HiltsDPC

Medical Professionals Triad Featured Physician, February 2023 Michael J. Hilts, M.D. Hilts Direct Primary Care  Fun Facts   • He was born in Missoula, Montana, and raised in Medford, Oregon. • He roasts his own coffee beans. • Their family pet is a 15-year-old miniature labradoodle, Brownie. • When asked for something that would surprise people to learn about him, Dr. Hilts said that during his medical school and residency training, whenever he was on call for the hospital, he used to bake cookies for the nurses, which helped to minimize nighttime calls!  How did you get your start in medicine?  At age nine, I sliced through the flexor tendons of my finger while carving a pumpkin. From surgery to recovery, the entire process fascinated me. When I learned that my late grandfather and great-grandfather had also been physicians, I knew I wanted to be a doctor as well.  How did your practice come to be?  In 1999, I started my career in private practice with Piedmont Orthopedics. In 2014, G

  FAQ #1:  Why DPC if I have good insurance? (Disclaimer: I am not an insurance expert, and the opinions below are based on my own personal experience with health plans. I highly recommend that you consult with your insurance specialist for specific details regarding your own situation.) First of all, it’s great that you have insurance!  Direct Primary Care (DPC) is NOT insurance, and ideally everyone should have insurance or a health sharing ministry to pay for expensive things like hospitalizations and surgeries.  You are not required to have insurance to be a member of Hilts DPC, but it is encouraged.   Perhaps you have “great” insurance and you’re paying the highest premiums for the “Cadillac” plan offered by your employer.  I encourage you to read this post discussing the possibility that the “Cadillac” plan might not be the best one for you after all, and by switching to the lower premium, high deductible health plan (HDHP), you will likely save lots of money every year (maybe

  BIG NEWS:  LAB PRICES ARE IN!!!   Have you ever gone to your doctor for a wellness exam and when you got the billing statement later on, you discovered that those labs cost you hundreds of dollars because either insurance didn’t cover them, or you had a high deductible that had to be met first?  Hilts Direct Primary Care has some great news to share:   Here's your number of the Day:   $20.50     This is the price of the standard labs we draw when Hilts DPC members have their annual wellness examination and pay cash for their labs using the incredible prices we have negotiated on your behalf.  This includes CBC w/diff, Comprehensive Metabolic Panel, Lipid Panel, Thyroid Panel w/TSH, Urinalysis w/microscopy, and HS-CRP (inflammation marker).  Our price is a  94% savings  over the retail price of $335 for the same labs!  Men can add a PSA for an additional $3.50 (retail $50), and a Vitamin D level can be added for $12.00 (retail $60).     Do you need frequent lab monitoring for cond

Most of you know that as your doctor, my favorite aspect of direct primary care (DPC) is the TIME that it affords. Plenty of time for me to spend with you - time to get to know you as a person, to dig deeper into your health history both for diagnosis and prevention, and to research your health issues after you leave the office. The membership model allows enough time in an appointment to address all of your concerns, not just one diagnosis. And enough time in my schedule to allow patients to access me for more urgent problems the same day or the next day in most cases. For many of you, this was enough of a benefit for you to decide that Hilts DPC is the right choice for you. Thank you!  For others, you might need a little more convincing that DPC is an incredible value.  Today and in the coming days I will be announcing some of the other amazing benefits that Hilts DPC patients will be able to access!  BENEFIT #1:  IN-HOUSE MEDICATION DISPENSING You will LOVE the fact that we dispens

Are You Paying Too Much For Health Insurance? Michael J. Hilts, M.D.  Hilts Direct Primary Care  (Disclaimer: I am not an insurance expert, and the opinions below are based on my own personal experience with health plans. I highly recommend that you consult with your insurance specialist for specific details regarding your own situation.) We all want to do what’s best for our families (or for ourselves, if we’re solo!).  Without really thinking about it, over the years I have always chosen the most expensive health insurance plan during open enrollment month, thinking that for my family, I’d gladly pay extra.  But in the past couple of years I have learned that “most expensive” does not necessarily equal “best”! Let’s go through a real-life example, using a company-sponsored (company not to be named) health plan from a couple of years ago.   We will compare two plans:  the most expensive “Cadillac” plan, and the least expensive “High Deductible” (HDHP) plan.  Both plans will generall

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