Direct care is a progressive medical care model that focuses on the patient-doctor relationship rather than the insurance-payor-to-doctor relationship. We do not participate with any insurance or government healthcare programs. This model takes the middleman out of patient care, cuts through the layers of bureaucratic complexity, and allows us to provide good, old-fashioned medicine in modern times. 

Doctors have more time to spend with patients because we are no longer feeling the rising pressure from dwindling insurance reimbursement, frustrating denied insurance claims for standard practices, or private equity firms dictating the time we spend with patients to keep our revenue machine trending up and staffing costs down. 

In direct care, patients pay a reasonable fee, in full, for their care at the time of their visit and there are no surprise bills after the visit because we are not depending on insurance companies to approve the visit. All of this leads to a better experience for the patient and the doctor.

Yes. Dr. Goddard is considered an out-of-network provider for ALL insurance plans. This doesn’t mean that you cannot be seen by Dr Goddard, it only means that our office will not submit your visit to your insurance company for reimbursement. 

• For those of you with private payer insurance (not government-supported), we can provide you with a superbill with the necessary codes for your visit, which you can submit to your insurance. This will allow your visit expense with Dr Goddard to count toward your deductible or may result in reimbursement to you if you have met your deductible
• You can also use a HSA or FSA card to pay for your visit with Dr Goddard. These types of pre-tax funds are perfect for out-of-network medical expenses such as direct care medicine. 

Certain patients who have government insurance policies, such as Medicaid, are not permitted to be seen for non-cosmetic services due to government regulations.

We have options for you! 

• You can use your insurance for most pathology (biopsy) lab fees and blood work that is typically covered by your plan. We can submit a copy of your insurance card alone with the lab specimen. We cannot know ahead of time how much they will cover or what your responsibility of the bill will be. 
• We have negotiated drastically lower “cash based” prices with our pathology lab and certain labs for bloodwork (such as Quest) that we can pass along to you, should you choose not to use your insurance, or if you do not have insurance. These reduced rates are 75-90% lower than what insurance is billed for the same test! That just goes to show how much insurance inflates prices of services!

We keep it simple. Without third party payors, we remove the extreme regulations, administrative costs, and labor associated with contracting with insurance companies and government plans. That means we can pass that savings and extra time on to your care.  

With skyrocketing healthcare costs, patients pay expensive insurance premiums yet still can’t afford care due to high deductibles and co-pays. To make matters worse, patients have no idea what their out-of-pocket costs are until they receive a surprise bill months later. With direct care, there are no surprise bills or statements that show up after the visit.

Patients with high deductibles or no insurance will likely find that our fees are significantly lower than what they are currently paying out-of-pocket. 

Maine Direct Dermatology offers savings on prescription medications by getting creative. We can use a compounded medication formulary, direct medication dispensing in the office at wholesale prices, and other cost-saving options to get you the most affordable pricing on prescription medications.

• If you have private insurance such as BCBS, Aetna, etc., we can provide you with a superbill that includes visit codes. You can submit this to your insurance, yourself, and they will evaluate if your office visit fees from MD Derm can be used toward your deductible or you may even get reimbursed if you have met your deductible for the year.
• If you have a government based insurance plan such as Medicare or Medicaid, we can not provide you with a superbill and they do not allow you to be reimbursed for visit with MD Derm. 
• For private insurance and Medicare patients, you can chose to use your insurance for lab fees, imaging (radiology), pathologist fees, and prescriptions.