Gianna offers “medical care truly aligned with Catholic Church teaching,” Pritchett told CNA. “[W]e do not prescribe artificial contraceptives, perform or refer for sterilizations, refer for abortions, support euthanasia, or offer or refer for artificial reproductive techniques (IVF, IUI, etc.).”
“We advise against sexual intercourse outside of the context of marriage, we consider homosexuality and transgenderism disordered, [and] we offer abortion pill reversal,” Pritchett said, adding that the practice offers NaPro Technology, a system of reproductive health that treats women’s fertility issues “without the use of artificial reproductive techniques and oral contraceptives, using natural procreative techniques.”
Local Church officials have been enthusiastic supporters of the practice, Pritchett said.
“We have the support of the archbishop, who has referred patients, advertised our clinic on his radio broadcast and in the diocesan newspaper, blessed our clinic at a public open house after its opening, and has even arranged for our membership fees to be covered for archdiocesan employees through their medical insurance,” she said.
The majority of the practice’s patients are Catholics, Pritchett noted, but the doctors also serve other Christian denominations as well as patients who lack medical insurance.
Dr. Michael Kloess, who runs Our Lady of Hope Clinic in Madison, Wisconsin, told CNA that he and a fellow doctor conceived of their practice in 2009, when direct primary care was still largely referred to as a “concierge service.”
“Our initial members were mostly Catholic,” Kloess said. “They were looking for a Catholic alternative, or a pro-life clinic, and so that initially was our support. It’s still largely Catholic supporters of the clinic, but it’s grown because now people understand what DPC means.”
As with many DPC clinics, Our Lady of Hope offers a wide variety of treatments for subscribers.
“We have labs, prescriptions, NaPro,” Kloess said. “I’m NaPro trained, and I provide a membership base for NaPro clients. But we also have the usual direct primary care clients — blood pressure, diabetes, cuts, scrapes, the usual things.”
“We provide prescription benefits like reduced-cost medicines, and we provide labs as part of memberships,” he said. “And we’ve contracted with an imaging company that can come in for reduced costs.”
Direct primary care offices with Catholic focuses have sprung up in locations as diverse as rural Virginia, northern California, and western Pennsylvania.
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High health care costs and poor standards of care, meanwhile, may be poised to continue driving the trend in both secular and religious DPC models. One recent survey found that more than 80% of employees would sign up for a DPC model if their employer offered it.
O’Connell told CNA that in addition to allowing him the freedom to practice his faith, the charitable model by which he has structured his practice has allowed him to infuse a Catholic character into his work from start to finish.
The corporate entity of the practice is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, he said, which gives him “much more selectivity in practice governance and hiring.”
The practice “has a statement of faith that all board members and employees have to assent to,” he said, “and which allows me to preserve the Catholic character of the practice.”
Kloess said his clinic offers a similar level of practical Catholic application. “We’re able to pray with staff and patients. We have the freedom to do that,” he said.
“Even beyond that, we are a hybrid clinic,” he added. “Our clinic supports visits for the uninsured. Sixty percent of our clinic is free care to the uninsured. We have the opportunity to witness our faith to all the patients that come in.”