Dr. Marc Winiecki, formerly with Jaffrey Family Medicine, has struck out on his own, opening a direct primary care office in downtown Jaffrey.

According to Winiecki, Monad Doc Health Direct will give him more freedom to form personal relationships with his patients. Winiecki practices osteopathic family medicine, a form of alternative practice that uses physical manipulation to treat and prevent health issues. For the past 15 years, he has worked with Jaffrey Family Medicine, a satellite of Monadnock Community Hospital, before stepping out on his own. Part of the reason for that, he said, was to explore a direct primary care model.

In direct primary care, patients pay a monthly fee to their doctor in order to receive their regular care, though Winiecki said patients are still encouraged to maintain health insurance for catastrophic illness or injury that would require specialized care or hospital stays.

“This is not insurance,” Winiecki said. “And in the same way it’s unwise to drive your car without insurance, it’s unwise to go through life without health insurance.”

Winiecki said one of the main questions he gets about the model is “Why should I pay for something I could get from my insurance?” The answer, he said, is a different level of care and interpersonal relationship with a doctor, an aspect he said is becoming lost in modern medicine, where family practitioners may only have 15 minutes with each patient.

“I don’t think it’s inaccurate to say I was burning out, working in our current health care system. I was investigating my options, and this was a really good one,” Winiecki said.

Winiecki said one of the main benefits of this kind of system is that “there are no artificial limits.” If a patient has an emergency, he’s on call to come to the office at any time outside of his regular hours, or even make a house call if the occasion requires.

“I’m offering everything I can do. And there’s a trust there that people aren’t going to overutilize that, and overtax me, but once genuine therapeutic relationships are restored there’s a trust there. You trust that I am there for you when you really need, and I trust that you won’t call in the middle of the night for something that can wait for the morning,” Winieki said. “And it’s been working great.”

As part of keeping that care personal, Winiecki said he plans to have a patient cap, which won’t be a hard number, but rather when he has reached a patient load that he can comfortably promise that someone can still get in to see him within 24 to 48 hours. He said he still has patient slots open for those who wish to sign up.

In addition to family practice, the office includes a laboratory. Laboratory services that include pregnancy tests, pap smears, urinalysis, step tests, blood counts and metabolic panels, are included in the membership fees. Some other tests are available at extra cost or billed to insurance. Medications for acute illness, such as antibiotics, antihistamines, decongestants, cough suppressants, antidepressants, muscle relaxers and steroid creams are included in the membership. Prescriptions for controlled medications can be picked up at the pharmacy.

Prices are set by age range – $60 per month for an infant to 2 years, $30 for minors over 2 years old, $50 for 19- to 39-year-olds, $70 for 40- to 59-year-olds and $90 for those over 60. Families receive a 10% discount.

The office has been open six months, and Winiecki said the response from the community has been positive, with a steady growth in his clientele, exceeding his projections.

“We’re having a great time, and we’re doing good work,” Winiecki said.

Those who would like to learn more or enroll, visit monaddoc.com.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.