Direct-Pay Docs Continue To Tout Model

With insurance hassles and high overhead continuing to frustrate doctors, news stories continue to roll in about physicians who've adopted a cash-only model and say they've never been happier.

Ryan Neuhofel, D.O., M.P.H., a direct primary care physician in Lawrence, Kan., recently told DailyFinance that his cash-only practice serving about 1,000 patients has helped him live out what he calls his "overly romantic vision of what a small-town doctor could be in today's health care system."

Neuhofel's fees, which range from $10 to $50 a month plus under-market charges for certain tests and procedures, allow the model to be accessible "to most patients," he said, while permitting him to earn a profit during a time when many independent doctors are operating in the red.