Express Family Clinic in Porter requires no appointments and charges a flat rate for visits—a business model designed to help patients with and without insurance alike, owner and Family Nurse Practitioner Melissa Herpel said.

The need

Herpel opened Express Family Clinic—which offers primary care and diagnostic services for children and adults—after discovering gaps in local health care for patients without insurance.

“There just wasn't a great way for those patients to get the same kind of health care as those with commercial insurance and be able to afford it,” Herpel said.

A nurse practitioner since 2007, Herpel said many patients without insurance would go to the emergency room for minor illnesses or for medication refills because they couldn’t afford the visit charges at primary care clinics.


“That's just not a good way for health care to work, and it certainly isn't sustainable,” Herpel said.

Express Family Clinic also welcomes patients with insurance, but does not bill insurance companies, Herpel said. However, patients can seek reimbursement from their insurer.

The action taken

From 2011-18, Herpel opened three Express Family Clinic locations—in Spring, Conroe and Porter. In 2023, the Porter clinic relocated to its current location on FM 1314, after Herpel purchased a plot of land and opened a shopping center.


Herpel said she is hoping to find more tenants for her shopping center that are health care-related—such as a dentist or therapy office—so patients can access a wider range of services in one place.

“I'm really trying to get people from the community, people who live and work around here, who want to be entrepreneurs as well,” Herpel said. “I want to give them the chance that I got so many years ago.”

What else?

Other services offered at Express Family Clinic include telehealth appointments; vaccinations, which come with flat costs; and sports physicals, which include electrocardiograms, for students.


Herpel said she also likes to help the local community by participating in health fairs at local school districts, and offering information and resources to locals.

“We are here to help the community. ... This is where we are, this is where we live,” Herpel said. “This is what we love to do.”