Direct Primary Care Is Primed for Bitcoin Adoption

Sign up for my FREE masterclass next Thursday, June 27th at noon central time on the intersection of bitcoin and healthcare. In this post, I will highlight one of clients as a case study to the benefits of integrating a bitcoin strategy.

UltraPersonal Healthcare is a concierge medicine practice owned and operated by Veronica Max, a holistic Nurse Practitioner and homesteader based in Austin, Texas. I had the pleasure of working with Veronica to help her integrate a bitcoin strategy, which included getting her set up to accept bitcoin payments via the Lightning Network.

Veronica's service models that of direct primary care, a care model exploding in popularity in the healthcare industry, as it cuts out the middleman: health insurance. By paying a monthly membership fee directly to a provider, the provider is now working for you instead of your insurance company, aligning incentives to keep you healthy.

In the traditional fee for service healthcare model with insurance, when you go to your primary care doctor that's part of a big health system, they have on average less than 15 minutes to see you before they have to move on to the next patient. This is due to the underlying reimbursement system set out by CMS and adopted by big payors, a convoluted system where providers get paid more if they can code you as having more disease states.

Another advantage to going with direct primary care is their intimate patient panel sizes: panel sizes range from 200-600, roughly 85% smaller than a traditional PCP’s panel size (~3000), providing members quicker access and longer visits. DPC also pairs well with being a member of CrowdHealth, where we are delightfully uninsured and get $300 a year in crowdfunding to use for preventative services, such as DPC memberships. We have the freedom to choose where to receive care, and when choosing a provider bitcoiners businesses that accept bitcoin, because it means that business owner has shown "proof of work" in their own education. In the case of healthcare, it also means that provider takes a first principles approach to understanding root causes of an ailment.

After approaching Veronica about integrating bitcoin and working with Veronica last year, I got to know about her values as a primary care provider. I knew we were in great hands, and my wife and daughter enrolled to be under her care after our daughter was born late last year. For just $166 a month total for both, Veronica provides unlimited visits, around the clock text support, and embodies values of individual sovereignty while taking a holistic approach to health. Each month, Veronica's team texts me with an invoice to pay her via Zaprite. I partnered with Zaprite because they offer flexible ways for small businesses to accept bitcoin and Lightning payments, alongside traditional fiat rails.

Look how easy it is for me to pay the invoice in less than one minute!

This is what decentralized, value for value healthcare looks like. My payment settled instantly over the Lightning Network with no fees. The beauty of bitcoin is the user has choice on how to pay. I could have paid this invoice from any bitcoin or Lightning wallet of choice. I wanted to highlight how easy it is to pay in bitcoin, and that you don’t even need to hold bitcoin (the asset) in order to utilize Bitcoin (the network)! If capital gains is holding you back from spending bitcoin, in this example you don’t have to worry! By paying over Lightning, I saved Veronica 3% in transaction fees, and she received payment right away. Contrast that to the electronic medical record and billing company charging a significant amount for each claim/transaction, (upwards of 6-10% for the more expensive Epic/Cerner), and insurance companies not paying final settlement to the provider for 2-3 months (if ever!).

Healthcare providers running independent DPC practices are already cutting out the health insurance middleman. I believe the next logical step is to integrate bitcoin payments for instant settlement, lower fees, and alignment of values to attract patients who want to address their health issues and learn how to live a healthier lifestyle.

To avoid the continuous M&A pressure from private equity and large health systems alike, independent practices can strengthen their business by integrating a bitcoin strategy. This can also include a treasury strategy to save some portion of profits in bitcoin. We've seen other healthcare businesses like Semler Scientific start buying bitcoin in their treasury, resulting in a nice boost in their stock price.

Sharing the messaging on "why bitcoin" is also important. Veronica has a bitcoin landing page on her website that explains why she's adopted bitcoin and how it aligns with her values. She's also talked about her practice and decision to accept bitcoin payments on the Business Bitcoinization show and at local bitcoin events.

It was great working with Veronica, who's seen the benefit of adopting bitcoin sooner than her competitors. She's picked up more aligned clients (patients) in her practice from the strong bitcoin community in the greater Austin area. Not to mention that when we worked together last year, the price of bitcoin was hovering around $25K; now, bitcoin has risen to a USD price of $65K as it appears we are primed for another bull run post-halving.

If you want to understand more about the mechanics of bitcoin and how I see bitcoin disrupting the $4.5 TRILLION healthcare industry, I am leading a FREE masterclass next Thursday, June 27th at noon central time. I'll dig further into why fiat healthcare is broken, what healthcare would look like on a bitcoin standard, and practical ways you can start integrating bitcoin into your business today. Sign up here, hope to see y'all there!

And if you're a fellow DPC practitioner or business owner that wants to discuss a bitcoin strategy for your business, please schedule time here for us to connect.

Have a great weekend!

Jon