Quality Care Focused On Just You

We believe the best medical care comes from a direct, transparent relationship with patients. That's why we've built our practice to work for you, not for insurance companies or government programs.

My Story

Vance Lassey, MD

Family Physician

Founder
Holton Direct Care

My Small-Town Dream & Breaking Point

Having been raised on a Kansas farm, my dream has always been to be a family doc right here in a rural Kansas community. And, for nearly a decade I practiced full‑spectrum family medicine at our community hospital in Holton. I loved many aspects of that work, but slowly, the demands of our third‑party payer system began to take over.

My time was increasingly consumed by paperwork related to insurance billing. One late night in the quiet hospital hallways, I reached my breaking point. I realized I couldn’t go back to my desk with yet another stack of prior-authorization forms. The American insurance‑based medical system was fundamentally broken—forcing doctors to prioritize insurance and government requirements over the people who deserve our undivided attention.

Founding Holton Direct Care

Unwilling to compromise on my belief that patients must always come first, I made the decision to step away and build Holton Direct Care; opening our doors in 2016. Although a new concept to our area, I quickly learned that my community got it—they were fed up with insurance-based care as well.

We quickly grew our clinic in Holton by offering patients unhurried visits, same- or next-day appointments, and wholesale savings on prescriptions and lab work. Our team grew with amazing people who shared my vision, including HDC opening a second location in Fairview.

Our Committment

By switching to a Direct Primary Care (DPC) model, we have eliminated the middlemen and allowed HDC to restore medicine to what it was always meant to be: an affordable, easily accessible, and deeply personal relationship between a doctor and his community.

To me, DPC isn't just a business model—it's a commitment to providing compassionate, accessible healthcare to every family, farmer, and small business owner I am privileged to serve.

Also, undistracted by paperwork, I can occasionally play my banjo with a patient who just needs a jam session.

Meet the Team

  • Vance Lassey, MD

    FAMILY PHYSICIAN & FOUNDER OF HDC

    Dr. Vance Lassey holds dual undergrad degrees and an M.D. from the University of Kansas. He was Chief Resident at Smoky Hill Family Medicine Residency, earning awards for teaching, writing, and the AAFP Award for Excellence in Graduate Medical Education. A founding member and two-year President of the Direct Primary Care Alliance, he helped start the Midwest DPC Alliance and has chaired or served on boards including the KDHE Newborn Screening Advisory Council, the Governor's Fitness Council, and the Kansas Academy of Family Physicians. He’s been an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, receiving multiple teaching awards, including the AOA Volunteer Clinical Faculty Award.

    Dr. Lassey grew up on a farm in Peck, Kansas, and has lived in Holton with his wife Erin and their children Luke and Rebekah (Beka) since 2007. He enjoys carpentry, woodworking, renovating homes, 3D modeling and printing, disc golf, and family time. He serves as an elder at Holton First Baptist Church and plays the banjo—badly, but proudly.

  • Daniel Jones, APRN, FNP-C

    FAMILY NURSE PRACTITIONER

    Daniel Jones was born and raised in Topeka, Kansas. He has experience in family medicine, cardiology, and urgent/emergency care. Around age 10 he read his grandmother’s home remedy books, aiming to help his family’s health.

    His medical career path was delayed by a career in the mechanical trades; he owned and operated an HVAC company across northeast Kansas until graduating from Washburn and Baker Universities and entering medicine in 2012. Like Dr. Lassey, Daniel found traditional medicine’s “patient factory” model incompatible with the care he wanted to provide, so he returned to school for an advanced degree to offer an alternative to managed care and costly fee-for-service medicine.

    Daniel joined Holton Direct Care in 2021 and takes pride in treating patients as he would want to be treated. He lives in Shawnee County with his wife, Rebecca, and their two high-school sons, Christian and Lyric. The family enjoys outdoor adventures and attends Northland Christian Church in Topeka. In his spare time Daniel tinkers on various projects and follows emerging research on repurposed medications/

  • Elisa Rottinghaus, PA-C

    PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT (PA) — FAIRVIEW CLINIC

    Elisa grew up on a farm in rural south-central Kansas. She earned a Bachelor’s in Human Biology from the University of Kansas, then a Physician Assistant degree from Wichita State University in 1998. She started her career in Kansas City but chose to return to small-town life, practicing rural family medicine in the Hiawatha and Falls City area, where she cares for neighbors and friends.

    Elisa has training in lifestyle medicine and helps patients improve via nutrition and lifestyle. She’s also certified in menopause hormone therapy and brings that expertise to our HDC family.

    Like many at HDC, she grew frustrated with third-party payers that limited patient care. We’re pleased to welcome Elisa to Holton Direct Care. She looks forward to serving Northeast KS at our Fairview location.

    Elisa lives in Falls City, NE, with her two sons, Henry and Charlie. They enjoy camping, hiking, and attending their sons’ school and church activities. In her spare time she reads, explores nature, and trains and snuggles her dogs. One dog is in therapy-dog training and may visit the clinic.

  • Marty Ellis, APRN, FNP-C

    FAMILY NURSE PRACTITIONER

    Marty Ellis lives on his family farm south of Havensville, KS. He began nursing in 2011 as an LPN in a Topeka assisted living facility, became an RN in 2012 while working on a post-surgical unit, then paused nursing to help on his wife’s family farm near Frankfort, KS.

    After returning to medicine, he entered critical care—joining a Level II trauma ED in Topeka, KS in 2016 and serving six years as an emergency nurse. He worked with ER physicians and trauma surgeons on the trauma team, spent two years as ED charge nurse, then joined a rural hospital in Onaga, KS. Working near his hometown and reconnecting with locals who knew his family has been rewarding.

    During his training to become a Nurse Practitioner, he learned the importance of clear communication and compassion. Few providers are as approachable, kind, and down-to-earth as Marty. He looks forward to building lasting relationships based on trust and respect.

    When not seeing patients, Marty spends time with his wife Jessica and their two children, Elli Jo and Aiden. Grateful for life on the family farm, he enjoys fishing, bowhunting, landscaping, barbecuing, and classic cars.

  • Erin Lassey

    PRACTICE MANAGEMENT

    Erin runs our business office.  There isn't a better business manager on Earth. She hasn't written us a bio to put here, but this is what we know: She's the smartest member of our staff. She plays the piano really well. She has really pretty hair.  She likes to read. She was accepted to the University of Notre Dame, and graduated from their esteemed business school, with a degree in Management Information Systems. When she was young, she didn't like barbecue and she now can't understand for the life of her how she ever could have felt that way, especially growing up in the Kansas City area.

     When you meet this kind, humble, gorgeous genius, the last thing you'd guess is that she hates animals.  She might claim not to, but it seems to be the case, based on her penchant for killing them with her car. (Except for that one ironic time, when a cow killed her car, in retribution for her failed attempt at killing the cow.  (This really happened, she'll be glad to tell you about it.)

  • Miriam Eldridge, RN

    NURSE

    We strongly suspect that Miriam is an elf or some such immortal creature from a Tolkien novel.  She looks young, but might be the oldest person who works at Holton Direct Care.  She might look like a 21 year old, but she has the warmth, caring nature and overall demeanor of an 85 year old retired nurse.  She probably knows what a brooch is, knows the difference between a shawl, wrap, and headscarf, and we suspect she has 20 of each. She has already started collecting used tennis balls for the front legs of her walker which she not need for 60 years but eventually will, judging by her complete absence of knowledge of anything pop-culture from the last 40-50 years. 

    She has an appropriate appreciation for bluegrass music, is probably a square dancer, loves our patients, is ultra-kind, always happy/bubbly, and if we're honest we can't imagine HDC without her.

Our members choose HDC because we treat them as community members, not appointments. As a family medicine practice, we care for whole households—often across three generations—offering continuity and trust. Our member-supported clinic welcomes everyone, regardless of insurance, income, or health. By providing attentive, accessible, and affordable care, we lower stress, reduce out-of-pocket costs, and keep people away from the messiest parts of our healthcare system.

10+ years

in our community

For over a decade, we have provided innovative, affordable health care in the Holton-area.

0-100+

years of age.

We care for newborns, teens, moms, dads, the elderly, and everything in between. We help them healthy and manage ongoing health issues.

100’s

of ER TRIPS avoided

By being truly accessible, our members can have peace of mind when urgent matters arise.

$100,000’s

saved.

By offering big discounts on Rx meds, labs, radiology, procedures, and more, we keep more money in our members pockets!

Join Holton Direct Care today for a healthier tomorrow.

Start My Membership!