After Colleen Winship had her first baby two years ago, she noticed his breathing was irregular.
The 35-year-old eastsider tried calling the family doctor about the symptoms but couldn’t get through. Eventually, she drove her son to the ER.
“I was a scared new mom,” Winship said. “It was the first time he was sick, and I was home by myself.”
At the hospital, doctors evaluated her baby. They determined his breathing was normal and showed her an educational video about emergency symptoms. The bill came a few months later.
“There’s so many people you have to talk to before you finally get a doctor,” Winship told Mirror Indy. “You feel like a number more than a genuine patient.”
That’s why she started going to a direct primary care practice. This model, growing throughout Indianapolis, allows people to pay a monthly fee for unlimited doctors’ visits — no insurance involved. Patients say it gives them more access to physicians and eliminates stressful scheduling and wait times.
Now, if Winship has questions or concerns, she texts or calls Dr. Sarah Bosslet, the founder of Traders Point Pediatrics. The doctor on the northwest side also has same-day appointments.
Bosslet left Riley Children’s Health to start her own practice in February 2025. She went from seeing 2,000 patients to just 120.
“Now, I don’t feel rushed,” Bosslet said. “I know my families better. I don’t leave here at the end of the day completely exhausted from trying to get people through the door.”
‘Like paying for Netflix’
Bosslet’s office is colorful, with toys scattered in the waiting room. In the single exam room, a drawer is full of dinosaur, unicorn and pickle bandages. Here, the doctor performs every role: scheduling, check-ups, lab work and cleaning the bathroom.
“I coach families through things so they don’t have to go to urgent care or the ER,” Bosslet said. “We can do a lot in primary care and it’s more affordable.”
For newborns, she charges about $150 a month for home visits — something insurance doesn’t always cover. After a child turns 2, the cost goes down to $100 per month for unlimited visits. Older teenagers can get in for $80.
Bosslet acknowledges that some families can’t afford the monthly payments. In some cases, she reduces the fees to help patients. Others rely on her practice for primary care and take out a catastrophic insurance plan to cover emergencies.
“I got a lot of calls earlier this year from people trying to figure out insurance,” Bosslet said. “The Marketplace has gotten so expensive.”
Thousands of Hoosiers on the Affordable Care Act — which covers people who don’t have health insurance through an employer or government programs — are seeing spiking premiums. That’s because Congress failed to extend subsidies that helped people afford plans.
Bosslet said practices like hers could fill the gaps.
“It’s like paying for a monthly Netflix subscription,” she said. “And we don’t spend all that time justifying our care to insurance companies.”
About 10 direct primary care practices in Indianapolis are included in a nationwide map, though many more are cropping up. Dr. Laurel Fick opened an adult primary care practice attached to the side of a gym on Meridian Street.
“In corporate health care, the quality has gone down,” said the physician, who previously worked at Ascension St. Vincent. “Not because doctors are less capable or don’t care, but because they are being forced to do more with less resources.”
She recently saw a patient who wasn’t properly diagnosed with osteoporosis when they got care at a major health system.
“They missed it,” Fick said. “When these long-term problems are untreated, it adds more costs to our health system and harms the patient.”
Now, Fick spends about an hour with new patients. They talk about nutrition, exercise, sleep and lifestyle habits. Questions are asked, concerns heard.
She no longer feels like a cog in the machine.
Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations.
Mirror Indy reporter Mary Claire Molloy covers health. Reach her at 317-721-7648 or email maryclaire.molloy@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X @mcmolloy7.
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