Sugar Land and Missouri City residents turn to alternative health care options

With the rise in health care costs and insurance across the country, local health care officials said people who are uninsured, underinsured or simply hoping to save money are starting to venture out of the traditional primary care model.

What you need to know

Several models including membership-based care, mobile clinics and community health centers have risen as alternatives available for people living in Sugar Land and Missouri City.

Membership-based care is designed for people who want convenient access to medical treatment at a flat monthly or annual cost instead of using traditional health care insurance.

Next Level Urgent Care, a membership-based care clinic, began strictly as an urgent care before shifting towards the membership-based care model—called Next Level Prime—they use today, which offers treatment for non-life threatening conditions in medical, mental and behavioral health.

April Gillam, Next Level’s chief operating officer, said besides the membership’s affordability, patients having the freedom to see a doctor as late as 9 p.m. and 24/7 telemedicine access has been a huge draw.

“Just like we all got used to Uber and DoorDash and Amazon, and we’ve gotten almost addicted to that easy button, people want their health care to be as easy as those radically delightful consumer experiences,” Gillam said.

Zooming in

Another option for patients are mobile clinics, which can take on many forms, including vehicles or mobile stations such as OnMed’s CareStation, which is a clinic in a box inside Fiesta Mart in Missouri City, Community Impact reported.

CareStation clinicians appear human-sized on screen and can remotely take patient vitals, including weight, temperature, blood pressure and more.

Individuals can also visit community health centers such as AccessHealth, which has locations in Missouri City and Stafford. The center offers a variety of services including family medicine, women’s services, dental care and counseling with fees on a sliding scale based on a person’s income and the size of their household.

By the numbers

As the growing financial strain continues to impact patients, many physicians are taking on more responsibilities with their rising caseload.

Though burnout statistics for doctors have improved in recent years, over 43% of doctors have faced some level of burnout. While the overall workweek has shortened for physicians, the American Medical Association found a majority of doctors still spend time on electronic health records outside of work.

Ravi Aron, professor of health care strategy and technology at the C. T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston, said the supply of physicians and clinicians is not expanding to meet the demand for clinical services, with a report by the Texas Department of State Health Services showing the Texas physician shortage is projected to increase through 2032.

Looking ahead

Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, an online data tool that monitors the performance of the U.S. health care system, reports health care spending will reach 19.7% of the country’s gross domestic product by 2032, which has health officials looking at other alternative insurance options.

One example of that is a health cooperative, which aims to compete against private insurance by offering a member-owned cooperative that pays doctors and hospitals directly to keep costs down.

Art Goetze, CEO of Scoop Health, a health cooperative partnership with Next Level called Health Access Plus Prime, said similar to membership-based care, people pay a monthly fee to join Health Access.

Goetze said with a $1,000 deductible, a single person age 30-39 pays $316 per month, and a family of four in that same age range pays $778 per month.

Aron said other options to insurance include the universal single payer, where one entity is responsible for providing health care instead of multiple private insurance companies.