FAQ: Direct Primary Care Memberships

The monthly membership fee allows us to provide the vast majority of a person’s primary care in a transparent, less complicated way by offering a simple, fixed price. Much like your Netflix account or gym membership, the membership fee allows patients to better budget their healthcare finances; without worrying about extra costs, co-pays and deductibles for routine care.

Absolutely! We are pleased to partner with you to bring our quality medical services to your employees and save them time away from work waiting at the doctor’s office. Small businesses using direct primary care offer their employees value by offering the accessibility to care which reduces lost time and workers comp claims, while increasing productivity and job satisfaction. Small businesses are also able to offer affordable primary care services within their benefits plans without the high costs of obtaining third-party or self-insured insurance plans. Please contact us to learn more

We do not think of our services as “extra”; rather an independent, alternative and better way to do your primary care. Most of our members save money when combining Althera Alternative Care with a high-deductible health insurance or medical cost sharing plan (vs. standard low-deductible/”copay” insurance plans).

Yes. We do offer episodic medical service for persons not participating in the membership plan. These fees are listed in our service fee schedule.

We do not require members to sign any contract that commits them to a certain period of time. Rather, memberships are ongoing and open but must be paid ongoing in order to maintain service with us. A minimum of the first month of membership and a registration fee is paid upfront and are non-refundable. If you decide to cancel and have a balance of prepaid membership fees remaining, a pro-rated refund will be given to you based upon date of cancellation.

Yes, we do allow for re-enrollment after cancellation, but members will be charged a re-enrollment fee of $200 per member before service can be restarted.

A little, but without the high price tag . . . or valet parking! We provide a concierge level of service to all members but try to make things affordable for people of all incomes, with or without insurance.

Yes. Our memberships (eligibility or fees) are not based upon any existing medical issues or conditions.

No, we do NOT have any income or health guidelines to become a member. Our fees are the same regardless of income, insurance arrangement, level of health or utilization of our services.

That’s great! HIGH FIVE to you! Our primary focus is to keep members well and avoid unnecessary medication use and or repetitive medical care. In following, we dedicate more time to prevention and lifestyle change to decrease reliance on an expensive, cumbersome health care system. However, when you do need care, we are available 24/7 to help get you back on track; and avoid trips to ER or urgent care.

Althera providers are only licensed in the state of New Mexico and cannot practice medicine in other states. For persons residing in New Mexico, we are happy to facilitate your care in our clinic. If a member establishes care (i.e. has a visit) in-person, we can provide remote monitoring of issues over phone and internet for some period of time even if the member is out of state. Ultimately, some care (i.e. sick visits, injury evaluation etc.) must be provided in-person and for the reason, we do not encourage people to join our practice unless they can reasonably visit us in person as required to most effectively evaluate their complaint.