Venture Wellness, led by Julia Montgomery, recently introduced direct primary care at its clinic near Brandermill. (Courtesy Venture Wellness)
A 4-year-old local medical practice has joined the direct primary care trend.
Venture Wellness – which offers hormone therapy, weight management and peptide therapy among other similar services from its clinic in Chesterfield – began offering direct primary care in October.
Direct primary care involves patients who gain access to medical services through a paid monthly membership model, rather than billing through insurance.
Venture and other direct primary care providers pitch the service as a means to provide patients simpler and less costly medical care.
“We wanted to get away from the model that causes people to fall through the cracks,” said Venture Wellness owner Julia Montgomery.
Montgomery said Venture added the new service because patients often have had a difficult time locating and regularly seeing a primary care provider, which she requires of people who come to her clinic at 2342 Colony Crossing Place for its specialized care. She said bringing primary care in-house makes it easier for patients to obtain her services and expands the clinic’s capabilities overall.
“I’ve always had that requirement, and over the years I found my patients have a harder time finding or maintaining a PCP (primary care provider),” Montgomery said. “We wanted to be able to provide comprehensive, wrap-around services.”
Venture’s monthly primary care memberships cost $59 or $65 for children ages 2-17, $99 or $109 for adults ages 18-64 and $109 or $119 for adults 65 and older. Prices vary depending on whether the plan is paid monthly or every three months, according to the company’s website. The clinic offers discounted rates to existing patients and group options for businesses.
Montgomery said interest in memberships has been picking up and noted that the clinic’s existing patients are signing up their families. The clinic plans to cap its direct care memberships at 300.
She founded Venture in 2022 and is the majority owner of the business, which she co-owns with her husband.
Montgomery is a nurse practitioner and added another one, Danielle Braithwaite, to her team as part of the expansion into direct primary care. The clinic’s two providers are supported by a patient coordinator who is also a registered nurse.
Venture operates out of a 1,300-square-foot clinic with three exam rooms. The clinic occupies an office condo that an LLC tied to Montgomery bought in 2024 for $350,000, according to county records.
The direct primary care model has gained popularity in recent years nationally and in the Richmond area. Earlier this year, a direct primary care medical practice opened in New Kent, while locally based EuDoc opened in Chesterfield in 2021 and added a Henrico outpost in 2024.
Direct primary care has similarities to concierge medicine providers such as Richmond-born PartnerMD, though that approach usually involves higher monthly fees, membership perks and insurance billing.
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