Seattle’s Qliance runs an ever-expanding group of “direct primary care” clinics (see our earlier profile), the latest to open in Tacoma. It’s an ever-expanding field, actually–in Seattle, besides, Qliance, you can stop in for primary care at ZoomCare and Doctors Express.
The new news is that the Sound Health & Wellness Trust has added care from Qliance as an option under their SoundPlus PPO Plan, currently in open enrollment for 2012.
“This means,” explains Qliance helpfully, “all Sound Health & Wellness Trust members, including the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 21, Washington state’s largest employee union, can now choose to receive direct primary care from Qliance in addition to coverage from their current SoundPlus PPO benefit plan, and doing so will actually lower their individual weekly premium. For example, employee-only coverage premiums would be reduced from $9 per week to $5 per week.”
In 2009, the Trust established a primary care pilot program with Qliance–thanks to that program’s success, it’s being rolled out as an offering to the more than 10,000 Sound Health & Wellness Trust members who live in Qliance’s current service area.
The coverage comes at no additional cost to members, said Diane Zahn, secretary of the Sound Health & Wellness Trust and secretary-treasurer of UFCW Local 21, a participating local in the Trust. “It’s a win-win situation for everyone, and I encourage members of UFCW Local 21 and other participating unions to take a close look at the Qliance Plan this month during open enrollment.” They will have to look quickly, though, because Sound Health & Wellness Trust’s 2012 open-enrollment period ends November 30.
The drop in premium cost seems to bear out what Qliance has been arguing since its founding–that primary care should be understood as a regular, preventative service, rather than as an insurable appendage to emergency health care. The better the (relatively inexpensive) primary care, the less need for emergency care.
Sound Health & Wellness Trust Members will still get SoundPlus PPO plan coverage for any major medical services, such as specialist, hospital, and emergency care. But through their Qliance membership, they can also look forward to:
- Extended office hours, with same- or next-day appointments for urgent care
- Unlimited visits with no co-pays
- 30- to 60-minute office visits
- Primary and preventive care, chronic disease management, and wellness education
- Daily office hours, with 24-hour telephone access to a physician
- Coordination of any needed specialist and hospital care as a “medical home” model
- No limits or restrictions for pre-existing conditions
