On the East Side of St. Paul, Dr. Maisee Lor is getting ready to open a new clinic that she hopes will help patients facing high health care costs.
Lor’s clinic, called My Healthy Family, is using a model called direct primary care, also known as DPC. Instead of billing insurance, patients pay a monthly fee and can see Lor as many times as they would like. She said it can be a more affordable option for people with high-deductable insurance plans or for those who have no health insurance at all. Her clinic will open next Monday at 1504 White Bear Ave N.
While Lor said she could make more money if she continued to work in a traditional clinic, that’s not her goal.
“It’s to give back to the community, it’s to make health care more affordable,” she said.
Following the passage of HR 1 last year, also called the “The One, Big Beautiful Bill Act” by the Trump administration, social service and health programs like Medicaid are expected to undergo extensive cuts. Private health insurance premiums have also soared, and many Americans face deductibles that are thousands of dollars high. Doctors who provide direct primary care say these impacts will make the model more essential.
“In the long run, I think it saves people a ton of money, I really do,” said Dr. Nick Krawczyk, who runs Torrey Pines Direct Primary Care in Northfield.
Lor said she also sees DPC as an option for undocumented immigrants. Starting this past year, undocumented adults were no longer eligible for MinnesotaCare, a state-funded health insurance plan. Without insurance, those who work in healthcare fear that patients will put off care until situations become dire, which could land them in the emergency room. Lor said DPC will allow undocumented patients to get routine care.
The cost for care at Lor’s clinic is $85 a month for adults and $65 for children. If patients just want to see Lor once, such as if they have an urgent care need, they can pay a one-time cost instead of a monthly membership. She will provide preventative care like physicals and wellness exams, as well as treatment for acute illnesses and minor procedures like biopsies and birth control device insertions.
In addition to office visits, patients can also get lab work through DPC clinics for a much lower price. Lor said lab work like blood draws is generally cheaper when paid out of pocket versus when billed to insurance.
A newer model
DPC is a newer health care model that has been around for about 20 years. A small group of doctors offer DPC in Minnesota, which they say is growing.
Dr. Alya Jawaid operates her own clinic, Zephyr Direct Primary Care in St. Paul. She said she’s been seeing a recent increase in inquiries from people who have a high-deductible health insurance plan in case of an emergency, but want to see a primary care doctor more regularly at a lower cost.
Doctors who operate DPC clinics said the model allows them to spend more time with their patients. In traditional clinic settings, doctors are typically limited to 20 minutes with a patient. With a smaller client size at a DPC practice, they can spend an hour or more with a patient.
“I just wish I’d done it sooner. It is just such a different model of medicine,” Jawaid said.
Lor previously worked at a CentraCare clinic in St. Cloud. She typically saw about 18 patients a day. At her DPC clinic, she plans to see about six to seven patients a day.
Krawczyk said doctors can easily get burnt out trying to see so many patients a day. He said the pace of a DPC clinic is more sustainable, and the relationship between the patient and doctor can be more meaningful.
“This, I think, is what will save our profession,” he said.
Reaching new communities
Lor, who is Hmong, hopes to work more with the Hmong population in the Twin Cities. She said she intentionally selected her clinic to be located on St. Paul’s East Side, which has a large Hmong population.
“I love the diversity here and the varying socioeconomic status of the patient population,” she said.
She said she’s more aware of certain conditions that might impact communities of color. For example, she said sometimes Asian people can be at a higher risk for diabetes, stroke and heart attacks, even if they are at a healthy weight.
Lor will be the only employee at the clinic for now, and she’s operating out of a small space to keep overhead costs low. Other DPC doctors like Jawaid said it took them a few years after starting their business for it to become profitable.
Starting her own clinic has not been easy, but Lor said it’s worth it. In May, amidst preparing for her clinic, she welcomed her sixth child. She and her husband are in the process of moving their family from St. Cloud to the Twin Cities metro. She said her husband has been her biggest supporter.
“After talking to him about it, and telling him about this other side to medicine that he was never aware of, he said, ‘I think you’ll be able to target another population that nobody ever thinks about,’” Lor said.
