After 27 meaningful years serving as your family physician at Moscow Family Medicine, I am writing to share a significant and deeply personal decision.
I will be leaving my current practice at Moscow Family Medicine to open my own Direct Primary Care (DPC) clinic.
This decision did not come lightly. Over the years, I have found myself growing increasingly disconnected from the kind of doctor I set out to be — the kind of doctor I trained to be, and the kind of doctor you deserve.
Much of my time today is consumed by clicking through electronic records, navigating complex billing systems, documenting for insurance requirements, and spending far too many hours on hold or responding to automated phone systems. I’ve been spending more time with computers than with patients. I’ve had to fit care into 20-40minute time slots, define your health by billing codes, and justify every minute of our visits in ways that often had little to do with your well-being.
That’s not why I became a doctor.
I want to return to practicing medicine with my hands, my heart, and my brain — not a keyboard, computer screen and mouse. I want to look you in the eye, hear your story, and take the time to understand your needs without rushing or external interference. I want to be the physician I imagined I would be when I started this journey: deeply connected to my patients, offering care that is personal, accessible, and real.
Direct Primary Care will provide the path for me to be that doctor again — the one I imagined I would be, and the one I was, for many of my 27 years in practice. It is the only way I see to end the slow death of a physician trapped in an unsustainable health care system.
To make this possible, I am launching my own Direct Primary Care practice — a membership-based model that removes the middlemen of insurance companies and allows me to focus entirely on you. No coding for billing. No rushed appointments. Just care, compassion, and access when you need it.
I will not be accepting insurance or Medicare, but I will encourage you to keep those for services I won’t be able to provide, like labs, imaging, specialists, or hospitalizations. What I will offer is comprehensive, accessible, personalized primary care — the kind of care that puts you, not bureaucracy, at the center.
Most importantly, I’ll have time for you. I won’t shuffle you off to urgent care, or hand you over to physician assistants or nurse practitioners because my schedule is full. I’ll be your doctor.
If you’ve felt like the healthcare system isn’t working for you — you’re not alone. It hasn’t been working for doctors either. But I believe we can rebuild something better together, starting with this clinic.
I’ll be sharing more details soon about the opening date, location, services, and how to join. If you’re interested, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Thank you for the privilege of allowing me to care for you over the years. I look forward to continuing that care — but in a better way.
Warmly,
Robert M. Ting, MD
