you are never alone. Even when out of town, we will often still be available by phone for urgent needs. You will be notified by email before any vacations. If your doctor is not available even by phone, there will always be one of us available to assist, either over the phone or in the office.

The membership model allows us to be unencumbered by the constraints and limited reimbursement from insurance plans so that we may better serve and care for members of LSA Direct Care. Therefore, we will not bill your insurance plan. The membership fee allows us to work for our patients, not the insurance company!

You will receive completely unbiased medical evaluation, recommendations, and treatment. There will be no charge for office visits or co-pays. You only pay the membership fee.

LSA Direct Care is not available for Medicare-/Medicaid-eligible patients at this time.

Yes, you do. LSA Direct Care does not take the place of general health insurance coverage. However, by providing you with better, more connected primary care, your plan utilization can often be reduced.

Although your membership fee will cover the vast majority of your primary care needs, it is essential that you and your family maintain a medical insurance policy to cover those fees not included in your membership (such as hospitalizations, services provided by specialists, diagnostic testing, and prescription drugs).

If you have a high-deductible health plan, participate in a medical cost-sharing program, or have no insurance, LSA Direct Care can be a good fit for you and, in addition, save you money. Ask us, and we will explain how.

Consider using an alternative to health insurance known as medical cost-sharing or health-sharing ministries. With LSA Direct Care as your primary hub for care, these programs help you lower your monthly health expenses and are there when medical needs become extensive and expensive.

Medical cost sharing unites health-conscious individuals to share medical expenses without the red tape and high costs of traditional health insurance.

These programs are not for everyone, but many find it to be very valuable because:

1. The monthly savings may be very significant.
2. Insurance companies don’t decide what type of care you receive.
3. In addition to your visits here, you may see any doctor or hospital you choose.
4. Some cost-sharing plans subsidize a portion of the membership fees at LSA Direct Care, thereby lowering your overall costs.
5. You are rewarded for your healthy lifestyle, which helps keep your out-of-pocket costs low.

If you are interested in learning more about these programs, which pair well with programs such as LSA Direct Care, visit:

• Zion Health
• Sedera
• Liberty Healthshare
• Christian Healthcare Ministries
• Samaritan Ministries
• Medi-Share

This is not a comprehensive list but may help you get started to learn more about these options. We are sharing these website links with our patients for informational purposes only and are not promoting any specific program.