To restore the patient-doctor relationship. Billing insurance requires extra staff, complicates office workflow, and increases costs. More patients need to be seen, which means less time with each. Contracting with you directly eliminates these costs. You get faster appointment scheduling, minimal wait times, and a comfortable, unhurried visit to discuss your care.

You won't have to pay a co-pay for office visits. Also, you'll be able to avoid many visits altogether by sending your questions directly to us via email and text for timely replies — something you usually won't get from a traditional practice. We've negotiated lower prices for many blood tests and imaging on your behalf. We pass these savings to you.

Of course. Everyone benefits from a service tailored directly to them. That’s why we offer truly customized healthcare. We help you proactively maintain good overall health. Every visit with us will be thorough, relaxed, and as long as you need to address your endocrine concerns. The longer you're our patient, the more we learn about your health and lifestyle, and the better we can help you maintain that health.

No. The terms are often mistakenly used interchangeably, but they are not the same. Concierge practice generally charges several hundred dollars a month and bills insurance. Under direct pediatric endocrine care, your visits are included in your fee, plus you're provided with other incredible benefits like wholesale pricing for some labs and imaging studies, direct digital communication with your doctor, and all the rest

Here are a few articles that profile the direct care approach to medicine:

• TIME Medicine is About to Get Personal

• U.S. News Physicians Abandon Insurance for Blue Collar Model

• WRAL Patients Pay Monthly Fee, Not Insurance Co-Pay to See Raleigh Physician

• Direct care map at https://www.dpcfrontier.com

The fee covers pediatric endocrine care through office visits with no copay. This includes office visits for chronic care with minimal wait times in the office. The fee also covers direct communications with your doctor via phone, text, video chat, or email.

We accept all major credit cards.

We treat patients from newborns up to age 21 years with endocrine (hormone) conditions. We help you manage type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, pediatric overweight, pediatric obesity, or disorders causing low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). We evaluate and treat short stature due to conditions causing poor growth. We manage thyroid disorders such as congenital hypothyroidism, acquired hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, or thyroid nodules. We manage adrenal disorders such as congenital adrenal hyperplasia or premature adrenarche. Among other endocrine conditions we manage are growth hormone deficiency, diabetes insipidus, and panhypopituitarism. Please see services for additional details.

We believe that having such unprecedented direct access to your doctor will reduce hospitalizations and specialty referrals in many cases. When those types of care are required, Dr. Gupta will coordinate with your hospitalist and any specialist. She isn’t able to see patients in the hospital, but she is more than happy to speak with your care team, and she will help you safely make the transition from hospital to home.

We refer appropriately to a licensed and registered dietitian as well as a certified diabetes educator to optimize your diabetes care. Some licensed dietitians are also certified diabetes educators, which simplifies your encounter. These professionals will directly bill your insurance for their services.

We maintain high standards of patient privacy. We will never provide your health information to any third party unless you specifically ask that we do so or as required by law.

Charges will be added and applied to your preferred method of payment when non-covered labs and procedures are ordered.

We expect to have an open, honest, respectful relationship with you. If you have voiced a complaint that we cannot satisfy together, we will gladly allow you to terminate your membership.

We will evaluate your child for potential endocrine disorders, which typically requires serial visits over time to assess growth carefully. If we diagnose a condition indicating endocrine therapy, we will discuss the risks and potential benefits of therapy with you.

Yes, we are happy to see and work with you, irrespective of your insurance situation. Since we work completely outside of the insurance system, none of the billing for physician services here is eligible for insurance reimbursement. However, we recommend everyone have insurance coverage, which is still important in the event of a major health issue and to cover those services not included in your membership.

Yes. We recommend our patients continue a major medical plan with a high deductible. If you experience a major health issue such as hospitalization, you will still need insurance to help cover it.

Yes. You will need to sign a one-time waiver declaring that neither you nor your doctor will directly bill Medicare for our services. Even though Medicare will not pay us for any services you receive in our practice, your Medicare benefits will otherwise remain unchanged and can continue to be used for all other medical care received outside of our practice.

Medicare will cover laboratory testing, imaging, medications, or hospitalizations recommended by our physician, if, and to the extent that it would normally cover such services.

No, you can cancel your relationship with our practice at any time by providing 30 days' written notice to us. Patients who leave the practice and then subsequently decide to return to this practice will incur the prevailing enrollment fee.