SIMPLY BETTER MEDICINE

Simply Better Medicine

Direct Primary Care in the heart of Spring Hill 

By Jason Zasky

Opening Simply Better Medicine has been a life-changing decision for me, my staff, our patients—everybody,” says Dr. Meghan Sills, about her decision to start her own Direct Primary Care (DPC) practice in June 2023.

Readers unfamiliar with the DPC model should know it’s an innovative approach to delivering primary care in which the practice charges a monthly, quarterly, or annual fee that covers most services. In the case of Simply Better Medicine, adult members (21 and older) pay $125 per month after an initial prospective member fee of $125. Similarly, children are charged $60 per month (with an adult member), or $125 a month if they are without an adult member. 

Patients receive more personalized, accessible—and often more affordable—medical care. For one, patients can communicate directly with Dr. Sills and her team. And appointments proceed at a more relaxed pace.

“Each patient in the office has a 45-minute appointment, and each telemedicine appointment is 20 minutes,” says Dr. Sills, before noting that patients have her direct email so that they can communicate with her directly. More notably, still, each visit is only $25. 

“It’s $25 no matter what the visit is for,” adds Dr. Sills, “whether it’s a full physical or a telemedicine visit or a strep throat test.” 

Simply Better Medicine also has a contract with Labcorp that can be very advantageous when it comes to lab tests. 

“Probably 90 percent of my patients have some sort of insurance. But if patients have high-deductible insurance they will take advantage of our contract with Labcorp, as most of our labs are about four dollars per test,” she says. “And while we don’t take insurance, it can still be used for medication, imaging and referrals.” 

Most importantly, perhaps, Dr. Sills and her staff—including nurse practitioner Natalie Quintero and certified nursing assistant Mckynlie Cooke—have the opportunity to get to know each patient as an individual. 

“We all know who you are and what you are supposed to be doing,” says Dr. Sills, “including whether it’s time for a mammogram or a colonoscopy. We know everything about you and get to celebrate things with you but also help you in time of need. It’s just a different relationship,” she concludes, a far cry of what she experienced when she first started practicing medicine in 2009, and soon had 4,000 patients calling her their doctor. 

“It was a lot,” she says, noting that after a full day of seeing patients she was up from 9 pm to 1 am charting, even while she had two young children.

Today those once-young children are young adults and often help out at Simply Better Medicine alongside their father, J.B. Sills, who serves as Vice President and Chief Operations Officer for the practice.

“On any given day, you might see Will, our oldest, working the front desk. Or Blakeley, if she is home from college, she likes to call patients to get updates on how they are feeling. All three of my boys wash and fold the work laundry, and all of them have taken turns sweeping the floor. They take pride in it,” says Dr. Sills, proudly. 

“It’s our family business, and we all chip in to do what we need to do. And my kids understand that if we’re on vacation and a patient needs me, it’s what we do. We just take care of it because it’s important, and they understand because they have grown up around it,” she says.

That said, it’s perhaps no surprise that many of the practice’s patients treat Dr. Sills and her team like family. 

“When J.B. and I got married, our patients had an engagement party. And when I got COVID, my patients brought food to my house. They cared for me like I care for them,” she says. 

As for the future of the practice, Dr. Sills says she expects it to continue growing, thanks to the anticipated addition of new personnel.

“The whole point is to keep our patient count small. I don’t want 800 patients, because that won’t allow me and my team to provide the care we want to provide. But Spring Hill is growing, and we have a huge need for primary care. We will continue to help provide that for our community.” 

CONTACT

Simply Better Medicine 

3011 Harrah Dr., Ste. N

Spring Hill, TN 37174

931-538-3105

Simplybettermedicine.com