Direct primary care EHR and software
By Vye Health editorial team
Published . Updated .
A direct primary care EHR is the software a membership practice uses to record visits, track who is enrolled, and bill the fee. Clinics also call that system a direct primary care EMR or direct primary care software. As of October 13, 2026, 42 U.S.C. 17921 defines an electronic health record as an electronic record of health-related information on an individual that is created, gathered, managed, and consulted by authorized health care clinicians and staff.
Vye Core is an EHR and practice platform: scheduling, charting, telehealth, a patient app and billing in one place, with Vye Orders included.
What is a direct primary care EHR?
It is the system of record for a practice that sells primary care as a membership. The EHR, the EMR, and the software name show up in the same searches because they point at that one system. The federal definition is about the record. It does not pick a brand or a price. AAFP's direct primary care page is written for family physicians. Our patient explainer covers the fee, insurance, and questions to ask.
Judge the product against the membership you plan to sell. The guide to starting a direct primary care practice asks you to write what the fee includes, how many patients you can carry, and what happens outside the membership. The software has to run that worksheet. A chart that cannot see the membership will split the visit from the bill.
What should direct primary care software track?
| Decision | Question to ask on a demo |
|---|---|
| Who is enrolled | Can you see the start date, the fee, and whether the membership is active? |
| What the fee includes | Can the chart tell a covered visit from a service the patient pays separately? |
| Access | Can the patient book and message without a second login? |
| Outside care | Can you record a referral, a lab, or a drug that someone else bills? |
| Panel size | Can you see how many active members you have against the cap you set? |
If the membership rules live in a spreadsheet and the note lives in the EHR, the front desk and the clinician will disagree about what the patient already paid for.
How does a direct primary care EMR handle orders?
Order labs, prescriptions, referrals and supplements from the chart, with Vye Orders. Vye Orders lets you order labs, imaging, sleep studies and other specialist referrals, prescriptions including compounded medications, and supplements from one place, and your patients use one login.
Some of those orders are billed by someone other than the practice. The chart should show the patient which bill is the membership and which bill comes from a lab, a pharmacy, or another clinician. The cash-pay guide separates those charges.
What does Vye Core include?
Vye Core is an EHR and practice platform: scheduling, charting, telehealth, a patient app and billing in one place, with Vye Orders included. Scheduling, charting, billing and patient messages live in one system, so nothing gets typed in twice. Patients book online and get an email reminder before each visit. The AI scribe drafts the visit note. You review, edit and sign it.
You can start with Vye Core for new patients and keep your current system for existing patients. Not ready to switch EHRs? Start with Vye Orders.
The same questions for a functional medicine chart are on the functional medicine EHR page.
What does it cost to start?
Vye charges $0 upfront, and no SaaS or monthly fee. That is the cost of joining Vye. It is not the membership fee you charge patients, and it is not the price of outside labs or drugs.
Sources
- 42 U.S.C. 17921, Definitions. Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School.
- Direct Primary Care Model For Family Physicians. American Academy of Family Physicians.
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