- Updated May 27, 2016
A new clinic in Spanish Fork has a different business model which it hopes will allow financially struggling or uninsured families to better afford day-to-day health care needs.
The clinic’s payment model is distinctive because, rather than accepting insurance for primary care, members pay a monthly fee ranging from $65 for adults under the age of 44 to $175 for a family plan.
That monthly fee includes most primary care services, such as common lab tests, cancer screenings, and minor burn and wound care.
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Though not intended to replace primary insurance — which can cover surgery and emergency room visits — the clinic, at 415 North Main St., may provide more affordable access to basic primary care, according to Jennifer Trinidad, the nurse practitioner who will provide the primary care at the new clinic.
“We’re looking for people who either can’t afford health care, or can’t afford it through their employer,” Trinidad said.
Simplified Healthcare, LLC, was begun by five partners from different branches of the medical field.
“After many years, many of us in health care realized the insurance system and current health care model is broken,” Trinidad said.
Though there are other direct primary care facilities in Utah County, Simplified Healthcare is the first of its kind in the southern part of the county.
“The south part of the county has always been a drought as far as medical resources for the underinsured and low income,” said Rachel Lovejoy, executive director of Community Health Connect, an organization that helps connect uninsured and low-income Utah County residents with specialty medical and dental care.
Lovejoy said, right now, there are currently few options for those who don’t have insurance in the southern party of Utah County.
“Other than the Mountainlands community (Mountainlands Community Health Center in Payson), most people are coming up to Provo for primary care,” Lovejoy said.
Lovejoy said Simplified Healthcare will fill a niche in the county, but will not solve problems for all South County residents.
“Just from what we see in our facility, (their rates) will still be cost prohibitive for some people,” Lovejoy said, though she noted the rates are much lower than the average insurance premium.
The Utah County Health Department is supportive of the Simplified Healthcare clinic, said department public information officer Aislynn Toman-Hill. Even people whose jobs provide benefits often have premiums that take a third to half of their paycheck.
“So we think, really anything in our community that makes health care more affordable, more within reach and more convenient for anyone in our community, we’re in support of that,” Toman-Hill said.
With a large and growing population in Utah County, it can sometimes be difficult for people to see a provider immediately.
“Sometimes, that makes them go into a facility that doesn’t make any sense for them to go to because they can’t get in to see someone at their own provider’s office because that office is overwhelmed with patients,” Toman-Hill said.
Simplified Healthcare, in addition to hoping to provide more affordable health care, hopes to possibly make it more personalized as well. Trinidad won’t see more than 800 patients, she said, as opposed to a typical primary care provider who may see thousands of patients per month.
Since the clinic has only been open for a few weeks, Trinidad is nowhere near having 800 patients. But she said when and if that happens, Simplified Healthcare would hire another provider rather than give her a bigger patient load than she can handle.
“You deserve 30 minutes to an hour to let you know what you need to know,” Trinidad said.
