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When I first decided to become a Family Medicine physician I was attracted to the long-term relationships I would develop with my patients, the trust that would be cultivated and the sacred privilege I would have to walk alongside families, from delivering their babies to counseling them through end of life decisions and all their healthcare needs in between.
Throughout my years of practice I have been frequently reminded of how unique each individual is and how difficult it is to fit people into a box. Each person has innate value and dignity and I desired to provide a safe space to listen, support and counsel patients through health decisions. Listening goes a long way to helping patients feel heard and known, avoiding unnecessary diagnostic testing and crafting a shared treatment plan consistent with a patients’ goals and values. Listening takes time. Time has become my biggest battle – I want to give my patients the time they need, but am almost constantly apologizing for running late.
As I reached my 20th year of practicing in a large fee-for-service healthcare system I realized that although I had been fighting for this vision for so many years, my philosophy of care and the reality of how I was actually able to practice were becoming less and less congruent. I was being asked to provide excellent patient care within a system that was making it more and more difficult to actually do that. With the expectation to see as many patients as possible each day, I had enough time to write a prescription but not enough time to delve in depth to a concern that might be better managed with lifestyle measures.
Not only was I struggling, I was also hearing more and more stories from my patients and friends expressing discontent with the mainstream healthcare model. Stories of…
I myself have been amazed at the huge expense of healthcare bills our family receives despite being “healthy”. I work in healthcare and have “good” health insurance, yet we see thousands of dollars of healthcare bills each year. What exactly are we paying our high insurance premiums for?
My husband introduced me to the idea of Direct Primary Care in 2017 after hearing an interview with Dr. Josh Umber, one of the leaders of this national movement. A model which is now over 20 years old, Direct Primary Care slowly spread across the nation, but in the past five years has been growing exponentially as a high value, affordable, sustainable alternative for providing primary care. This model addresses many of the challenges and barriers people experience within our current system and offers an alternative for people who are dissatisfied with or fall through the cracks of the traditional insurance based health care system. As part of this movement, we believe…
The DPC grassroots community is passionate about simplifying healthcare by removing the middlemen, increasing transparency, increasing access and restoring the doctor-patient relationship. This is a new direction for primary care and True North Direct Primary Care was born from this vision.
Dr. Slings cherishes the relationships with patients she’s developed while practicing family medicine with obstetrics in the Twin Cities north metro for the past 20 years. She has been a fierce advocate for her patients and has a loyal patient following. She believes that all people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, and values the sacred patient-physician partnership, providing people with medical knowledge and insight so that they can be equipped to make decisions that best fit with their values and goals. She has consistently scored in the top 10% of the nation for her communication skills. She truly cares about her patients, and understands that listening and allowing patients to tell their story goes a long way toward better health.
Laura and her husband Steve have three children and one very energetic pudelpointer named Kota. They love spending time with their close group of friends and “relaxing” with family at the cabin. Laura loves dark roast coffee, a good book, laughter, caprese salad, kayaking and hiking in the Rocky Mountains.
While we would love to welcome you aboard immediately, Medicare has strict regulations stating that a physician (who is automatically “opted-in” to Medicare) MUST bill Medicare for any Medicare covered services (i.e. physicals, office visits, labs, etc). It is therefore illegal for a doctor who has not “opted-out” to charge a monthly membership fee to a patient who has Medicare insurance.
Dr. Slings will be “moonlighting” at local urgent cares until her practice grows enough that she can devote herself full-time to True North. At this point she will opt-out of Medicare which will allow her to accept members with Medicare insurance. Upon enrollement you will be asked to sign our Medicare Opt-out Agreement (ABN) stating that you will not bill Medicare for any of our services.
If you are on Medicare and are interested in becoming a member please subscribe to our Medicare patient waiting list. We will keep you updated as to when Dr. Slings is able to onboard you to the Practice.