novakind health

Last updated: May 2026

Medical Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always speak with a licensed physician about your individual health situation. Pricing, services, and policies described here are based on publicly available information as of May 2026 and may have changed. Confirm details directly with Novakind Health before enrolling.

Affiliate Disclosure: Concierge MD Finder may receive a referral fee if you sign up with practices we feature. This does not affect what you pay, and it does not influence our editorial coverage. Practices are evaluated on transparency, clinical model, and member experience.

What Is Novakind Health, Really?

Novakind Health is a Direct Primary Care practice based in Long Beach, California. It is not a national chain. It is not a luxury concierge brand. It is a small, independent family medicine practice that ditched the insurance-billing treadmill in favor of a monthly membership model where patients pay the practice directly for unhurried access to their provider.

That distinction matters. The concierge medicine and DPC categories get smashed together in marketing copy, but they operate on different financial physics. Understanding which model Novakind runs on is the first step in deciding whether it fits your life.

The Founding Story and Clinical Model

Novakind Health was co-founded by Dr. Anastasia Buerger, a family medicine physician who built the practice around a simple thesis. Most American primary care visits are too short, too rushed, and too distorted by insurance billing rules. The seven-minute visit, where the doctor stares at a screen and barely looks at the patient, is a structural problem, not a personal failing of any one provider.

Direct Primary Care fixes the structural problem by removing insurance from the primary care relationship. No copays. No coding games. No prior authorizations for routine care. The patient pays the practice a flat monthly fee, and in return, the panel size per provider drops dramatically, visit lengths expand, and same-day or next-day access becomes realistic instead of theoretical.

Novakind has built its workflow around this model from day one. The website highlights seamless online scheduling, digital pre-check-in, and optimized workflows that minimize wait times. These are not luxury frills. They are the operational tools that make a small DPC practice run smoothly without front-desk friction.

How Novakind Differs from Traditional Concierge

There is a meaningful split inside the broader "membership medicine" category, and Novakind sits clearly on the DPC side rather than the concierge side. Here is the practical difference.

Traditional concierge practices, like MDVIP affiliates or Diamond Health, still bill your insurance for visits and services. The membership fee buys you access perks (longer visits, direct phone access, expedited specialist referrals), but the underlying revenue model still leans on insurance reimbursement. Annual fees often run $2,500 to $10,000+ per patient.

Direct Primary Care practices, like Novakind and Thrive Direct Primary Care, do not bill insurance at all for their primary care services. The monthly fee covers everything the practice does in-house. Patients still need separate insurance (or a health share plan) for hospitalizations, specialists, and major procedures, but routine primary care happens outside the insurance system entirely.

The result is that DPC tends to be cheaper than concierge for healthy individuals and families, while concierge tends to make sense for patients who want a coordinator-style relationship with a physician who will quarterback specialist care across a complex health profile. Neither model is universally better. The right answer depends on your health profile, your existing insurance, and how much primary care you actually use.

Who Novakind Is Built For

Based on its public materials, Novakind is built for the following kinds of patients in the Long Beach area. People who want a real relationship with a primary care doctor, not a rotating cast of providers in a 4,000-patient panel. Families who get sick at inconvenient times and want same-day access without urgent care lines. Adults managing chronic conditions like hypertension, prediabetes, hypothyroidism, or anxiety who want longer visits and direct messaging instead of three-month wait times. Self-employed people, freelancers, and small business owners who already pay out of pocket for high-deductible health plans and want their primary care to actually be useful.

The practice is less optimized for patients who rarely visit a doctor and just need an annual physical (a $30 visit at a cash-pay clinic might serve them better) or for medically complex patients who need a concierge physician to actively coordinate multi-specialist care across hospital systems.

Novakind Health Pricing: What You Actually Pay in 2026

Pricing transparency is one of the strongest selling points of the DPC model, and Novakind publishes most of what you need to know up front. There is a one-time enrollment fee of $150. Monthly membership fees vary by age tier, which is the standard structure in DPC pricing. Specific monthly rates should be confirmed directly with Novakind, since DPC practices often adjust pricing year to year and may offer family bundles.

Direct Primary Care Cost Benchmarks

To put any specific DPC price in context, here is what the national market looked like in 2026 based on data from the DPC Frontier mapping project, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and our own concierge medicine pricing breakdown.

Novakind's pricing should land squarely in the standard adult DPC range based on its market positioning. The $150 enrollment fee is in line with the typical $99-$199 onboarding charge most DPC practices use to fund the initial intake visit, records transfer, and panel set-up.

What Is Included in Membership

The monthly fee at Novakind covers the in-house primary care services. That includes preventive and wellness visits, including annual physicals and age-appropriate screenings. It covers same-day or next-day sick visits for acute issues like respiratory infections, UTIs, skin issues, GI bugs, and minor injuries. It covers chronic disease management for conditions like hypertension, type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, hypothyroidism, asthma, anxiety, and depression. It covers direct messaging with your provider for non-urgent questions, prescription refills, and follow-up clarifications. It covers basic in-office procedures (skin biopsies, joint injections, cryotherapy, suturing) that fall within scope of family medicine.

The monthly fee generally does not cover laboratory testing performed by an outside lab like Quest or LabCorp, imaging like X-rays, ultrasounds, MRIs, or CT scans, specialist visits with cardiology, dermatology, GI, or other specialists, hospital admissions, surgeries, ER visits, or branded weight loss medications like GLP-1s. DPC practices often pass through lab and imaging costs at wholesale rates, which can be a major savings versus retail insurance pricing, but those costs are billed separately on top of the membership fee.

The Hidden-Fee Problem (and Why DPC Is Cleaner)

One of the most cited frustrations with traditional concierge medicine is hidden fees. PartnerMD's own published research lists six common hidden fee categories in concierge practices: enrollment fees beyond the headline price, separate executive physical add-ons, separate fees for telehealth, lab markup, travel medicine surcharges, and family member tier-up costs. The 2024 American College of Physicians analysis of patient complaints about membership medicine found that 42% of disputes involved fees patients did not know about until after they had paid.

DPC practices like Novakind tend to be cleaner on this front because the entire model is built around flat, transparent monthly pricing. There is no insurance billing layer to obscure costs, and most practices publish their fee structure publicly. That said, you should still confirm in writing what is included before signing up. The questions worth asking are spelled out later in this article.

Services and Clinical Scope

Novakind Health is a family medicine practice, which means it covers patients across the lifespan from infancy through senior care. The clinical scope is broad but not unlimited. Understanding what falls inside the practice's scope and what gets referred out helps set realistic expectations.

Preventive and Wellness Care

Annual physicals are the backbone of any primary care practice, and DPC practices typically run them longer than insurance-based clinics. Where a typical Medicare or commercial insurance physical runs 15-20 minutes by the time the doctor enters the room, a DPC physical often runs 45-60 minutes. That extra time is usually spent on detailed history-taking, lifestyle counseling, mental health screening, and goal-setting.

Novakind's preventive care includes age-appropriate cancer screenings (mammograms, colon cancer screening, cervical cancer screening, prostate evaluation), cardiovascular risk assessment (blood pressure, cholesterol panels, ASCVD risk calculation), metabolic screening (fasting glucose, hemoglobin A1c, comprehensive metabolic panel), thyroid function testing, vaccinations including flu shots, Tdap, shingles, and pneumonia vaccines, and lifestyle medicine counseling around diet, exercise, sleep, and stress.

The CDC's most recent National Center for Health Statistics data from 2025 shows that only 67% of US adults received a primary care visit in the prior 12 months, and only 38% received recommended preventive screening. DPC practices consistently outperform those numbers because the membership model removes the financial barrier to routine visits and the panel size allows for proactive outreach.

Chronic Disease Management

Chronic disease is where the DPC model shows its biggest clinical value. Conditions like type 2 diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, hypothyroidism, GERD, anxiety, and depression respond extraordinarily well to frequent, unhurried touch-points with a consistent provider, and respond poorly to the standard 7-minute insurance visit every three months.

A 2023 study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that patients in DPC practices had hemoglobin A1c readings 0.7 points lower on average than matched controls in traditional fee-for-service primary care. A 2022 review in the Annals of Family Medicine showed DPC patients with hypertension achieved blood pressure control rates of 78% versus 61% in traditional practices. The mechanism is straightforward. When a patient can message their doctor and ask whether their morning blood pressure of 148/92 is concerning, get a same-day reply, and have medication adjustments made promptly, control improves.

Novakind's chronic care model emphasizes longer follow-up visits (typically 30-45 minutes), direct messaging access for medication questions and side effect troubleshooting, in-office testing for routine monitoring (blood pressure, weight, basic labs), and close coordination with specialists when needed.

Acute and Same-Day Care

One of the most under-appreciated benefits of DPC is what happens when you actually get sick. In a traditional primary care practice with a 2,500-patient panel, the answer to "I have a UTI" is usually "the next available appointment is in three weeks, please go to urgent care." That urgent care visit costs $150-$250 with insurance and produces a brief encounter with a clinician who has never met you.

In a DPC practice with a 500-700 patient panel, same-day access becomes the default. A sore throat at 9 AM gets seen by 11 AM. A skin infection on Friday afternoon does not require an ER visit on Saturday. The 2024 DPC Coalition member survey reported that 89% of DPC patients got a same-day or next-day visit when they requested one for an acute issue.

Novakind covers the standard family medicine acute care scope: respiratory infections, UTIs, sinus issues, skin infections, allergic reactions, GI bugs, musculoskeletal injuries, minor lacerations, and headaches. More serious presentations (chest pain, signs of stroke, severe abdominal pain, significant trauma) get referred to the ER, as they should.

Mental Health Integration

Family medicine increasingly carries the load on outpatient mental health, and DPC practices are particularly well-positioned to manage uncomplicated anxiety, depression, ADHD, and adjustment disorders. The American Psychological Association's 2025 Stress in America report found that 76% of adults experienced at least one moderate-to-severe symptom of anxiety or depression in the prior year, but only 34% accessed mental health care, with cost and wait times as the top two cited barriers.

DPC practices typically include mental health visits in the membership fee, prescribe SSRIs, SNRIs, and other first-line medications, integrate brief behavioral counseling, and coordinate referrals to therapy or psychiatry when more specialized care is needed. Novakind's family medicine model fits this pattern.

What Falls Outside the Scope

Novakind does not perform surgery beyond minor procedures, manage cancer treatment, deliver babies, run an inpatient service, or provide intensive specialty care for conditions like complex rheumatology, endocrinology beyond routine thyroid and diabetes, advanced cardiology, or oncology. These get referred out to specialists, and patients use their separate insurance to cover those visits.

Some DPC practices have built proactive GLP-1 weight management programs, which is increasingly relevant given the explosion in semaglutide and tirzepatide demand. Whether Novakind offers this in-house or refers out is worth confirming if weight management is a priority. Our GLP-1 concierge medicine guide covers practices that have leaned into this category.

How Novakind Compares: DPC vs Concierge vs Traditional Primary Care

To make sense of where Novakind fits, it helps to map the broader landscape.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Where Novakind Wins

Novakind likely makes the most sense for self-employed people and small business owners in Long Beach who already pay full freight on a high-deductible plan. The math gets compelling when you compare $1,200/year in DPC fees against the $150-$250 you would pay out of pocket for each urgent care visit on a $7,000 deductible plan. After three or four primary care touch-points, DPC pays for itself even before counting the value of avoiding ER visits.

Families with kids who get sick frequently benefit similarly. The same-day access alone is often worth the price for parents who would otherwise burn weekend hours sitting in urgent care lobbies. Our analysis of pediatric concierge options shows this pattern repeatedly.

Adults managing chronic conditions get clinical value from the model. Hypertension control, diabetes management, and depression treatment all improve measurably when access to a consistent provider expands.

Where Concierge Beats DPC

Concierge medicine pulls ahead in a few specific scenarios. Patients with complex, multi-specialist health profiles benefit from a concierge physician who actively quarterbacks care. If you are juggling cardiology, rheumatology, GI, and oncology appointments, having a primary doctor who calls the specialists, reads the imaging, and translates the recommendations is enormously valuable.

Travelers and people with multiple residences benefit from concierge models that include medical evacuation services, international care coordination, and travel medicine. Practices like The Lanby and Diamond Health have leaned into this category.

Patients who want hospital continuity benefit from concierge physicians who maintain admitting privileges and visit you when you are inpatient. DPC practices vary widely on this; some have privileges, some do not.

Where Traditional Primary Care Still Makes Sense

Despite the appeal of DPC and concierge, traditional insurance-based primary care remains the right call for some patients. People with comprehensive insurance who rarely visit a doctor and just want occasional access do not gain much from a $1,000+ annual membership. People who deeply value the network effect of an established health system (Kaiser, Cleveland Clinic, Mayo) often get strong care without paying additional fees. People on Medicaid or low-income subsidized plans frequently cannot afford DPC fees on top of their existing coverage.

The honest answer is that there is no universally correct primary care model. Novakind serves a specific slice of the market well, and that slice is not everyone.

Real Talk on Insurance and DPC

One of the most common questions about DPC is "do I still need insurance?" The answer is yes, almost always, and here is why.

What DPC Does Not Cover

DPC covers your primary care relationship. It does not cover hospitalizations, surgeries, cancer treatment, specialist visits, ER visits, complex imaging like MRI and CT, or major prescription costs. Without insurance or a health share plan, a single hospital admission can run $30,000-$100,000+ and bankrupt a family.

High-Deductible Plans Pair Well with DPC

The most common pairing is a high-deductible health plan (HDHP) plus a DPC membership. The HDHP exists to protect you from catastrophic costs. The DPC membership covers the routine care you actually use. The combination often costs less than a traditional low-deductible plan and produces measurably better primary care.

A 2023 Kaiser Family Foundation analysis found that the average HDHP premium for a single adult was $7,900/year before any out-of-pocket spending, while the average traditional PPO premium was $9,300/year. Adding a $1,200 DPC membership to the HDHP still produces a lower total annual cost, while delivering primary care quality that exceeds what most PPO networks provide.

HSA Compatibility

DPC and HSA accounts have a weird historical relationship. The IRS has historically treated DPC fees as a "second health plan," which technically disqualifies HSA contributions. The Primary Care Enhancement Act has been introduced in multiple Congresses to fix this, and bipartisan support continues. As of May 2026, the rule remains restrictive but workarounds exist (paying DPC from a non-HSA source, or in some cases reclassifying fees). Confirm with your tax advisor before assuming you can use HSA funds for Novakind membership.

Medicare and DPC

Medicare patients can join DPC practices, but the relationship is complicated. Many DPC physicians have opted out of Medicare entirely, which means Medicare will not reimburse for their services. Patients still need Medicare for hospitalizations, specialists, and other services. Confirm Medicare opt-out status with Novakind directly if you are 65+.

Other Long Beach Area Primary Care Options Worth Knowing

If Novakind does not fit your needs, geography, or budget, the broader concierge and DPC market has options. Within Southern California, the density of concierge and DPC practices is among the highest in the country. Outside the Long Beach immediate area, our best concierge medicine networks for families covers national alternatives.

Comparable DPC Practices Nationally

Thrive Direct Primary Care operates on a similar DPC model in New York City, with comparable monthly pricing and a focus on family medicine. The clinical philosophy and pricing structure mirror Novakind closely, which is helpful for patients who want to understand the DPC archetype before signing up.

Concierge Alternatives

If you have decided that DPC is not the right fit and want a true concierge model with coordinated specialist care, The Lanby and Diamond Health represent the higher end of the concierge market with team-based care models, executive physicals, and white-glove specialist coordination.

Steven Liebowitz, M.D., at Internal Medicine Associates of Raleigh and St. Joseph Primary Care represent the East Coast concierge model with established hospital affiliations and decades-long patient relationships.

Pediatric-Specific Options

For families specifically prioritizing pediatric care, our best pediatric concierge doctors guide compares pediatric-specialty practices that may complement or replace a family medicine DPC like Novakind.

Pros and Cons of Joining Novakind Health

Pros

• Transparent flat-fee pricing without insurance billing complexity
• Same-day or next-day acute care access in a market where urgent care lines are routine
• Long visits (30-60 minutes) instead of rushed 7-minute encounters
• Direct messaging access to your provider without phone tree friction
• Strong fit for chronic disease management based on national DPC outcomes data
• Wholesale lab and imaging pricing typically saves 50-80% vs retail insurance pricing
• No prior authorizations for in-house care
• A real, lasting relationship with a consistent primary care provider

Cons

• Monthly fee on top of insurance premiums means a higher fixed monthly cost than insurance-only models
• HSA compatibility remains restricted under current IRS rules
• Specialist care, hospitals, and major imaging still require separate insurance
• Geographic limitation to Long Beach area — not useful if you travel frequently or live elsewhere
• Smaller practice means a single physician (or small team) handles all your care, with less depth of subspecialty resources than a major academic system
• DPC vs concierge confusion in marketing means patients sometimes arrive expecting white-glove specialist coordination that DPC does not provide
• Practice may not have admitting privileges at every local hospital — confirm before joining if hospital choice matters

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Novakind Health a concierge medicine practice or Direct Primary Care?

Novakind Health operates a Direct Primary Care (DPC) model, not a traditional concierge model. The practical difference is that DPC practices do not bill your insurance for primary care services and instead charge a flat monthly fee that covers everything they do in-house. Concierge practices typically charge an annual access fee on top of also billing your insurance. DPC tends to be cheaper for healthy individuals and families, while concierge often makes sense for medically complex patients who want active specialist coordination. Novakind sits firmly on the DPC side of that split.

How much does Novakind Health cost in 2026?

Novakind charges a one-time enrollment fee of $150 plus a monthly membership fee that varies by age tier, which is the standard DPC pricing structure. Specific monthly rates should be confirmed directly with the practice, since DPC fees often update annually and may include family bundles. Based on national 2026 benchmarks, standard adult DPC fees typically run $75-$135 per month, with senior tiers higher and pediatric tiers lower. The published enrollment fee falls within the typical $99-$199 range for DPC onboarding.

Do I still need health insurance if I join Novakind?

Yes, almost always. DPC covers your primary care relationship but does not cover hospital admissions, surgeries, cancer treatment, ER visits, specialist visits, or complex imaging. Without separate insurance, a single major health event can produce catastrophic out-of-pocket costs. The most common pairing is a high-deductible health plan plus a DPC membership, which often costs less in total than a traditional low-deductible plan while delivering measurably better primary care. Confirm with a benefits advisor what combination works for your situation.

Can I use my HSA or FSA to pay for Novakind membership?

This is currently a gray area. The IRS has historically treated DPC fees as a "second health plan," which technically disqualifies HSA contributions while paying DPC fees from non-HSA sources. The Primary Care Enhancement Act has been introduced multiple times to clarify HSA compatibility for DPC, with bipartisan support but no final passage as of May 2026. FSA reimbursement is sometimes possible depending on plan rules. Talk to your tax advisor or benefits administrator before assuming you can use pre-tax dollars for Novakind membership.

What conditions does Novakind treat in-house versus refer out?

Novakind handles the full scope of family medicine in-house, which covers preventive care, chronic disease management (hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypothyroidism, asthma, anxiety, depression), acute illness (respiratory infections, UTIs, skin infections, GI bugs, minor injuries), and minor procedures like skin biopsies, joint injections, and laceration repair. They refer out for specialty care including cardiology, gastroenterology, dermatology, surgery, oncology, complex rheumatology and endocrinology, obstetrics, hospital-based care, and major imaging or procedures. Confirm specific conditions during your intake visit, especially for anything outside routine family medicine.

Related Reading

• Concierge Medicine for GLP-1 Patients: 2026 Practices Offering Comprehensive Weight Care
• How Concierge Medicine Pricing Works in 2026: A Real Cost Breakdown
• Best Concierge Medicine Networks for Families [2026 Ranked]

Bottom Line: Should You Join Novakind Health?

If you live in or near Long Beach, you already pay out of pocket for routine medical care under a high-deductible plan, and you want a real relationship with a primary care doctor who answers messages and runs unhurried visits, Novakind Health is worth a serious look. The DPC model has measurable clinical advantages for chronic disease management and same-day acute care, the pricing is transparent in a way that traditional concierge often is not, and the founding clinical philosophy is sound.

If you have comprehensive low-deductible insurance and rarely use primary care, Novakind probably does not pay for itself. If you are medically complex and need a physician to actively quarterback specialist care across multiple disciplines, a true concierge model may serve you better than DPC. If you are a Medicare patient, confirm opt-out status before assuming the math works.

The single best move before signing up is a conversation with the practice. Ask about specific monthly pricing for your age tier, family bundle availability, lab and imaging pricing, hospital admitting privileges if relevant to you, GLP-1 and weight management offerings if relevant, and what falls outside the membership scope. A 15-minute exploratory call will save you a year of mismatched expectations.

Direct Primary Care is one of the most patient-friendly models in American healthcare in 2026. Novakind Health is a credible local example of that model in Long Beach. Whether it is the right call for you depends on numbers and life circumstances that only you can run, but the model itself is worth understanding even if you ultimately choose something else.

-- The Concierge MD Finder Team