Dr. Risa Davidson is a believer that the concept of membership-based care is the future of medicine.
The Carmel resident recently opened Little Village Pediatrics, a concierge-style direct primary care physician’s office, at 12740 Meeting House Rd. in Carmel’s Village of West Clay.
“I think it’s a better way to do medicine or I wouldn’t be doing it,” said Davidson, who plans to cap the number of patients at 200. “The whole point is to get back to the patient/physician relationship and having the direct access to your doctor when needed.”
Davidson said in larger health systems there is a wall between doctor and patient.
“It’s hard to get access to them,” Davidson said. “The sheer number of patients that are to be seen and how many you have to take care of is just overwhelming, so there has to be so many middlemen because you can’t take care of 2,000 people. It’s just impossible to do that. The membership concept is much, much smaller numbers, so you don’t have all those middlemen. And you’re not battling insurance about getting certain things covered.”
Davidson said, especially in pediatrics, insurance can dictate when a well-check visit can take place.
“That can create problems when kids are needing sports physicals,” she said. “We can do multiple well-checks in a year. It doesn’t have to be one well-check visit that you are unloading every concern and problem you have about your kid into one visit and also a 15-minute time slot. When you work for a big health system, every well visit is a 15-minute time slot.”
Davidson said most of her appointments are an hour long.
“It’s mostly however long the parent wants,” she said. “But I have that time to give to them. They have my cellphone number. If they have a concern, they get me. They just text me. There is not a nurse triage. At 7 o’clock at night if something happens, they get me. With kids, nothing ever happens during business hours. That is something every parent knows.”
Davidson, who has two children, said it was frustrating when she would learn patients would get unusual advice from an overnight service or be sent for an unnecessary emergency room visit.
“Any same-day visit we can do, a strep test, a flu test and blood draws in the office,” Davidson said. “There are no hidden fees.”
Davidson, who attended Indiana University as an undergraduate and then University of Pikeville (Ky.) School of Osteopathic Medicine, started her residency at Riley Hospital for Children in 2009. Davidson, who grew up in Geist, graduated from Lawrence Central High School in 2001.
For more information and monthly rates, visit littlevillagepediatrics.com.
