A health care clinic with a unique membership model recently opened its doors in Helena.
Ridgeline Family Health, which is one of eight direct primary care clinics in Montana, opened Dec. 14. The business was started by Dr. Brandon Bilyeu and offers primary care on a membership basis. Instead of billing insurance, Bilyeu said, the clinic offers all services for flat monthly membership fees, which are $75 for adults and $25 for kids. How I describe it is that I don t so much take the place of insurance, but instead try to keep insurance from getting in between the doctor-patient relationship, Bilyeu said. In the Direct Primary Care model, patients health insurance will not be billed, nor accepted, for rendered services that I provide.