Community Supported Medicine
at Circles of Sage
Keeping medicine independent. Keeping medicine accessible. Helping us to keep practicing radically.
One of our favorite things at Circles of Sage is doing medicine the hard way. The way that takes an extra long time to listen to someone's story. The way that researches every detail. The way that thinks critically, stays curious, and stays in the game. The way that does all that and takes insurance. The way that does all that in fuzzy slippers with a cup of tea. We take a lot of pride in what we offer our community, and that we are able to keep those options open regardless of our patients' income.
Most of the time, when clinicians try to practice this way, one of two things happen: they either get absorbed by corporate medicine, or stop taking insurance. Because the truth is, its hard to sustain. But we are committed to not doing either of those, because they both would destroy what we have worked so hard to build here in our corner of the world, and we wouldn't be the practice youve come to rely on anymore. However, we are facing a dilemma, one that you have already seen as we made the difficult decision to pause new patients, and have probably felt when we are unable to schedule you for follow ups or acute visits in a timely fashion - our little corner of the world has gotten a bit busy, and if we are planning on continuing to offer the quality of care we want to the amount of folks that need it, we need to change our approach. And since we'd like to stay exactly who we are, we're going to ask for your help to do it.
We've all heard of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) - the concept that we help a local farm survive by offering a hand before the season starts and then reap the harvest together. We have put together a plan to start a similar concept here - community supported medicine. Our community, our practice, helps keep us sustainable by keeping our clinic independent, our work outstanding, and our ability to serve those from all financial backgrounds intact by making a a small investment in us.
Therefore, with these goals in mind, starting January 1, 2027 we will be adding practice dues. These fees will help us grow our infrastructure without shortening the length of your visits, they will allow us to keep taking insurance while covering our costs, to keep the schedule clear enough that we can always see you quickly and to offer this sort of care to more folks while compromising nothing.
*Dues will be set $300 per year*
This will not replace the use of insurance for your visits, and will only cover things not already covered by insurance, primarily the work put in by Lauren between visits for your care, as well as her accessibility, availability and longer visit lengths. All Medicare and Medicaid patients are exempt from practice dues, including those with managed plans.
The following payment options will be available:
Yearly
Pay your membership in one lump sum of $300 on the 1st of January each calendar year.
Quarterly
Pay every $75 every three months on the first day of January, April, July and October.
Monthly
$25 dollars will be charged monthly for those looking for a more gradual, gentler option.