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FAQs

  • What is Direct Primary Care?
    Direct Primary Care is a new model in healthcare that allows Dr. Nair to work directly for her patients. Instead of working for hospital administrators or insurance companies, Dr. Nair and her patients enjoy a close, one-on-one relationship. Patients are billed directly for a monthly membership that gives them access to unlimited visits with no copay, discounted pricing on generic medications, wholesale lab and imaging pricing, and more. New patients always spend a minimum 60 minute visit with Dr. Nair so that she can fully evaluate and understand their health history and wellness goals. Each follow up visit with Dr. Nair is a minimum of 30 minutes long, giving you a sense of peace and security knowing that she is focused entirely on your healthcare concerns. Regardless of why you’re seeing Dr. Nair, she will spend as much time as is necessary to diagnose and treat your healthcare concerns. With the Direct Primary Care model, Dr. Nair is able to limit patients to 400, allowing her to spend more time on your needs, and less time rushing between appointments.
  • What sets Envision Direct Primary Care apart from other practices?
    At Envision Direct Primary Care, the patient is at the heart of all that we do. Dr. Nair believes that affordable, comprehensive care should be available to all, and is passionate about helping her patients to feel secure in their healthcare choices. She is here to help you feel at peace on your journey to better health, and created Envision Direct Primary care to serve that mission.
  • Do I still need insurance?
    Dr. Nair is happy to see you regardless of whether you have insurance or not. However, Envision Direct Primary Care is not meant to replace insurance. We do not provide emergency care, surgical services, hospital admission, or certain specialized care. While Dr. Nair’s approach to holistic healthcare is meant to limit hospitalizations, you will still need insurance to cover catastrophic events and hospitalizations.
  • What type of insurance works well with Direct Primary Care?
    With the Direct Primary Care model, you don’t need to worry about meeting a deductible for regular primary care. A good option to keep you covered for everything else, like hospitalization and emergency care, is a low cost, high deductible plan. Paired with a health savings account, you will be able to save for, and have coverage for catastrophic events. Health cost-sharing plans are another option, and are perfect for patients seeking an alternative to insurance. These plans typically exclude preexisting conditions, yet still offer catastrophic coverage without high premiums. Health cost-sharing plans are best suited for young, healthy individuals and families.
  • What does Dr. Nair’s holistic approach to comprehensive care mean?
    At Envision Direct Primary Care, we believe in treating the whole body. This means that Dr. Nair is passionate about providing patients with lifestyle counselling, whole-body wellness counselling, and preventative medicine. Dr. Nair offers patients multi-centered compassionate care that doesn’t rely solely on medication.
  • How much access do I have to Dr. Nair?
    Patients can email, text or call Dr. Nair directly. Each patient has access to Dr. Nair’s personal cell phone number, allowing them the peace of mind to know that they’ll be able to reach her should they have any urgent healthcare concerns. Dr. Nair trusts that her patients will respect this relationship. Envision Direct Primary Care is not a replacement for emergency room visits or urgent care. In case of a true life-threatening emergency, patients will need to call 911.
  • What happens if I am admitted to the hospital?
    Through Dr. Nair’s approach to holistic, comprehensive care, our mission is to prevent hospital admissions. However, should you be admitted to the hospital, Dr. Nair will work closely to co-ordinate your care with the hospital team and specialists. Since she is the one who knows you well, her insights about your preexisting medical conditions will be valuable to the team that is treating you. Also, Dr. Nair will review your medical records and follow up with you to help answer any questions you may have about how your hospitalization affects your healthcare journey.
  • If I have Medicare, can I still join Envision Direct Primary Care?"
    Yes. You will still need to sign a waiver declaring that neither you nor your doctor will directly bill Medicare for our services. Medicare typically covers laboratory testing, imaging, or medications ordered by Envision Direct Primary Care.
  • Why has Doctor Nair opted out of medicare?
    Dr. Nair has opted out of Medicare effective January 2019. This was necessary for Dr. Nair to be able to offer patients a private, monthly fee-based practice. This opt-out doesn’t affect your Medicare coverage with other providers who accept Medicare reimbursement. In fact, Medicare is great complimentary coverage to Direct Primary Care, because it keeps you covered for everything outside of Dr. Nair’s services. She is still able to order necessary labs, x-rays, home health services, and more for Medicare patients, the opt-out simply means Envision Direct Primary Care doesn’t bill Medicare on their end.
  • Do you take Insurance?
    Envision Direct Primary Care does not take insurance. Through the Direct Care model, your monthly membership fee, and discounted lab and imaging are the only costs that you’ll incur through our practice. Bringing patients top notch care at an affordable price is made possible by cutting out the insurance companies as the middleman. This allows us to reduce costs for office staff, and focus entirely on the patient.
  • I have a lot of medical conditions. Do you charge extra?
    Your monthly membership fee covers every single visit you have with Dr. Nair, regardless of how long you need to spend with her, or how often you need to see her. Labs and imaging are billed separately, but we are happy to offer discounted wholesale rates for these procedures.
  • What if I am healthy and never see a doctor?
    Dr. Nair’s approach to providing whole body, holistic care encourages patients to visit their doctor for preventative care as well as when you get sick or experience symptoms. Through regular care, you’re able to avoid and possibly even prevent bigger issues that may arise.
  • Can I use my flexible spending account (FSA) or healthcare spending account (HSA) to pay the monthly fee?
    Due to the changing legal landscape surrounding FSA and HSA accounts, you will need to check with your tax professional or plan administrator to confirm whether or not you’re able to use your FSA or HSA to pay your monthly fee. In the past, the monthly fee for Direct Primary Care was viewed, under the law, in the same way as an insurance premium. We’ll work with you to provide any documentation that you may need, showing the services provided with your monthly membership fee.
  • If I already have an insurance plan, like a PPO or HMO, what happens if I need prior approval for medication, x-rays, or specialty services?"
    Envision Direct Primary Care is not an in-network practice on any insurance plans. You’ll need to check with your insurance company to find out if they require prior approvals to be done by in-network physicians. If your plan is an HMO that requires authorizations to be done only by in-network physicians, you would need to see the primary care doctor to whom you were assigned, and pay the office visit copay, in order to get an authorization
  • Can I cancel my membership at any time, or am I locked into a contract?"
    You’re able to cancel your membership at any time before your next monthly bill is due, and we require a 30 day written notice. If you decide you’d like to come back after cancellation, there may be an additional re-enrollment fee. Your enrollment fee is non-refundable, and there are no refunds for cancellations after payment for the month has been made. However, we will be available for the duration of the month, and no further charges will be posted at the end of the paid month. If you decide to cancel your membership there will be a re-enrollment fee of $250 to re-enroll. Re-enrollment will be subject to availability and at the discretion of Dr. Nair and will be dealt on a case by case manner.
  • What happens when Dr. Nair goes out of town?
    Dr. Nair will be available via telemedicine, and patients will be notified of any travel in advance to help you plan your schedule. If a situation arises that requires you to be physically seen while Dr. Nair is out of town or unavailable, we have partnered with local physicians to provide you with trusted care when Dr. Nair can’t be there. You may still need to utilize urgent care or emergency room visits if neither Dr. Nair or our partner physicians are able to see you.
  • What conditions do you not treat?
    We do not manage new chronic pain patients. New Opioid Prescribing Guidelines have recently been released by the CDC to combat the prescription drug abuse epidemic, and those patients who use narcotics for chronic pain are encouraged to seek a pain treatment center. We will be happy to see you for your other healthcare and wellness needs. We do not provide vaccinations or DOT physicals. Feel free to give us a call to discuss your specific needs!
  • How can I get medical attention away from home?
    Dr. Nair is available via telemedicine or phone to diagnose and treat most illnesses when you’re not able to make it into the office. We’ll even help you find the nearest pharmacy and order the medication you need to treat your symptoms.
  • As a business owner, would Direct Primary Care work well for my company and my employees?"
    Dr. Nair believes that the Direct Primary Care model allows you to provide your most important asset, your employees, with the high quality care they deserve. Direct Primary Care paired with a complimentary catastrophic insurance plan also often offers immense savings for business owners. Envision Direct Primary Care offers special pricing for businesses, and we would love to discuss your needs further.
  • Can I visit Dr. Nair when I need to and pay for a single visit as opposed to joining with a monthly membership?
    No, Dr. Nair is not able to provide single visit services. The Direct Primary Care model that sets Envision Direct Primary Care apart, offers patients elevated, personalized care, and brings patients savings by cutting out the middlemen is based on a monthly membership.
  • How will I know if Dr. Nair is the right doctor for me?
    Dr. Nair invites you to schedule a brief visit to get to know her! She understands that trust is the cornerstone of compassionate healthcare, and would like to build a strong relationship with you as your potential new physician. These visits are meant to establish a relationship between yourself and Dr. Nair, and no medical history or evaluation will be discussed. Due to Dr. Nair’s commitment to her member patients, these visits are limited each day, so you’ll need to schedule in advance.
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