At one time only available to the very rich, a model of what is now called “direct primary care” has been developed by Atlas MD in Wichita and is rapidly spreading across the country.

The administration hopes to make Medicare open to direct primary care. Under the arrangement, Medicare would pay a fixed monthly fee to a physician or physician group instead of the traditional fee-for-service payments. In return, the physicians would provide virtually all primary care. The fees would range from $90 to $120 a month, depending on the patient’s age and medical complexity.

Concierge doctors used to be available only to the rich. Today, “direct primary care” is far more affordable. Atlas MD in Wichita, for example, provides all primary care along with 24/7 phone and email access and generic drugs for less than what Medicaid pays. They help patients gain access to specialist care and diagnostic tests, with minimal waiting. The cost: $50 a month for a middle-aged adult and $10 a month for a child.

Dr. Umbehr and Dr. Segal discuss the potential of direct primary care, the origins of Dr. Umbehr’s interest in the space, and how direct primary care influences outcomes, insurance expenditures, and interactions with patients.

Health-care policy is often portrayed as a fight between government and insurance companies. But one of the most effective cost-saving measures is to cut out both and allow patients to deal directly with doctors.

Primary care physicians can curb healthcare costs and improve patient outcomes via telemedicine and new payment models and purchasing options, witnesses told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Tuesday.

In a direct primary care model — what Joshua Umbehr, MD, of Atlas MD in Wichita, Kansas, characterized as a more affordable cousin of “concierge care” — patients pay a monthly fee based on age.

Millions of Americans continue to struggle under the rising costs and bureaucratic mess spawned by the Affordable Care Act better known as Obamacare with no end in sight. Despite Congress’s inaction on solving the escalating crisis, doctors across the country are calling for a better system: Direct Primary Care.

Josh Umbehr, a Kansas-based family physician and entrepreneur, is on a mission to bring down the price of health care, starting with prescription drugs.

So for years, he’s been regularly emailing the one person that he believes can make a difference.

And that’s Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

As health insurance premiums rise and the health care bill faces uncertainty, some Kansans are looking for other health care alternatives.

One, in particular, is called direct primary care. According to practicing physicians, it’s the “Netflix of medicine.”