“It offers people a different model where it kind of goes back in time a little bit where it’s like your hometown doctor, you know them, they know you,” said Dr. Thao Tran, a family medicine physician and owner of Radiant Health Direct Primary Care.
Tran, who immigrated to the U.S. with her family when she was two years old, was a valedictorian of Northridge High School, going on to study at Wright State University and the Boonshoft School of Medicine. Tran is the first generation in her family to go to college, she said.
Tran completed her residency in family medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina before returning to her hometown in Vandalia.
“My goal had always been to return home to provide to the local community that supported me,” Tran said.
Most medical needs can be cared for by your family doctor, Tran said, which is what she envisions for her practice.
Most primary care physicians have a patient load of about 2,000 people, but Tran is capping her patient load at 500 in order to give her patients more attention and access to her, she said. Tran can provide patients with longer appointments to help address more health care needs.
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
“Because we have a smaller panel size, I can pretty much offer same-day or next business day appointments to everyone in my panel who is sick,” Tran said.
A patient panel size is the number of patients a doctor typically sees over a year to 18 months, according to the National Institutes of Health.
“Hopefully that limits the need to use urgent cares and emergency rooms for non-emergent, non-urgent things because of increased access,” Tran said. Patients can also communicate directly with Tran, such as through texting.
Tran had a patient who was able to get a same-day appointment for a sore throat.
Another patient who was having heart palpitations texted Tran, and within a minute, the patient had an appointment time, she said.
“It allows that level of intimate care,” Tran said.
Not billing insurance also allows Radiant Health Direct Primary Care to reduce overhead costs by 40%, according to Tran.
In addition to medical care, discounted prescriptions and lab tests, Radiant Health Direct Primary Care offers plans for individuals, couples, families and businesses. The plans also include free group fitness classes where Tran exercises with her patients twice a week.
“A lot of our medicines are two to three dollars for a 90-day supply,” Tran said, which is helpful for patients without insurance.
They are also able to beat insurance prices for some medications, such as one of her patients who was paying $83 a month for her seizure medication using insurance. By paying with cash through Radiant Health, the total cost to the patient was $83 for the year, Tran said.
Another patient was paying $1,000 per month for her medications, but Radiant Health was able to reduce that to almost zero dollars by finding her the right coupon for her medications, Tran said.
“By not using insurance, it allows me to care for patients the way that the should be cared for,” Tran said. “...There’s no middlemen, it’s just me and my patient.”
Tran recommends patients still have some type of insurance coverage. The care model for her practice works well for patients who have high deductible plans or who are part of a health share cooperative.
For more information about Tran’s practice, visit radianthealthdpc.com.
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