If you want to see someone’s eyes light up, talk to Dr. Sidney Coupet about the subject of direct primary care (DPC). That will do it.
Dr. Coupet, the son of Haitian immigrants who settled in Brooklyn, stands for the possibility of access to quality health care for everyone. To this end, he has established Spark Health, Inc., its foundation organization Doctors United for Haiti, and a direct primary care clinic called Coupet Quality Clinic.
Dr. Coupet earned his medical degrees in Pennsylvania and moved to South Florida because of its proximity to Haiti, and because of the large local Haitian population that he desired to serve. ("I always knew there was something special about people from that country. I started going to Haiti at a young age to volunteer and do humanitarian work.")
In the context while in his position as chief hospitalist for Sound Physicians at Broward Health System, he observed that many hospitalized patients were being treated for issues that could have been prevented. Upon further investigation, he found that these patients lacked access to regular health care services because of affordability.
The concept of direct primary care – a cost-friendly, no-insurance, flat-rate membership model of health care – made complete sense to him, along with the other benefits of the model. These benefits include broader doctor access, less wait time for appointments, longer appointments, and low-cost lab tests and medications.
"The business model is simple," says Dr. Coupet. "It’s a membership program and it eliminates the hassle of dealing with health insurance companies. Direct primary care ranges from $30 to $100 per month, which is an amazing value for patients. This is something people can afford."
Last October, Dr. Coupet and his wife, Dr. Sarah Coupet, founded Coupet Quality Clinic, a direct primary care facility, in North Lauderdale. "We now have hundreds of people that we’re giving quality service to. These patients don’t visit ERs as frequently anymore because we’re available to them."
Coupet Quality Clinic operates under its umbrella company, Spark Health, Inc., which Dr. Coupet founded during his Internal Medicine residency.
Spark Health, Inc. is a global organization that connects U.S. benefactors with underserved individuals – typically family and friends of benefactors – in Haiti (and soon to expand to other Caribbean nations). Spark Health’s program is a version of the direct primary care model, in which benefactors purchase fixed-price health care memberships for individuals or families.
The inspiration for Spark Health arose out of Dr. Coupet’s visits to Haiti on volunteer health care mission trips. During these trips, he noticed a certain dynamic that was impacting the viability of local practices.
"Humanitarians [from outside of Haiti] sometimes open free clinics next to a Haitian clinic staffed by a local doctor trying to make a living for himself or herself." The free clinics draw patients away from the local practice, impacting the ability of that practice to stay in business.
"What usually happens is that those [Haitian] doctors leave the country and come to the United States. Most of them end up driving cabs or working in a kitchen because they make more money doing that than providing health care in Haiti."
From his work with what he calls the Haitian "diaspora" population, Dr. Coupet knows that immigrants regularly send money home to friends and family (a phenomenon known as remittances). "Every diaspora group has what you call remittances. Haiti’s remittances from the United States average between $1.3 billion and $1.9 billion annually; 30 percent to 40 percent of that amount goes to health care."
Unfortunately, many of those funds are sent after disease sets in, or for funeral expenses following death from a preventable or treatable disease. "Chronic diseases or conditions such as hypertension, diabetes or high cholesterol would never have the impact they do if they were under control."
Spark Health, Inc. is Dr. Coupet’s solution to the health care problem in Haiti. It provides a way for local Haitian doctors to expand their businesses through the acquisition of new patients whose care is funded by U.S. benefactors. And it provides a way for Haitians to get the primary care they need.
Whether it’s through Spark Health, Inc. or through Coupet Quality Clinic, Dr. Coupet is committed to direct primary care as the medicine model that will make quality health care accessible to everyone. His vision is for a network of DPC clinics in the United States, and Spark Health programs operating in all countries where underserved people need quality health care.
