Why Primary Care Is Changing in Santa Barbara and How Jackson Medical Group Is Responding
If you've tried to schedule a same-week appointment with your primary care doctor recently, you know how hard it can be. You're not alone, and it's not your imagination.
Across Santa Barbara, patients are waiting longer for appointments, spending less time with their doctors during visits and finding it difficult to get questions answered between office visits. Meanwhile, primary care physicians are seeing patients with increasingly complex medical needs while spending more time than ever on documentation, insurance coordination and administrative tasks that keep them away from patient care.
These challenges aren't unique to our community. They reflect a national crisis in primary care, one that's hitting Santa Barbara particularly hard as demand continues to grow while the number of available primary care physicians remains limited.
Why This Is Happening
The core issue is straightforward: the way primary care is paid for hasn't kept up with what good care actually requires.
Most insurance reimbursement is built around brief, in-person visits. It rarely accounts for the time doctors spend reviewing test results, coordinating with specialists, responding to patient messages or managing chronic conditions between appointments. The system essentially pays practices to see more patients in less time, which ultimately affects the quality of care and your ability to access it.
In response, many independent practices in Santa Barbara have adopted membership or access-based models in recent years. While the specifics vary, the goal is the same: preserve access to care, maintain continuity with your doctor and create a sustainable practice model.
Our Approach: The PPO Membership Program
Jackson Medical Group recently introduced an annual membership option for patients who have PPO insurance plans. Let us be clear upfront: this is not insurance and does not replace your insurance. Your PPO insurance continues to cover office visits, lab work, imaging, prescriptions, hospital care and specialist referrals exactly as it always has.
Instead, the $300 annual membership fee supports the practice infrastructure needed to provide better access and continuity of care. Specifically, PPO members receive:
Reserved appointment slots dedicated exclusively for members, making it easier to get timely appointments
A dedicated membership phone line for faster communication with our care team
Appropriate visit time without the pressure to rush through appointments
Continuity with your care team through better managed patient panels
This model allows us to limit the total number of patients each physician sees, which directly improves availability for those patients.
Why $300 Annually?
We're aware that some primary care practices in Santa Barbara charge several hundred dollars per month for membership-based care. We intentionally chose $300 per year, roughly $25 per month, because our priority is remaining accessible to the community we've served for years, not creating an exclusive or luxury service.
This fee helps us maintain smaller patient panels per physician, invest in care coordination and preserve the time needed for relationship-based medicine. It's about sustainability, not profit margins.
What This Means for You
For patients with PPO insurance who join, this model typically means better access, shorter wait times and more time with your doctor. For others, it may feel like an unwelcome change or an additional expense that's hard to absorb.
We understand that. Healthcare is already expensive, and adding any cost, even a modest one, can be difficult. We also recognize that this shift wasn't communicated as early or as clearly as it should have been, and we take responsibility for that.
If you have questions about whether this membership makes sense for you, or if you're concerned about cost, please reach out to us. We're committed to working with patients individually to find solutions.
What About Patients Who Don't Join?
We continue to serve non-member patients and accept most major insurance plans. However, appointment availability may be more limited, and wait times may be longer due to the volume of patients relative to available slots.
Our Commitment Moving Forward
Jackson Medical Group has served Santa Barbara for years with a commitment to ethical, patient-centered care. That hasn't changed. What has changed is the healthcare landscape, and we're adapting to continue providing the quality of care you deserve.
We believe transparency matters. You deserve to understand not just what we're doing, but why, and what your options are. As primary care continues to evolve, we'll keep communicating openly so you can make informed decisions about your healthcare.
Have questions about the PPO membership or your care at Jackson Medical Group? Call us at 805 682 8844 or email us at info@jacksonmedicalgroup.com to learn more or schedule a time to discuss your options.