In October 2026 we looked at about 20 direct primary care websites and read 15 of them closely, from solo practices to multi-state groups. We looked at the homepage, the pricing page, the FAQ and where the enroll button actually goes.
Most of them get the basics right. Most of them also leave a patient with the same handful of unanswered questions. This guide lists both, as a checklist you can work through on your own site.
The basics
Nearly every good DPC site we read had these. If yours is missing one, start here.
- A flat monthly price on a page called Pricing or Membership.
- A plain statement of the model: no copays, no deductibles, no insurance billed for your care.
- A "what's included" list: preventive care, chronic disease care, minor procedures, telehealth.
- How members reach you: text, phone, email, and how fast you answer.
- Visit length and how soon a member can be seen.
- A doctor bio with a real photo.
- A free meet and greet or consult, bookable from the site.
- An FAQ.
- A page for employers, if you take employer groups.
- Kids' pricing, and whether a child needs an enrolled adult.
- A note on pairing membership with insurance for hospital, specialist and emergency care.
The gaps, ranked
These are ranked by how much they matter to a patient trying to decide. The first few decide whether someone enrolls or closes the tab.
1. Are you taking patients?
This is the first question a new patient has, and most sites do not answer it. Of the sites we read closely, only two said clearly on the page that they were accepting new patients. One site was listed elsewhere as not accepting, but its own site never said so. Others tucked their waitlist into a newsletter signup or a separate form.
No site we read showed how many spots were open or how long the wait to a first visit was.
- The homepage says, in text, whether you are accepting new patients.
- If you have more than one provider, each one shows their own status.
- If you are full, there is a clear waitlist with what happens next and roughly how long.
- Optional: spots open this month, or the typical wait to a first visit.
- Someone updates this the day it changes.
2. What will my household actually pay?
Age bands, a family cap and an enrollment fee are fine on their own. Put together, they leave a parent doing math on a napkin. Every site we read with age bands and a family cap made the patient add it up. None had a household total or calculator. One large group had no monthly family cap at all.
- Every price is on the page: each age band, each child rate, the family cap.
- The family cap says who it covers (for example, two adults and their children under 18).
- The enrollment fee is stated per person, with its family maximum.
- A worked example or two: "Two adults, 42 and 40, and two kids: $X a month, $Y to enroll."
- Better: a small calculator where a patient enters ages and sees the monthly total and first payment.
- Annual pricing, if you offer it, shown next to monthly.
3. Real lab and medication prices
Almost every site promised "wholesale" or "deeply discounted" labs and medications. Only one published actual numbers in text, with full lists. One more showed examples, but as images. The rest gave no figures.
A patient choosing between your clinic and their current doctor wants to know what a lipid panel or a month of a common generic will cost.
- Ten to twenty common lab prices, in text.
- Ten to twenty common medication prices, per pill or per month, in text.
- A link to the full list, with the date it was last updated.
- A line saying prices change and members get the current price at the time of service.
- Anything billed separately (home visits, procedure supplies, imaging) listed with a price or range.
4. Emergencies and after hours
Many sites promise "24/7 access." Almost none said "for emergencies, call 911." Several said nothing about after hours at all.
- "For a medical emergency, call 911" appears near any access promise, and in the FAQ.
- After-hours: who answers, how, and how fast you aim to respond.
- Your real office hours, including days you are closed or telehealth only.
- What happens if a member goes to the ER or is admitted.
- Access promises are qualified: response windows, business hours, reasonable use.
5. HSA wording
Starting in 2026, people with an HSA can join a qualifying DPC practice and keep contributing, within IRS fee limits. Not one site we read explained this. A few called their membership "HSA compatible" with no mention of the limits, including at least one whose prices were over them.
- No "HSA eligible" or "HSA compatible" badge unless your tax advisor agrees and the tier fits the limit.
- If you mention HSAs, the 2026 limit is stated in text: $150 a month for one person, $300 for more than one.
- Tiers over the limit are not labeled as fitting it.
- A link to IRS Notice 2026-5 and a line telling patients to confirm with their own tax professional.
Our guide DPC and HSAs in 2026 walks through the rules.
6. Plain terms
Minimum commitments, cancellation notice and re-enrollment fees were usually buried in an FAQ, or missing from the site entirely. A patient finds them in the agreement after they have already decided.
- Minimum membership length, if any.
- How to cancel, and how much notice you need.
- Re-enrollment fee, if any, and when it applies.
- How and when you change prices, and how much notice members get.
- Payment methods and any card or processing fee.
- "Direct primary care is not health insurance," in text. Many states require similar language in the patient agreement, so check yours.
- Medicare: what a patient 65 or older needs to know about joining.
- A link to your full membership agreement, readable before signing.
7. Enrollment friction
Several sites had no online enrollment at all: the "Enroll" button opened a contact form or a phone number. Many others sent the patient straight to their EHR's signup page with no warning, so the patient met a new look, a plan list without their family total, and no word on which doctor had room.
The EHR signup is the right place for names, the agreement and payment. Your site's job is to get the patient there ready: right plan, right clinician, total already known.
- A patient can join online, start to finish, without calling.
- The join button is on every page, and says what it does.
- Before the button, the patient has seen their household total, the first charge and the terms.
- The button goes to the right clinician's signup link, not a generic one.
- Your site never asks for patient names, contact details or health information; the EHR does.
- A line says what happens after signup and when they will hear from you.
- It works on a phone, one-handed.
8. Speed and accessibility
Some sites shipped over a megabyte of page code before showing anything. One took almost six seconds to load. The fastest loaded in about a quarter of a second, with a page that was mostly plain text.
- The homepage loads in under two seconds on a phone.
- Text is readable without zooming.
- Every button and link works with a keyboard.
- Every image has alt text that says what it shows.
- Color contrast is high enough to read in sunlight.
9. Prices in text, not images
One site's entire pricing table was an image. Another put its "not insurance" statement in an image. A third rendered prices with code that search engines and some screen readers could not see.
- Every price on your site is real text you can select and copy.
- Disclaimers and terms are text, not pictures.
- Prices show up when you search your clinic name plus "price."
10. Stale directory listings
Patients often find DPC clinics through directories and maps, not search. We found listings with prices that did not match the clinic's own site, and several listings still pointing to sites that were down, expired or now belong to someone else.
- Your listing on every DPC directory you appear in matches your current prices.
- Your accepting status on those listings matches your site.
- Your Google Business Profile has the right hours, phone and website.
- Your domain and its security certificate renew automatically.
- You check all of the above twice a year.
One page to print
If you only do five things this month:
- Say whether you are accepting patients, on the homepage, in text.
- Show a household total, with a worked example.
- Publish ten real lab prices and ten real medication prices.
- Add "for emergencies, call 911" next to your access promise.
- Put your minimum, cancellation and re-enrollment terms on the pricing page.
The DPC Ready demo shows each item on this list working.