Can a tiny Seattle upstart change the way people seek and pay for health care? Qliance Medical Group is going to try, and it has just raised $4 million in new funding from Second Avenue Partners, New Atlantic Ventures and Clear Fir Partners, reports Reuters and Xconomy.

Qliance takes a radically different approach to health care. How so? Well, for one, it does not deal with insurance companies. Instead, the company -- which operates a clinic in Seattle and plans to open another in Kent this summer -- charges monthly fees of $49 to $79 after a $99 registration fee.

As part of that fee, Qliance members receive 30 to 60 minute doctor visits as well as 24 hour phone and email access to physicians.

With about 40 cents of every health care dollar going to insurance costs, Qliance believes it can offer a more affordable solution by removing insurance providers from the equation.

"Qliance’s unique approach to providing primary care has grown out of frustration with an unmanageable, expensive insurance system and a desire to put good, affordable, personalized primary healthcare back in the hands of patients and doctors," the company writes on its Web site. "The bottom line is that you—not the insurance company—become our customer and benefit from true patient-centered primary care."

Will this work? President Barack Obama has pledged to revamp the nation's health care system, and Qliance could serve as a model. But as Luke Timmerman notes, the health care reform of the new administration is a "wildcard in the business."

Total funding in the company -- led by Garrison Bliss and Norman Wu -- now stands at $7.5 million.

UPDATE: Here's what Nick Hanauer of Second Avenue Partners had to say about Qliance in today's press release.

"We see the Qliance direct primary care model as an important transformational option to health care reform that is easily scalable for other communities across the U.S.," he said. "Their innovative health care model reduces costs dramatically for individuals and businesses while delivering exceptional care and access for patients."

John Cook is the co-founder of TechFlash. Follow him on Twitter @johnhcook.