Super User
NC Rural Health Challenges
Millions of dollars have been spent, year after year, describing the same problems affecting rural healthcare. Rural healthcare problems are similar throughout the country. Texas has the largest percentage of rural population at risk. North Carolina is number two.
Academicians and non profit groups, year after year, describe the same problems and prescribe the same solutions. More money. More programs. More mandates and give-aways. They are long on generalities, create new buzz words and faux health problems, and incredibly short of real world, practical solutions. Studies that cost millions of dollars that could be channeled into ... real world, practical solutions that could benefit hundreds of thousands of people.
The short and sweet summary of Rural Health problems (without spending Millions of $$$):
- Low Population Density
- Lower Average Incomes
- Lower Average Education
- Higher Poverty Rates
- Increasing Elderly Population Rates
- Longer Distances to Travel
- Fewer Physicians, Medical Professionals, and Specialty Medical Services
- Smaller hospitals, with fewer services and smaller margins, operating at increasing risk of closure
These problems, in various combinations, form three main issues:
(1) Increased difficulty in creating and sustaining large, higher margin businesses (of all kinds) to increase employment opportunities, pay higher wages, and bring additional revenue to rural county economies.
(2) Higher rates of preventable chronic disease states, requiring greater medical care support.
(3) Higher per-visit cost structures for the provision of regional, rural medical care.
Welcome To WellCraft Health™
Dr. Carol Rupe Your Personal Family Physician
MyPreference™ Professional Medical Care
If one of our patients were to design a medical care program, they would design it from THEIR perspective, using THEIR preferences. Our patients would want a REAL doctor, with a tremendous depth of experience who focused on THEIR needs, and helped solve THEIR medical problems. Our patients would want their appointments to be easy and quick to schedule, without long waits. They would want empathy and support, time for real conversations, and know that they have been listened to and understood. And, our patients would want a pricing structure that they and their family can afford, representing REAL value.
WellCraft Health’s MyPreference™ professional medical care program is all that, and more. We contract directly with our patients for their medical care and do not participate in any health insurance network or governmental program. Each of Dr. Carol Rupe’s patients have Dr. Rupe’s cell phone number to text or call when they are not feeling right. Through easier access, earlier intervention, patient advocacy, and proactive lifestyle changes, WellCraft Health hopes to reduce the need for extensive specialty physician referrals and expensive Emergency Room visits or hospitalization.
MyPreference™ provides custom crafted, personal medical care that is tailored for the needs of every individual. As we grow WellCraft Health, we will be adding additional physican partners with additional skill sets that will enrich our program for the benefit of others. We will add additional diagnostics and capabilities to augment those available from local specialty medical offices and regional hospital systems.
In comparison with insurance driven medical care, MyPreference™ is a value-packed, premium quality medical care program, serviced by Dr. Carol Rupe, a veteran family physician.
- Call Dr. Rupe day or night when a medical need arises in your family
- Receive more professional time and attention to discuss your medical concerns
- Be confident that Dr. Rupe will focus on crafting a solution to your medical condition, or improve the quality of your life without incurring extra visits
- Quickly obtain appointments, possibly the same day
- Custom craft your medical care planning with Dr. Rupe
- Have Dr. Rupe review your lab work, specialty consults, diagnostics, and hospitalization notes and call you to discuss, explain, and advise you on your medical care
- Have Dr. Rupe on your side, as your advocate, when health insurance denials arise. As a family medicine expert, she can articulate the intricacies of Medical Necessity for you and your family's behalf.
Participating in MyPreference™ and implementing healthier lifestyle changes can increase your longevity. Together, we can help reduce your risk of developing a significant number of chronic diseases. Avoiding or delaying the onset of chronic diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, among others, will save you THOUSANDS of dollars in specialty medical care and hospitalization.
We want to become THE family medical practice that people want to come to. Welcome Home to WellCraft Health, and discover EVERYTHING missing from modern medicine today.
The Value of Prevention
There are many ways to calculate cost. The immediate expenses are those you can see and count in dollars like health insurance premiums, annual deductibles, and the cost of medical visits. Deferred expenses, attributed to the development of chronic diseases over time, can add eight to twenty thousand dollars per year in additional medical expenses.
What value can be assigned to the loss of your strength and mobility? Your eyesight? Your pain and suffering? We don't often think about this when we are thinking about healthcare. But really, this is where we should begin. We need to place our emphasis on value. Having more time to enjoy friends and family has value. Being able to breathe more freely has value. So does, being able to enjoy activities like fishing, reading, traveling, or going to church. What value is attending your daughter's wedding or the joy of playing with your grandkids? This is where our focus needs to be - living better lives through better health. This is the value MyPreference™ brings to Dr. Carol Rupe's patients.
MyPreference™ is not health insurance. Dr. Carol Rupe does not participate in any health insurance network or government program. But, having Dr. Rupe as your personal family physician and participating in her MyPreference™ program, along with making progress on your custom health objectives, can significantly reduce your risk of developing most, non-age dependent chronic diseases. Participating in MyPreference™ now, can significantly improve the quality of your life and save you tens of thousands of dollars on medical care in the years ahead. The monthly cost of MyPreference™ is only a cell phone bill for an individual, or a cable bill for a family of four.
How does it work? Dr. Carol Rupe's patients sign an annual agreement to participate in her MyPreference™ program. The monthly enrollment fee and any medical visits, if necessary, are invoiced for greater financial flexibility. Dr. Rupe tries to solve many medical problems by phone if she can. WellCraft Health™ includes clinical diagnostics and a limited number of medications and injectables at no extra charge. WellCraft Health forwards your insurance information to LabCorp for lab work, and to your pharmacy of choice for medications. We strive to work with the "Best of the Best" in specialty care and hospitalization.
WellCraft Health™
Well Crafted Family Medical Care
Dr. Carol Rupe has over 30 years of experience as a veteran family physician, with extensive experience in clinical medicine, hospital based inpatient medical care, and caring for our senior citizens. At WellCraft Health, OUR focus is on YOU, providing the professional medical time, attention, and responsive service you and your family need.
Dr. Carol Rupe doesn’t just treat your symptoms, she works with you to help identify the problem(s) you may be experiencing and help craft a solution. Dr. Rupe works for her patients, not “The System”. She will advocate for you and helps navigate and actively coordinates your medical care with specialists and hospital systems on your behalf.
Why? What’s the Difference?
Medicine has been transformed into a high-volume factory, governed by the health insurance industry, the federal government, and state agencies. If you add large hospital systems to the mix, now you have powerful, interconnected, and dominant BIG MEDICINE.
BIG MEDICINE brings long waits to get appointments, and long waits in a “waiting room” that may be full of sick people. Often, you are treated by a “provider” who doesn’t know you - and has little to no time for a meaningful discussion. Your medical visit has been reduced to a 3-to-5-minute conversation that results in a prescription and/or a referral to a specialist. If you have more than “one thing” you need to talk about - too bad! You must schedule another appointment... weeks away.
The systemic optimization, and cost efficiencies of BIG MEDICINE have absolutely nothing to offer you, the patient. Because to the system you are an object, a widget, to be processed by the “one size fits all” medical machine. If you have been feeling like you don’t matter, that your medical needs are not being met... you may be right.
Dr. Carol Rupe’s MyPreference™ is Designed For You
You are a unique individual, with unique medical needs. At WellCraft Health you will receive more professional time and attention than available at a traditional, insurance driven medical office. YOUR DOCTOR will be accessible by cell phone for easier access and faster, more responsive service. More importantly, you will be treated with kindness and respect, and your medical care will be custom crafted to your needs.
Dr. Carol Rupe offers her patients More professional medical time, Better medical support, and Faster medical service with Day or Night access, modeled on the Country Doctor.
Dr. Carol Anne Rupe - Your Personal Family Physician
Professional Qualifications
Education:
Undergraduate: University of Notre Dame
Graduate: Georgetown University School of Medicine
Residency: Malcolm Grow Medical Center, USAF
Fellowship: UNC, Chapel Hill, NC
Certification: American Academy, Family Physicians
Professional Experience:
Family Physician for more than 30 years
Over 20 years of experience with Hospitalization and Inpatient Medical Care
Over 15 years serving as a Medical Director to multiple Nursing & Assisted Living Centers
National Expert in Family Medicine, providing expert medical reviews & advice to attorneys
Special Appointments:
Physician Representative, Halifax County
Chair, Family Practice, Presbyterian Hospital
Clinical Specialties:
With a special focus on Women's Health and Senior Health, Dr. Rupe also offers her experience in these specialties:
- Anxiety
- Cardiopulmonary Diseases
- Cardiovascular Disease
- Children & Teens
- Depression
- Diabetes
- Emphysema
- Fibromyalgia
- Headaches
- High Blood Pressure
- Hormone Replacement
- Manic Depressive Illness
- Memory Disorders
- Osteoporosis
- Respiratory Disease
- Senior Health
- Weight Loss
- Women's Health
Dr. Carol's Story
Dr. Carol Rupe moved to Roanoke Rapids from Charlotte, North Carolina in 2015, after recovering from a terrible auto accident. She brings more than 30 years of clinical family medicine experience, combined with 25 years of inpatient care for her patients, and over 25 years as a medical director for several long-term care facilities.
Dr. Rupe is a former United States Air Force physician and understands the true meaning of service and the value of personal sacrifice. As a small business owner, Dr. Rupe also understands the challenges that small business owners face in this tough economy with trying to increase sales, adjusting to higher business expenses, and keeping your employees focused and motivated to deliver top quality products and services - on time. Making matters more difficult, the cost of keeping your employees and their family members healthy has become harder every year.
And as a breast cancer survivor, she knows the despair that an unresponsive and uncaring medical system can bring. She may have had personal experience with a health condition you may be concerned about now. Drop her a note and ask some general questions - nothing too private or personal - you haven't met yet! Perhaps, together - you and Dr. Carol Rupe can work out a treatment plan to address those concerns and get you onto a path leading to better health.
Dr. Carol searches for solutions to medical problems and actively coordinates your specialty medical care. She does not just treat the symptoms. Dr. Rupe knows each and every one of her patients. Your wellbeing is important and you are not "just a number" at WellCraft Health. Our focus is on you. We have no interest in feeding the medical system with extra diagnostics or excessive specialty consultations. Our patients can live better lives, achieve better health outcomes, and realize lower overall medical expenses through earlier detection, timely intervention, and important lifestyle changes.
Dr. Carol’s Goals for WellCraft Health
Rural North Carolina is home to 38% of North Carolina’s population. It is similar to much of rural America, including the small town in Pennsylvania she grew up in. Rural America faces a number of challenges, including being under served in the delivery of medical care. WellCraft Health plans to add additional seasoned medical professionals to its staff, and expand its range of services to the local area. WellCraft Health hopes to participate in a number of partnerships with local schools and leading medical institutions to help develop and support rural medical care physician residency training programs, and launch a marketing, sales, and operations consulting operation to better assist small, rural medical practices across the country with its headquarters located in Roanoke Rapids, NC. Small town, big ideas, with each of us actively working together, towards a better tomorrow.
An excellent article on other efforts to develop rural medical care:
Attracting Next Generation Physicians
Benefits of Personal Medical Care
As our national and regional healthcare system gets larger and more complicated, the medical needs of the individual are often overlooked.
Not at WellCraft Health™. You are a unique individual with different biochemistries, tolerances, neurologies, allergies .... the list goes on. You ARE DIFFERENT AND your medical care needs to be tailored to your individual needs for the best results.
Dr. Carol Rupe is an “old school” family physician and WellCraft Health is an “old school” family medical practice, modeled on the Country Doctor.
There was a time when you had YOUR DOCTOR. You could call your doctor on the phone, day or night, and the doctor would answer! Sometimes you were able to be seen that day or the next few days - not weeks and months. That Country Doctor knew you and your family. You had time to talk about what you were experiencing, and you knew your doctor was listening. Back then, you had someone you could trust and depend on.
Dr. Rupe doesn’t make house calls, but at WellCraft Health you are treated as a valued member of our big medical family. As a physician, she focuses on helping to solve your medical problem(s) at our office. She has no interest in feeding the system with extra diagnostics or specialty consults, wasting your time and money. But if you do need specialty care or diagnostics “Dr. Carol” will send a targeted referral so you should never hear the words “Why are you here?”.
“Dr. Carol” will actively coordinate your specialty medical care, and IF your health insurance company denies her recommended treatment for you, she will challenge the insurance company’s rejection. She doesn’t win every battle but has had many significant successes. Who else will do that for you?
With “Dr. Carol” as an advisor, a confidant, and a friend, you have someone who will take the time to talk and explain complex medical processes. No matter where you are - or what time it is - if you have a cell phone, you can have your own, personal family physician.
Isn’t it time to come HOME to WellCraft Health?
Seeking Family Physician Partners
Come HOME to WellCraft Health & LOVE being a doctor again!
We are seeking one to three family physicians who have a love for family and community, who desire to provide a significantly different - and better type of medical care than what today's insurance driven medical system will allow. Imagine being part of a supportive community and having time to know each of your patients as individuals, having REAL conversations, and the ability to utilize your best medical judgement for the benefit of your patients.
WellCraft Health has rejected insurance driven, coding crazy, factory-style medical care. Our patient relationships are personal and long term. We offer our community a personal, country doctor style of medical care - privately. WellCraft Health has established itself with a well-deserved reputation for quality medical care. The hard part is done. Now we are seeking to expand our services and build for the future with the addition of prospective partner physicians.
We seek family physicians who have significant (5 to 25 years) experience in clinical, hospital, and or long-term care medicine, willing to work together to help build a medical practice that brings joy to you, as a physician, and to your patients. We seek physicians who have a love for nature, for woods and lakes, a love for people and animals, and a desire for simpler living away from congested city traffic, and away from daily medical system aggravations.
The local area is charming, located on the Roanoke River, with Lake Gaston minutes away. Major city attractions in Raleigh, Richmond, Greensboro, Williamsburg, and Norfolk are an hour and a half away. Enjoy time at the beach or the beautiful NC mountains within a three-hour drive. Smaller city entertainment and activities are even closer.
Why are you looking at making a change?
How much of a change are you looking to make?
How much of a serious commitment are you willing to make?
Here is why I ask:
Upwards of 48% of today's primary care physicians are fed up with what medicine has become. Some are considering quitting and getting into another profession. Others are considering retiring.
Why?
Some physicians are considering a job change in order to escape the unpleasantness of their current situation - burned out with long hours, 30 plus patients a day, going from room to room. Next! Paperwork, follow up. You know you should do more, and perhaps research. But no time. Specialty referrals. Referrals come back. Prescription refills. Labwork reviews. Follow ups & phone calls. High volume & high pressure. Each and every day seems to be like the previous day. No matter where you move, the game of BIG MEDICINE remains the same.
I would suggest a better way. Pick your retirement spot early and LOVE the remainder of your medical career! Have a larger, and more positive impact on people's lives. Slow down and enjoy your own life. Find joy in being a family physician again.
Consider becoming a prospective partner with WellCraft Health and say goodbye to 10-hour days seeing 20 to 30 patients a day, having no control over your schedule, insufficient time to do all your paperwork, make all your phone calls, while struggling with all the bureaucracy.
Say goodbye to check box medicine.
Reclaim your profession and become a personal and private family physician with WellCraft Health.
WellCraft Health™
WellCraft Health offers custom, well-crafted medical care. We celebrate life, God’s grace and blessings, Family, our Friends and Neighbors, and Farmers and Small Businesses that help sustain our way of life. We are small town USA, nature loving, and supporters of our community.
As big insurance, big government, big medicine, and big business take ever greater measures to control our health and our lives, WellCraft Health offers a small island of safety and support, of nurturing and comfort. WellCraft Health is an “old school” medical practice that partners with its patients for better health like the country doctor of yesteryear. Dr. Carol Rupe and WellCraft Health are here for you, day, night and weekends, we are just a phone call away.
At WellCraft Health™, we put our focus on you, and the needs of your family. Your time, comfort, and privacy are important to us.
Dr. Rupe’s MyPreference™ Program is a whole health concept modeled on the ‘Country Doctor’, whom you can call day or night to help with a medical malady.
Every one of us is a unique individual. Each of us have different personalities, biochemistries, jobs, family situations, and stresses. Today's "One Size Fits All", large scale medical system IS DESIGNED TO FEED specialty care, diagnostic services, and hospitalization to service expensive, chronic medical conditions. WellCraft Health™ is designed to provide custom, WellCrafted medical care to PREVENT OR DELAY the development of expensive, chronic medical conditions that can diminish the quality of your life.
Dr. Carol Rupe wants to work with you to help AVOID expensive chronic medical conditions that can diminish the quality of your life. She wants you to be able to enjoy a better life through better health. We want to help solve your health problem(s) - not feed the medical system. Dr. Rupe treats you as the unique person you are, not just as another person on her schedule. Just like the Country Doctor.
By investing in yourself and your family with SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER primary care medicine, provided by Dr. Carol Rupe and her MyPreference™ program, you can improve the quality of your life, and save you and your family THOUSANDS of dollars.
The Benefits of Personal Medical Care
WellCraft Health™ is significantly DIFFERENT and BETTER than a traditional medical office.
Appointments at WellCraft Health™ are easy to make, and possibly for the same day. We respect and value your time. Your medical visit is scheduled for up to 30 minutes, so you have a real conversation about what you are experiencing. Together, you and Dr. Rupe, can discuss treatment options and work out a custom, and WellCrafted solution that works best for you. Like the Country Doctor, Dr. Carol Rupe is available to her patients, day and night.
Dr. Rupe knows her patients so well, she can address many of your needs by phone, and not require a medical visit. Should you need specialty care, Dr. Carol Rupe will act as your "Quarterback", coordinating your care with medical specialists, diagnostic centers, and hospitals through our increasingly complex medical system. She will review your medical care and translate medical jargon so you can understand your diagnostic results and specialty consults. She will call you personally to discuss your lab work, specialty consults or medical procedures.
With Dr. Carol, you have a partner in making better health and medical decisions, someone who supports your efforts, and understands your challenges. More importantly, you have an advocate who will challenge your health insurance company when denials are issued and you have a medical necessity and actively help you navigate the increasingly complicated health care specialty referral system.
At WellCraft Health™, you are not a number. You are unique and special - and so is your medical care.
WellCraft Health™ for Business
WellCraft Health for Business provides our local businesses a more flexible and lower cost non insurance health care option for their employees wellbeing. Through a consultative process, WellCraft Health will meet with the small business owner or corporate benefits manager to discuss it’s business, and its employee hiring and retention objectives. We discuss types of jobs, the special needs and challenges of the business, work related costs, and other factors adversely affecting the business when an employee is sick, injured, or absent from their scheduled duties. From there we craft a custom health solution for their business, and tailor it to meet achievable objectives.
Like WellCraft Health, we feature easy appointments and more appointment time for their employees. Unlike WellCraft Health, we will be using a team of physicians and one or more advanced practitioners, working WITH direct physician supervision. The net result will be better and more responsive medical care for a company’s employees, at a lower monthly cost.
Discussion of other features, and future growth plans are limited to prospective onsite client conversations only.
Copyright © 2025 WellCraft Health.
Marketing & Support by Marketing-Projects.biz.