CRESTWOOD, Ky. — The parking lot is less full these days, although the nature of Bluegrass Family Wellness in Crestwood makes the parking lot less busy typically than many physician’s offices.
Doctor Molly Rutherford is a direct primary care physician. This means her patients pay a monthly membership fee for services. Patients spend more one-on-one time than sitting in a waiting room.
In 2017 we were at a roundtable held there by Senator Rand Paul who was looking at direct primary care as a way of allowing patients to have better access to their doctors, reduce patient costs and cut bureaucratic red tape.
“With this pandemic, it's been a lot easier for me versus many other physicians throughout the community to adjust and be nimble during this crisis”, said Doctor Rutherford.
She explained that was because many doctors run into billing issues when trying to provide Telemedicine. For her it's an aspect she is already practicing and her patients see no additional billing. None of her patients have tested positive for COVID-19 but she's fielded plenty of calls and set up protocols for drive-up testing if needed.
She also has an interesting connection to the man much of America is looking to for the truth in this crisis--Doctor Anthony Fauci.
Dr Rutherford worked with Dr. Fauci at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.
“I've been saying, since the beginning of this really, to my friends and family members to listen to him as much as possible”, Dr. Rutherford told us. “Find videos of him, news interviews with him because I trust him to give the truth exactly as it is”
Doctor Fauci also wrote one of her letters of recommendation to get into medical school.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty with this virus because it's new so he's not going to say that we know exactly what is going to happen if we don't' know, but I trust that he'll tell it straight to the American people”, she said.
Dr. Rutheford thinks that the next couple of weeks will be critical in knowing whether we've flattened the curve. She also suspects that this crisis will be a wakeup call for those looking for alternative medical options and you may see more physicians go the direct primary care route when all of this clears.
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