Dr. Dru Hauter of Central Illinois Direct Care to host ribbon cut for new office on January 25th

[January 20, 2020]  The community is invited to a ribbon cut for a new medical office in Lincoln. Central Illinois Direct Care, 1411 North Kickapoo in Lincoln will celebrate its opening on January 25th with a ribbon cut at 11:45 and a sandwich reception immediately following.

The practice, owned by local physician Dr. Dru Hauter, is a “back to the future” type practice. Hauter joins of list of approximately 5,000 doctors who have established private practices with the goal of having a better, more personal connection to their patients through a membership program that saves dollars and makes sense.

Hauter opened his offices in November and is already very excited about the response he has received from the community.

He noted that he set a goal for his practice in regard to the number of patients he could serve, and in the first two months of service he has reached the 20 percent mark on that goal.

Direct Care is a relatively new concept that is growing quickly throughout the United States. Dr. Hauter noted that just five short years ago in 2015 there were approximately 500 physicians who were offering direct care services. Now there are approximately 5,000 who have decided to go direct with their medical care.

So, how does this new type of medical care work? Simply put, patients pay a monthly membership for medical care. Then, regardless of the number of visits they have to make per year, they pay zero for their appointment. Dr. Hauter gave an example, doing a blood test will cost extra, but even so, the overall cost of seeing the doctor is greatly reduced.

Another example, an adult age 19 or over is going to pay $75 per month. That comes to $900 per year. At the going rate of $160 per office visit at other offices, that $900 can be used up in less than six months if a patient goes to the doctor once per month.

In addition, to saving on visits, Dr. Hauter is also set up to administer certain medications right from his office and offers those at steep discounts compared to local pharmacies.

The practice is direct care and direct payment between the patient and doctor. The office does not take insurance, nor is it set up to accept Medicare or Medicaid. However, that should not be a hindrance.

Dr. Hauter said for those who do have health insurance coverage, they may be able to submit their monthly memberships to their insurance and have it go against their deductible if a doctor’s visit is involved. While he is not an insurance man, the best advice he would offer is call the phone number on the back of the insurance card and ask questions.

He called his own insurance provider and found that if the billing from his office contains a diagnosis, then yes, it can be applied to the deductible. All insurance companies are different, and Dr. Hauter can make no promises as to what each one will cover, but it is worth asking.

And, of course, if the illness is serious and requires hospitalization or a specialist, the health insurance plan can kick in then and help cover those extra costs.

For those that don’t have health coverage, this is the type of practice that could quite literally be a life saver. Dr. Hauter said that there are so many cases where people do not go to a doctor because of the costs, and they get sicker and sicker until the time comes that they have no choice. Many are the times when something simple as a chest cold can work itself into something more serious such as bronchitis or pneumonia because a person could not afford the doctor visit and put it off.

For those who have a number of health concerns, the direct care plan can also be a huge advantage. Again looking at the ‘back to the future’ concept, patients have one doctor who knows them personally, knows their history, and cares about them on a personal level.

When a patient calls Dr. Hauter, the good doctor himself is the one who answers the phone. He can talk through issues with the patient and sometimes make an initial assessment through that phone call. Then it can be decided should the patient come in right away or can he or she wait until the next day. Dr. Hauter said that the goal is to see every patient within 24 hours of that call.

At the same time, he said that sometimes, no visit is needed. He said for example if someone calls and they have a rash. Cellphones have cameras, and he can ask the patient to photo the rash and text him a picture. From there, Dr. Hauter may be able to tell the patient if the problem warrants a visit to the office or perhaps just an over the counter cream from the drug store.

Dr. Hauter is a veteran physician who has practiced medicine in the area for several years, but had retired. He said that after retirement he had a lot of friends and family who would call him with what they considered to be their small ailment. They would tell him what was going on and ask if they should go to a doctor. He noted that even though he was retired, he enjoyed helping those who needed him, and once a doctor always a doctor. He decided that he could open a medical practice again utilizing the Direct Care model, and considers this to be his “retirement job.”

The Hauter family is all involved in medicine. Dru’s wife Marcia is a doctor, their daughter Emily is an ICU nurse, and their son Ben is currently in medical school.

Dr. Hauter said it was actually Ben who helped Dru find his way to direct care medicine. His son had reached out to him from school and asked if Dr. Hauter had ever heard of Direct Care physicians. He had not. Ben shared that he had done some research on it and that there was an upcoming conference in Indianapolis. He suggested he and his dad attend the conference. Dr. Hauter liked what he heard and he became more and more interested in bringing this kind of practice to Logan County.

Though only 57, Hauter is retired, and he says that currently the office and the practice are part time based on the needs of his patients. He explained that once a patient becomes a member of the Direct Care program, he or she is given complete access to the doctor with a cellphone number and an email address. Regardless of where he is or what he is doing, patients can reach Dr. Hauter because they have those personal connections that many offices will not provide.

In addition, he said that he currently co-ops with another Direct Care doctor in Leroy. That community is only 38 miles from Lincoln. Hauter said that if he is ever unable to get to Lincoln, for example if he’s on a trip or family vacation, he can refer his patient to the doctor in Leroy and vice versa.

In talking about the doctor at Leroy, Dr. Hauter said that one of the points she had made when he started was that she was seeing patients coming from outside her immediate community because they wanted the Direct Care experience and price. Dr. Hauter said he anticipates that the same thing can happen locally and, when people come from outside the community they are afforded an opportunity to see what else Lincoln and Logan County has to offer.

Dr. Hauter said that Lincoln and Logan County have always been ‘his community.” While he doesn’t live in Lincoln, he has always considered this to be home. Over the years he has been involved in local projects such as volunteering beside his wife and kids in the Together for Lincoln work days and he was one of the original founders of the Lincoln Futbol Club, representing the club alongside other interested parents and coaches in approaching the city of Lincoln to establish the soccer complex behind Wal-Mart.

Hauter is married to his college sweetheart and fellow doctor Marcia Hauter. They have two children. Emily is their oldest. She is married to Logan County Sheriff’s Deputy Evan Wilkins and the two have a brand new baby girl named Parker. Emily is an ICU nurse. Ben is their youngest and is currently studying medicine as well.

The entire family is looking forward to being at the ribbon cut on the 25th and are hopeful that the community will come out and spend some time with them on that day getting to know the doctor and his family as well as getting acquainted with the practice.

LDN also ran an article about Dr. Hauter’s new style of practice in November. To learn even more about the doctor and the Direct Care program be sure to read that story as well.

Getting the kind of medical care you need and deserve in central Illinois

[Nila Smith]