More Time
Visits designed to allow a real conversation rather than a rush through a checklist.
Direct Primary Care
Direct Primary Care in Orange County, CA
Imagine having a doctor in your family.
A doctor who knows you. A doctor you can reach. A doctor who has the time to listen — and who stays involved in your health, not only when something goes wrong. That is the idea behind Direct Primary Care at TruFamilyMD: a closer physician-patient relationship without the usual insurance hassle.
Primary Care Was Never Supposed to Feel This Rushed
Healthcare has become more fragmented than it used to be. You may see a different clinician at each visit and repeat your history every time. Appointments can be weeks out, and the visit itself can end before you reach the concern you came in with. Care arrives from several places at once, with no single physician holding the whole picture.
None of this is the fault of the clinicians inside those systems. Many excellent physicians are asked to deliver thorough care within schedules that make it genuinely difficult. The system changed — but what patients need did not. People still do better with a physician who knows them.
TruFamilyMD is organized around that relationship on purpose. Direct Primary Care is the structure that makes it possible.
Contact us to ask a question or schedule a free Meet & Greet.
What Is Direct Primary Care?
Direct Primary Care, often called DPC, is a membership-based model of primary care in which patients pay their primary care practice directly for an ongoing relationship and a defined set of primary care services. By reducing dependence on insurance billing for routine primary care, the model can let a practice focus on access, continuity, communication and the physician-patient relationship.
In a typical insurance-driven practice, the problems are familiar: long waits for an appointment, visits that feel rushed, and little contact with your doctor between visits. When a medication or test is needed, prior authorization can add days or weeks of delay, and the doctor's attention is often divided between clinical work and billing paperwork. Direct Primary Care was created to remove those barriers so physicians can spend more time with patients and patients can reach their physician when it matters.
Have questions about whether Direct Primary Care fits your situation? Contact us and we will be glad to walk through it with you.
Traditional model
- Patient
- Insurance and billing infrastructure
- Primary care
Direct Primary Care
- Patient
- Doctor
How it works
How Direct Primary Care Works at TruFamilyMD
01
Become a Member
Choose the TruFamilyMD membership that fits your situation. Membership is $150 per month (and a one-time enrollment fee of $150) and covers the ongoing primary care relationship described during your Meet & Greet.
02
Get to Know Your Doctor
Care begins with understanding your health history, current concerns, medications, family context and what you actually want your health to allow you to do.
03
Reach Us When You Need Care
Members have direct messaging with the practice, priority scheduling, telehealth where clinically appropriate and flexible hours, with same or next-day appointments when possible.
04
Access Wholesale, Transparent Pricing
Many medications, lab tests and imaging are arranged at cash-price or wholesale rates when appropriate, with savings that can reach up to 98% off typical retail pricing in some cases. Members know the cost before they decide.
05
Build a Long-Term Relationship
The goal is not only to handle today's problem. It is to have a physician who understands the longer story of your health and can follow it over years.
What members value
Primary Care Built Around You
Better Access
A closer connection with your primary care practice when a question or concern comes up.
Continuity
An ongoing relationship with a physician who already knows your history.
Personalization
Recommendations that consider the individual in front of us, not simply the average patient.
Prevention
Attention to risk factors and long-term health, not only today's symptoms.
Advocacy
When healthcare becomes complicated, a physician who knows your story can help you think through the next step.
Care is always individualized. No practice can guarantee a medical outcome, and this page does not attempt to.
The TruFamilyMD difference
Imagine Having a Doctor in Your Family
Healthcare has become increasingly fragmented. You may see a different clinician at each visit. Repeat your story again and again. Wait weeks for an appointment — only to feel rushed when you finally get there.
TruFamilyMD was created around a different idea: the best care happens when your doctor is truly there for you.
Someone who knows you — not just your chart, but your history, your concerns, your goals and what matters to you. Someone you can turn to when you have a question. Someone who helps you make sense of confusing medical information, guides you through difficult decisions and stays involved when your care becomes complicated.
Most importantly, someone who advocates for your health as if you were family.
Care for You, Like Family.
Your physician
Meet Your Physician: Trung Pham, MD, FACP
Dr. Pham did not start TruFamilyMD to build a bigger practice. He started it because the kind of physician-patient relationship he believed in becomes very hard to sustain when care is rushed and fragmented — and he wanted to practice medicine the way it works best for patients.
- Board certified in Internal Medicine (American Board of Internal Medicine)
- Diplomate of the American Board of Obesity Medicine
- Fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP)
- Certified menopause practitioner and member of the North American Menopause Society
- Associate Professor of Medicine — University of Missouri Kansas City
- Care and conversations available in English and Vietnamese
Areas we can help with
Your Primary Care Home
Direct Primary Care is meant to be your ongoing primary care relationship — the first place you bring a health question and the place your history lives.
Preventive Care
Screening, risk review and the habits that protect health over time.
Routine Primary Care
The everyday concerns that need a physician who already knows you.
Chronic Disease Management
Ongoing follow-up for conditions that need consistency rather than one-off visits.
Metabolic Health
Blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol and weight considered together.
Weight Management
Physician-guided weight care informed by your history, labs and medications. Since Dr. Pham is board-certified in Obesity Medicine, weight and metabolic concerns can be discussed in the same continuous relationship.
Women's Health & Menopause
Time to discuss perimenopause and menopause symptoms, options and long-term health. Dr. Pham is a certified menopause practitioner and member of the North American Menopause Society.
Medication Review
A periodic look at what you take, why you take it and whether it still fits.
Care Coordination
Help making sense of specialist recommendations and test results.
Health Questions & Guidance
Somewhere to bring the question you would otherwise search for online.
These are areas the practice can help with. They are not a list of services automatically included in membership — what your membership includes is explained clearly during your Meet & Greet, and some care, testing and medications are billed separately or through your insurance.
If weight is the concern that brought you here, you can also read about physician-led medical weight loss in Orange County. You do not have to be a membership patient to be seen for that care.
Comparison
How Is Direct Primary Care Different?
| Direct Primary Care at TruFamilyMD | Insurance-based primary care | |
|---|---|---|
| Payment model | A flat monthly membership paid directly to the practice. | Routine primary care is generally billed through insurance, with copays or deductibles. |
| Visit experience | Visits are planned around the conversation the concern requires. | Visit length is often shaped by the schedule the practice has to keep, and visits can feel rushed. |
| Physician access | Direct messaging with the practice, priority scheduling and telehealth where appropriate. | Contact typically routes through a front desk or portal queue, and new-patient appointments may have a waitlist. |
| Continuity | You see Dr. Pham, visit after visit. | Continuity varies; some practices offer it, others rotate clinicians. |
| Communication | Questions between visits are part of the relationship. | Between-visit communication depends on the practice's staffing and policies. |
| Insurance billing for routine primary care | The practice does not bill insurance for membership primary care. | Routine primary care is billed to your plan. |
| Relationship focus | The membership exists to fund the relationship itself. | The relationship depends on what the visit structure allows. |
Practices differ, and many insurance-based practices provide excellent care. This comparison describes common differences in structure, not a judgment about individual physicians. Direct Primary Care does not replace health insurance.
Fit
Is Direct Primary Care Right for You?
Direct Primary Care is not the right fit for everyone. It tends to suit people in situations like these:
- You value an ongoing relationship with one physician.
- You want more time to talk through your health.
- You want easier communication with your primary care practice.
- You have several concerns that are hard to cover in a short visit.
- You want to focus more intentionally on prevention.
- You want a physician who understands your history over time.
- You find fragmented healthcare frustrating.
- You want primary care that feels more personal.
Not sure whether DPC is right for you?
Schedule a Free Meet & GreetDirect Primary Care for Orange County
TruFamilyMD serves patients across Orange County, California. In-person care is available in Direct Primary Care in Irvine, CA, Fountain Valley and Westminster. Patients living elsewhere in the county — including neighboring communities such as Tustin, Santa Ana, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach and Garden Grove — are welcome as members and are seen at one of those three locations, with telehealth where it is clinically appropriate. We do not maintain offices in every city we serve.
If you are weighing the numbers, you can estimate your direct primary care costs and potential savings before you schedule anything.
Business owners can read about Direct Primary Care for small business employers or estimate the cost of offering it to their team.
Care and conversations are available in English and Vietnamese, which matters when a medical decision needs to be understood clearly by a patient and their family. You can reach the practice through our contact page or read more about how the practice is organized on our approach to care.
FAQs
Direct Primary Care FAQs
What is Direct Primary Care?
Direct Primary Care, often shortened to DPC, is a membership model of primary care. Patients pay the practice directly for an ongoing relationship and a defined set of primary care services, rather than the practice billing insurance for each routine visit.
How much does Direct Primary Care cost at TruFamilyMD?
Membership is $150 per month, plus a one-time $150 enrollment fee. What the membership includes is reviewed with you during a free Meet & Greet so there are no surprises before you decide.
Does Direct Primary Care replace health insurance?
No. Direct Primary Care is not health insurance and does not replace it. Most members keep appropriate coverage for hospitalization, emergencies, surgery, specialists, imaging and expensive medications.
Can I have Direct Primary Care and health insurance at the same time?
Yes, and many members do. The membership covers the primary care relationship while your insurance remains in place for care outside of it.
Can I use an HSA to pay for Direct Primary Care?
Rules for health savings accounts and membership medicine can change, and how they apply depends on your individual plan and tax situation. We are glad to discuss what we know at a Meet & Greet, and we would encourage you to confirm details with your plan administrator or tax advisor rather than rely on general guidance.
Can I use Direct Primary Care if I have Medicare?
Medicare and membership arrangements involve specific regulatory considerations, and the right answer depends on your coverage. Please ask us directly about your situation at a Meet & Greet so you get accurate information rather than a general answer.
What happens if I need a specialist?
You are referred, as you would be in any primary care relationship. The difference is that your physician already knows your history and can help you prepare for the referral and make sense of what comes back.
What happens if I need hospitalization?
Hospital care is provided by the hospital and billed through your insurance. Membership does not cover hospitalization. If you have a medical emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department.
Can Direct Primary Care help manage chronic conditions?
Ongoing conditions often benefit from consistency: the same physician, regular follow-up and time to review medications and results together. Care is always individualized, and outcomes depend on many factors.
How do I know if TruFamilyMD is right for me?
Start with a free Meet & Greet. You can ask questions, hear how the practice works and decide afterwards. There is no obligation.
What If Your Doctor Actually Knew You?
Better primary care begins with a better relationship. Come meet Dr. Pham, learn how TruFamilyMD works, ask your questions and decide whether this approach feels right for you. No pressure.