In 2020, Urgent Care offices in Hawai’i were overrun. Seeing the need for medical help, Dr. Scott McMurry didn’t hesitate to answer the call. He packed eighteen bins with the essentials to start a new life and moved from the mainland to O‘ahu with his wife and four keiki.
Growing up in rural Texas, Scott McMurry saw what it was like not to have specialists around. His father, a General Practice physician in a small town, had to be creative with his resources. He delivered babies, treated patients in the hospital, and ran his own clinic. Yet, it wasn’t until Scott joined the army that he considered following the same career.
“When I was an infantryman in the 82nd Airborne, we were deployed to Iraq. My close friends were sustaining significant injuries, both mental and physical, and I didn't have the skill set needed to support them. That drove my desire to pursue medicine,” Dr. McMurry shares.
Medicine’s leadership aspect and improving people’s quality of life convinced him he was on the right path. He continued medical training and graduated from universities in Texas and Kentucky, then residency training in Pennsylvania, which prepared him for his work in O‘ahu during lockdown.
Once the pandemic ended, it was evident to Dr. McMurry that the Health Care system in the U.S. didn’t work. “Insurance companies have no business in primary care. Medical insurance is designed for catastrophe, something we can't plan for. When we ask it to cover primary care, the insurance companies put so many barriers in between doctors and patients that nobody has access to care.”
Seeking a permanent solution, Dr. McMurry moved to the Big Island and delved into Direct Care, a movement that has been around for 20–30 years. On the mainland, it’s been a relief valve to a broken system by improving access and decreasing costs.
In this fresh approach, patients pay a monthly membership fee that covers what direct primary care physicians do for them within their practice — which generally is 80–90% of a person’s health care needs. There are no co-pays or deductibles, and patients can still use their insurance for anything else outside the clinic.
Dr. McMurry shares that Big Island residents have been thrown into a “take it or leave it” system, where customer service takes a backseat. The system sees the insurance as the customer, not the patient. If someone doesn’t like the doctor or clinic they’re at, they must look for another option, but good luck because the alternatives are few. Direct Care presents another possibility: building a relationship with your doctor and skipping the line.
When someone is sick, even with a platinum plan, they might be unable to schedule an appointment with their PCP soon enough because they’re competing with everybody for the same doctor spots. “Coverage does not equal care, and that's really the problem. Access is what people need.”
The patient has to go to Urgent Care or the ER and meet Dr. Stranger, hoping the treatment plan they receive works. On the other hand, Direct Care builds an ongoing relationship with a doctor who knows their medical history and is immediately available.
At Waiola Direct Care, Dr. McMurry keeps slots open daily so his patients can schedule appointments within 48 hours, or he helps them over the phone. The waiting is over. Family doctors are back. Quality care can be the new norm.
“We're trying to show to this community that there's a better way to do primary care. We want our patients to have peace of mind that they have a medical home here,” says Dr. McMurry.
Learn more at WaiolaDirectCare.com.
Coverage does not equal care, and that's really the problem.