What is direct primary care? A plain-language guide for Vail

How insurance-based primary care works, and why visits are short

Most primary care clinics get paid per visit by insurance companies. Each visit pays a fixed amount, no matter how long it takes. To cover rent, staff and the cost of billing, a clinic has to see a lot of people every day. That is why a typical visit is about fifteen minutes, why there is a phone tree between you and your doctor, and why a new-patient appointment can take weeks to get.

None of this is the doctor’s fault. The payment model forces it.

What direct primary care changes

Direct primary care, or DPC, replaces per-visit billing with a membership. You pay your doctor a flat fee every month or every year. In return, everything the practice does in the office is included: visits, messaging, the annual physical, the follow-up phone call.

Because the practice is paid by its members rather than by volume, it can keep its patient list small. A DPC doctor usually looks after a few hundred people instead of two thousand or more. That is what makes the rest possible: same- or next-day appointments, visits that last as long as they need to, and a doctor who answers your message instead of a call center.

A DPC practice does not bill insurance for anything in the membership. That removes a surprising amount of overhead, and it means there is no copay or deductible for an office visit.

What it doesn’t cover

A membership covers primary care from your own doctor. It is not health insurance, and Arizona law requires every DPC agreement to say so plainly. You still need insurance for:

• hospital stays and emergency care
• specialists
• imaging such as X-ray, CT and MRI
• prescriptions
• lab work (whether it’s done in the office or elsewhere, the lab bills your insurance)

A high-deductible plan pairs well with a membership: the plan is there for the expensive things, and the membership handles the everyday care that a high deductible would otherwise make you pay for in full.

Who it suits

People who get the most out of DPC tend to be:

• Self-employed people and marketplace-plan buyers. With a high deductible, every visit is already out of pocket. A membership makes that cost predictable.
• Working parents on employer high-deductible plans. Time is the scarce thing. Being able to message a question at 8 pm and be seen this week matters more than any copay.
• Adults in their fifties and early sixties. Blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar start needing attention. One doctor who knows you, with time to manage it, is worth a great deal before Medicare.
• Anyone who wants one doctor who knows them.

It suits fewer people who rarely see a doctor and are happy with their current clinic. And it is adult medicine: DPC practices run by internists, like ours, don’t see children.

How it differs from concierge medicine

Concierge practices usually charge $2,000 or more a year and still bill your insurance for each visit. The fee buys access and time; insurance pays for the care. DPC bundles the care into the fee and skips insurance billing altogether, which is why it costs less.

What it costs in Tucson

Adult DPC memberships in the Tucson area were published at roughly $75 to $150 a month when we last checked, with some practices adding an enrollment fee or a registration charge. Prices change, so check each practice’s website. Most of those practices are in central, east or northwest Tucson, a half hour or more from Vail.

How Rincon Valley Medicine works

Rincon Valley Medicine is a direct primary care practice on Houghton Road near Mary Ann Cleveland Way, serving Vail and southeast Tucson. Membership is $120 a month, or $1,368 a year if you pay yearly, with no enrollment fee. Visits are included, and so are direct messaging, a long first visit and a full annual physical. Each additional family member at the same address is 5% off.

The doctor is Kyle Witt, MD, a physician licensed by the Arizona Medical Board and board certified in internal medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine. He trained in hospital medicine, which means he manages adult health from routine care to complex conditions, and if you are ever admitted to the hospital, he talks with your hospital team, explains the plan to you, and sees you within days of discharge.

We open in November 2026 for adults who aren’t enrolled in Medicare. Our Medicare membership is planned for summer 2027.

Next step

If this sounds like the kind of care you’ve been looking for, book a free 15-minute call with Dr. Witt. The first 100 members pay $100 a month, locked for three years. Or read exactly what’s included.