Portland Direct Primary Care
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Beyond 7 minutes

I trained as a Family Doctor so that I would be ready to help patients with any challenge. The old school family doc used to take that skill set out into the community on house calls, sports sidelines, and town hall meetings. At some point the job description was boiled down into a job that started and ended with a 7 minute office visit. That setup is not good for patients, and it's not good for doctors. In this column I hope to start to push the boundary of where the doctor patient interaction takes place - onto the page, into the community, and beyond 7 minutes.

MEMO: Fee changes effective 3/1/23

You may or not be aware that credit card companies charge transaction fees. In reviewing the books from last year Dr. Oren realized we are giving the credit card companies thousands of dollars every year in fees. In order to avoid that we will be incentivizing patients to switch their payment method to ACH - also known as 'bank transfer'. The fees are much better for this type of payment. 

-starting 3/1/23 the monthly rate for all age groups charging a monthly membership fee to a credit card will increase by $5/ month

-Anyone using ACH payments for monthly payments the rates will remain the same

-Anyone paying a yearly membership can continue to do so by credit card, ACH, check or cash. The rates will remain the same including the 10% annual discount. 

Fees for ACH Payments

Age 0-18 $25/month 

19-39 $50/month

40-64 $75/month

65+ $99/month


Fees for Credit Card payments

Age 0-18 $30/month 

19-39 $55/month

40-64 $80/month

65+ $104/month


Oren Gersten, MD