Podcasts about dpc

Dr. Brian Juan toured with rock bands and played dueling piano bars for more than a decade before he became a family doctor. Three months into Metronome Family Medicine, his solo Direct Primary Care practice in Longmont, Colorado, he talks about what it actually took to make the leap.Dr. Brian Juan spent most of his 20s and 30s on the road, first touring with rock and jam bands, then playing dueling pianos in bars around Boulder and Denver. His dad was a Filipino immigrant physician who ran a small practice out of the family's basement in rural New Jersey, so medicine was always somewhere in the background. It wasn't until a bar owner called him one day in 2007 and told him not to bother coming in, because they were putting in a mechanical bull instead of pianos, that he actually went back to school. He was 33.In this episode, host Dr. Maryal Concepcion catches up with Dr. Juan three months into running Metronome Family Medicine, his solo Direct Primary Care practice in Longmont, Colorado, built around midlife vitality and longevity. They get into what actually kept him at his corporate job for nine years, and it wasn't inertia, it was real financial fear. They cover the savings buckets system that finally got him to leave, the pro forma he built in one night with another DPC physician, and how his years as his old clinic's go-to guy for AI documentation tools are shaping the practice he's building now. And yes, they get into the music too.In this episode:Growing up inside a Filipino immigrant physician's basement practice in rural New Jersey, throat swabs, wart removals, the whole dealChoosing a band over med school when "doctor" was basically the only acceptable answer growing upA decade-plus on the road, rock and jam bands in his 20s, then years as a dueling pianist around Boulder and DenverThe 2007 phone call that ended his music career, when the bar replaced the pianos with a mechanical bullGoing back to school at 33, starting with intro chemistry, then medical school at the University of ColoradoThe student debt, foreclosure, and bankruptcy that shaped every decision that came afterNine years in corporate medicine and the real reason he stayedWhat finally made leaving possible: a financial planner and a savings buckets systemBuilding the pro forma that got him a small business loan he still hasn't touchedRunning 500 AI scribe notes in a pilot that asked for ten, and what that taught him about his own tech stack90-minute new patient visits, InBody body composition scans, and relearning how to take a manual blood pressurePrecepting medical students in a Direct Primary Care clinic through CU's Longitudinal Integrated CurriculumThe boundaries that keep it sustainable: no calls after 5pm, weekly hikes with his wife, actually writing music againHis 25-year collaboration with Colorado Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bluesman Otis Taylor, and why he still plays with Docs That RockCONGRATULATIONS Dr. Oropeza!!!! Learn more about Oropeza Family Health at https://oropezahealth.com/ Get your copy of the Physician Owner's Planner today at mydpcstory.com/library Learn more about Hint Summit at: https://go.hint.com/45zknvf Support the showGET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOADBecome A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE PODMy DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG!FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

What should a direct primary care physician actually pay themselves? On this episode of My DPC Story, Dr. Maryal Concepcion sits down with Nate Goodman, CPA, founder of Goodman CPA, the accounting firm that works exclusively with direct primary care and direct specialty care practices.Nate is also a DPC patient. His family's experience with direct primary care in the Black Mountains of North Carolina is why his firm stopped taking non-direct care clients in 2024.Together they walk through 10 questions, each with a real number attached, that every DPC owner should be able to answer.In this episode:How to set a DPC membership rate using your household budget and local census income dataWhy most physician owners are 30 to 50 percent underpriced once discounts and free memberships are countedWhere an enrollment fee should sit (one to two months of membership) and what it fundsThe profit margin to target with employees (about 30 percent) versus a solo micro practice with no payroll (up to 70 percent)How many months of cash to hold before raising your own payThe Profit First method for DPC: 20 percent to owner's pay and 15 percent to taxes from day oneWhat has to be true in your numbers before hiring a second physician, and the marketing signal most owners missThe true loaded cost of a hire (1.25 to 1.4 times base salary)What a normal annual termination rate looks like and when churn means something is wrongLLC versus S corp: the 15.3 percent self-employment tax and where the break-even point sitsYear-end tax moves to make before December, including the 401(k) setup deadlineFree calculator: Nate and the My DPC Story team built a free DPC financial calculator so you can run your own membership pricing, enrollment fee, owner pay, and hiring numbers. Get it at mydpcstory.com.Listener offer: My DPC Story listeners get 25 percent off onboarding fees for Goodman CPA's full services, including tax advisory and fractional monthly accounting. Use the links at mydpcstory.com.Ways to work with Goodman CPA:The DPC Circle community with monthly live Q&A ($10/month)Launch Pad for physicians opening a new practice ($2,500)Fractional accounting and payroll team (starting around $1,250/month)This episode is sponsored by Goodman CPA. Nothing here is legal or tax advice. Talk with your own CPA about your practice.Leave a voice message at mydpcstory.com/contact and you might hear your question answered on a future episode.Follow My DPC Story on social media and find The Toolkit Magazine, free resources, and The Physician Owner's Planner at mydpcstory.com.Support the showGET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOADBecome A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE PODMy DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG!FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

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Revoyez l'essentiel à savoir concernant l'insuffisance cardiaque en Médecine Générale avec la mise à jour des recommandations de l'ESC 2026 ! ✅ Quand y penser ? ✅ Comment interpréter les NT proBNP ? ✅ Les nouveaux traitements indiqués selon la nouvelle classification simplifié de l'insuffisance cardiaque. ✅ Comment faire une titration en pratique ? Guideline.care, la ressource la plus complète en MG :200+ formations différentes en MG en format ultra court de cas clinique de 20 min chrono ! Valide le DPC si vous le souhaitez.600+ pathologies résumées en algorithme décisionnel au format A4 !2000+ modèles d'ordonnances types à copier coller dans votre logiciel médical130+ scores avec calculateur intégré.Guideline.care : 29€/mois (ou 290€/an) et passez la vitesse supérieure

Dr. Jillian Klaucke, MD, FAWM. Board-certified family physician at Sandpoint Premier Direct Primary Care, Idaho. Wilderness medicine fellow.Eight years into Direct Primary Care, Dr. Klaucke shares what actually works running a rural family medicine practice without insurance. Her practice runs on three pillars: teamwork, accountability, and patient safety.Teamwork means working with patients as partners. When imaging is needed, someone follows up to confirm it happened. Accountability means closing every loop: a weekend text gets a Monday check-in call. A referral goes out? Her staff confirms scheduling. Care management is where rural DPC shines, loaning crutches, sourcing equipment for Medicaid patients, walking alongside people through the whole process. This work can't be billed to insurance. It's exactly why patients choose DPC.After eight years, Dr. Klaucke has real data on after-hours access. She gets three to four calls or texts per weekend. Most are appropriate and time-sensitive. Patients don't abuse the privilege because they trust her. The relationship is the whole point.Managing a practice while seeing a full panel requires strategy. She leans on her office manager, partners with reliable vendors, and divides big tasks with her partner. The risk isn't systems on autopilot—it's neglecting to monitor them. She checks in regularly on vendor performance and catches cost creep before it happens.Many patients come to DPC after healthcare trauma. Dismissal. Delays. Lost in the system. Dr. Klaucke rebuilds trust by listening and keeping patients from slipping through cracks. This emotional healing matters as much as the medicine. Trust changes how you practice: instead of firefighting, you do prevention. Cardio IQ testing. Risk stratification. Lifestyle conversations. You have time to help people see grandkids born, kids graduate.Residents and early-career physicians ask Dr. Klaucke about DPC. She advises doctors in other states considering it. She tells them the truth: you need time in the trenches first, seeing volume and learning triage. Then DPC makes sense. In DPC, you collaborate with colleagues, check rashes together, call about differential diagnoses. Once you see that, you can't unsee how dysfunctional big systems are.Dr. Klaucke's grandfather pioneered rural medical education in the 1960s-70s. She wonders what he'd think of her now, practicing the kind of medicine he believed in, through a model that protects it from the insurance system. She thinks he'd be proud. And he'd probably be right about what matters: teamwork, accountability, showing up for patients.This is what Direct Primary Care looks like when given time to grow.Resources: Sandpoint Premier DPC: sandpointdpc.com | (208) 263-3091 | My DPC Story: mydpcstory.comLeave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts.CONGRATULATIONS Dr. Oropeza!!!! Learn more about Oropeza Family Health at https://oropezahealth.com/ Get your copy of the Physician Owner's Planner today at mydpcstory.com/librarySupport the showGET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOADBecome A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE PODMy DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG!FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

Dr. Sarai Ambert-Pompey opened Libélula Primary Care in Boise, Idaho. "Libélula" is Spanish for dragonfly, chosen for transformation. One year in, she joins Dr. Maryal Concepcion to talk about what changed when she left the VA for Direct Primary Care.Her path is unconventional: CompUSA and GameStop, Sony PlayStation reviewer training, oncology research at OHSU, then internal medicine residency in Boise. At the VA she joined a Primary Care Center of Excellence and helped launch the Boise Clinical Resource Hub, delivering clinic-to-clinic telehealth to rural sites across the Northwest, then trained physicians in telemedicine through the Ada County Medical Society during the pandemic.In this episode:Why time is the intervention - patients arrive never having been told their A1C goal, their blood pressure goal, or what their medications are for. Longer visits keep high ER utilizers out of the ER.Culturally responsive care in Idaho - Boise is predominantly white, but farming communities and employers like Micron bring diversity the traditional system was never built to serve. Healthcare trauma can take several visits to overcome before a patient consents to a blood draw.Telehealth done right - her top three: screen whether the visit is appropriate, build an emergency protocol and know your state's consent law, and actually perform a physical exam on video. Most clinicians skip that last one.How to vet an EHR - test customer service response time first, ask about interoperability, run a full patient walkthrough instead of the salesperson's highlight reel, get pricing broken out line by line, ask how an AI scribe stores data, and watch for 12-month contracts.Community as marketing - she launched a Walk with a Doc chapter before the clinic opened. Chamber involvement, immigration medical exams, and one paid social promo that returned its investment in a week.Leaving the system - 15 pounds lost, sleep restored, weekends back. "I tell anyone who will listen: I wish I had done it earlier."Mentioned: IN -PERSON DPC SUMMIT COMING IN OCT 2026! Illinois DPC Summit, first week of October, open to out-of-state physicians - register at caradirectcare.com/summit · Walk with a Doc · Latino Conservation Week · Idaho Hispanic Chamber of CommerceFree DPC startup checklist, the Physician Owner's Planner, and the DPC Toolkit Magazine: mydpcstory.com Leave a voice message for the show: mydpcstory.com/contact Follow @mydpcstory · Leave a 5-star review on Apple PodcastsCONGRATULATIONS Dr. Oropeza!!!! Learn more about Oropeza Family Health at https://oropezahealth.com/ Get your copy of the Physician Owner's Planner today at mydpcstory.com/library Learn more about Hint Summit at: https://go.hint.com/45zknvf Support the showGET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOADBecome A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE PODMy DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG!FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

Toyota didn't beat Mercedes by getting cheaper. It beat Mercedes by getting closer to the customer first. Here's the six-year research obsession behind the Lexus LS 400, and why undercutting your way to a full panel is a strategy that has already failed in a dozen other industries, and what Harvard's own pricing research says to do instead. By Michael Tetreault, Editor-In-Chief, Concierge Medicine Today "I'm a car guy, so bear with me on this one. There will be some good points [in this article], I promise. I know enough about engines to self-diagnose and wrench on them myself. Driving an old car with lifter problems through North Dakota and southern Canada in the '90s will teach you that." ~Michael Tetreault Today's article isn't about concierge medicine directly. It's about a distant cousin in the subscription-based healthcare world, direct primary care, or DPC. Over the past two decades, I've noticed more and more that there is a moment almost every DPC or low-cost, membership-based practice hits around year two or three, when the patient panel quietly stalls (catch the car pun). Growth that used to feel automatic starts to flatten out, and you notice it before you can quite explain it. That's usually right about when a competitor down the road launches at $59 to $93 a month, and a quiet voice in your head says: just drop the price. Fill the seats. Worry about margin later. That instinct is understandable. It is also, according to decades of business research and a growing body of data inside concierge and membership medicine itself, one of the fastest ways to damage the very practice you built to serve patients better. This is not a scolding. It is a strategy conversation, grounded in evidence, for low-cost subscription-based physicians who left, or are considering leaving, the insurance-driven system specifically to build something sustainable that has a low cost for the patients because you feel your altruistic nature pulling you to do so. But, if the goal is sustainability, the tactic matters. What "racing to the bottom" actually means Let's zoom out for a moment. A price war is what happens when competitors inside the same market repeatedly cut prices to undercut one another, creating a cycle where each side matches or beats the last cut. This "price-cutting momentum" pulls in competitors who feel forced to follow the initial price cut, and while it can create short-term benefits for the buyer, it erodes the profit margins of everyone competing. Harvard Business School researchers Akshay Rao and Mark Bergen, writing in Harvard Business Review, built a career studying exactly this dynamic across industries. Their conclusion, echoed by strategists since, is blunt: most price wars are avoidable, and the businesses that start them or get pulled into them rarely come out ahead. The Kinsta business blog, summarizing HBR's own internal analysis of the question, put it plainly: when businesses were asked whether they should engage in a price war, the overwhelming answer was "no." Instead, the research points toward differentiation as the more durable response to a low-cost competitor. There is a second, quieter finding in that same research that some physicians should sit with. Price itself shapes how a buyer perceives value, and a price set too low signals that the product is cheap, in the way a price set too high can signal it is a ripoff. In other words, the discount that was supposed to win the patient can be the very thing that tells the patient your care is not worth much. It's indeed, a delicate balance and it's different for every practice and every doctor. Why? Because of who you work for and serve: the patient. Every patient is different. Every practice is different. That makes this topic challenging but it's a conversation worth having because I want to see your practice thrive and more importantly, survive in your community. The framework underneath the instinct Michael Porter, the Harvard strategist whose work still anchors most first-year MBA curricula, described three durable paths to competitive advantage: cost leadership, differentiation, or a focused niche strategy. A company chooses to compete either through lower costs than its rivals or by differentiating itself along dimensions the customer actually values, in order to command a higher price. What Porter warned against was the position most panic-driven price cuts land a practice in. Porter's phrase for it is "stuck in the middle," and it describes an organization trying to be all things to all people, with no distinct competitive advantage as a result. Businesses caught here typically perform the worst in their industry precisely because they never committed to one strength. A DPC practice that quietly lowers its price to compete on cost, while still trying to deliver same-day access, unhurried visits, and so-called affordable white-glove service, is not competing on cost leadership. It is trying to sell a premium product at a discount price, and the math does not hold. Today, a medical practice or a company stuck in this position cannot beat a true cost leader on price, because it never built the operational discipline or scale to sustain that price, and it cannot beat a differentiator on the experience it promised, because the discipline required to deliver that experience costs money. Both promises erode at once. What the data inside DPC and low-cost membership medicine is already showing This is not theoretical for DPC and low-cost membership medicine practices. It is visible in the industry's own numbers. The 2026 State of DPC survey, distributed through the DPC Alliance and Hint Health's network, found a direct relationship between panel size and price. Practices with fewer than 200 patients averaged $105.93 per member per month, practices with 201 to 500 patients averaged $99.28, and practices with more than 500 patients averaged $77.74 per member per month. Read plainly, the larger the panel, the lower the average price charged per patient. That pattern is exactly what Porter's framework predicts happens to practices chasing volume without a differentiation strategy to protect price. It is worth noting this figure comes from Hint Health, a technology vendor with a commercial interest in DPC's growth, so it should be read as directional industry data rather than an independent audit. It is nonetheless the most comprehensive dataset the movement currently has. At the same time, the broader market is not short on room to compete on value instead of price. More than half of private healthcare consumers rank the cost of care as the most dissatisfying part of their current healthcare experience, and DPC's growth has been driven in large part by employers and patients who are tired of opaque, escalating costs elsewhere in the system, not by DPC being the cheapest option on paper. Employers now fund the majority, roughly 60 percent, of active DPC memberships, according to Hint Health's 2026 trends report, which signals that the buyers filling panels today are increasingly sophisticated purchasers evaluating value, retention, and outcomes, not simply hunting for the lowest sticker price. Regional pricing tells a similar story. Northeast DPC pricing rose 33 percent over five years, from $60 to $80 a month, even as national demand for the model accelerated. Practices in that region did not grow by discounting. They grew while raising price, in a market that was simultaneously expanding. The altruism problem no one names out loud Here is the part of this conversation that is specific to medicine and does not show up in a typical business school case study on price wars. Physicians are trained, deliberately and repeatedly, to put the patient's welfare ahead of their own. Medical professionalism itself is defined in the literature by principles of excellence, accountability, altruism, integrity, and humanism, all oriented around the patient relationship. That formation is not incidental. It is the point of medical education, and it is a genuine strength of the profession that should never be coached out of a physician. But that same formation has a side effect worth naming honestly. A rigorous study out of the University of Cologne and University of Rennes, published in the Journal of Health Economics, measured patient-regarding altruism in 733 medical students at different stages of training. The researchers found that patient-regarding altruism is highest among freshmen, declines significantly through the middle years of medical study, and rises again in the final year as students begin assisting in clinical practice. Students with lower income expectations showed higher altruism scores overall. Sit with that last finding. The training that makes physicians excellent, trustworthy, patient-first clinicians also correlates with a documented discomfort around charging what care is actually worth. That discomfort is admirable in the exam room. It becomes a strategic liability in the business office, where it quietly nudges a physician toward the lowest defensible price rather than the price that reflects the value delivered, the access provided, and the sustainability required to keep serving that same patient for the next twenty years. This is not a call to abandon altruism. It is a call to separate two different questions that get tangled together under stress: am I a good doctor and am I running a sustainable practice. A price built out of guilt is not more altruistic than a price built out of strategy. A closed practice serves no one. What other industries learned the hard way Medicine is not the first field to face this exact temptation, and the businesses that raced to the bottom on price rarely tell a happy ending. Rao and Bergen's HBR research spans industries from B2B and agribusiness to healthcare and the nonprofit sector, and the throughline in that body of work is consistent: firms that respond to a low-price competitor by cutting their own price usually shrink the whole market's profitability without gaining durable share, because the competitor simply cuts again. The winners in price wars, when there are any, tend to be the largest players with the deepest balance sheets, the ones who can absorb losses the longest. A solo or small-group physician practice is almost never that player, and should not try to be. The lesson for low-cost DPC physicians is not abstract. It is Porter's choice, stated as a decision every practice has to make deliberately rather than by drift: compete on being demonstrably, operationally the lowest-cost, highest-efficiency provider in your market, which requires real scale and real systems, or compete on being demonstrably different in a way patients value enough to pay for. Trying to hold both at once is what leaves a practice, in Porter's words, stuck in the middle, with margins too thin to sustain the very things that made the practice worth choosing in the first place. The Lexus Lesson: Price Is a Result, Not a Strategy Circling back to my car guy roots, there is an automotive story worth every physician's attention here, because it is one of the clearest business case studies ever produced on the exact question this article is asking you if you're a DPC physician. It comes from Hagerty's "Revelations" series, hosted by Jason Cammisa, on the origin of the 1989 Lexus LS 400, and it has been retold in detail across automotive trade press and in Chester Dawson's book Lexus: The Relentless Pursuit. The origin story matters as much as the engineering. Toyota's first American export, the Toyopet Crown, was a flop, selling only a few hundred units before Toyota pulled it from the market in the late 1950s. Twenty five years of steady rebuilding later, Toyota had become the largest importer of vehicles into the United States, and that success triggered a protectionist response. In the early 1980s, the U.S. government pressured Japan into so-called voluntary export restraints, capping Japanese auto imports at roughly 1.7 million vehicles a year. With volume capped by government policy, Toyota USA's Yukiyasu Togo pushed a different lever: if the company could not sell more cars, it needed to sell more profitable ones. That constraint, not ambition alone, is what pushed Toyota into the luxury segment. In 1983, Toyota's then chairman Eiji Toyoda greenlit a secret effort known as Project F1, for Flagship One. Where a typical vehicle program of that era might use around 200 engineers and a few hundred million dollars, F1 was reportedly given no fixed budget and a development team of roughly 1,400 engineers, 60 designers, and thousands of additional technicians and support staff, spread across a six-year effort widely reported to have cost in the neighborhood of a billion dollars. What that team actually did is the part physicians should study closely. Rather than guess at what luxury buyers wanted, a team of designers and engineers relocated to a rented house in Laguna Beach, California, and spent months directly observing affluent Americans: watching valet stands outside country clubs, studying the furniture in high-end homes, and even analyzing the leather scent inside Jaguar interiors closely enough to reverse-engineer the tanning process. They tested switchgear and steering wheel ergonomics against how women with long, manicured nails actually interact with a dashboard. This is the practice Toyota calls genchi genbutsu, going to see for yourself, rather than relying on assumptions about the customer. Separately, Toyota's research uncovered something more specific and more useful than "people want a cheaper luxury car." Mercedes-Benz owners loved the prestige of their cars but consistently described the dealership experience itself, the pressure, the wait, the sense of being talked down to, as miserable. Lexus rebuilt the entire buying experience around that single insight. Sales moved from an elevated desk to a shared coffee table, removing the physical power imbalance of a traditional car sale. Only 80 of roughly 1,500 dealer applicants were approved to sell the car, each required to invest several million dollars and submit to ongoing customer satisfaction audits. The product and the experience of buying it were treated as a single, inseparable offer. The engineering discipline underneath all of this was, by most independent accounts, extreme. Chief engineer Ichiro Suzuki pursued a drag coefficient of 0.29, well below the S-Class's 0.36 to 0.37, without relying on a rear spoiler, which he considered an inelegant shortcut. Interior noise was engineered down to roughly 58 decibels versus about 60 for the S-Class, and multiple road tests reported the LS 400 was as quiet at 125 miles per hour as its German rivals were at 95. Prototypes logged well over a million miles of testing, and engineers reportedly disassembled competitor vehicles to study exactly how they failed over years of use, then engineered around each weakness. When the LS 400 launched in 1989, it was priced at roughly $35,000, commonly cited as about half the price, or as much as $30,000 less, than a comparably equipped Mercedes-Benz S-Class. The price gap was so large that BMW reportedly suggested Toyota was selling the car at a loss. Within two years, Lexus had overtaken Mercedes-Benz as the best-selling luxury import brand in the United States and topped J.D. Power's quality and service rankings, and Mercedes is reported to have lost roughly a quarter of its U.S. sales in the aftermath. Here is the part physicians should sit with. The low price was not the strategy. It was the output of the strategy. Toyota did not set out to build a cheaper Mercedes and work backward. It spent six years and enormous resources removing the specific frustrations its own research showed were driving prestige-loving customers away, then engineered a manufacturing process disciplined enough to make that quality repeatable at scale, and only after that work was done did it set a price the market would reward. The aggressive price was possible because the operational excellence and the customer research underneath it were real, not because anyone at Toyota decided to compete by cutting corners. This is the distinction that gets lost when a DPC or low-cost membership medicine practice drops its membership fee simply to fill a panel out of fear. Toyota's price was earned through relentless, well-funded engineering and firsthand study of exactly what its target customer resented about the existing options. A practice that lowers its price without first doing that same work, actually going to see for yourself what frustrates the patients you want to serve, and building a practice that removes those specific frustrations, is doing the opposite of what Lexus did. It is cutting the price before it has earned the right to. The translatable lesson is not "charge less." It is this: find out, directly and specifically, what your patients are actually frustrated by in the healthcare experience they already have, build a practice that removes that frustration with real discipline, treat the entire patient experience, not just the clinical visit, as part of the product, and let price follow from that work rather than substitute for it. Toyota spent six years in the field before it touched the price tag. Most practices considering a discount have not spent six weeks asking patients what specifically is broken in the care they are currently getting. What to build instead None of this means price is fixed or that access should be reserved only for the wealthy. It means the starting question changes. Instead of asking what is the lowest price that will fill my panel, the more durable question is what does my practice do that a patient cannot get anywhere else in this market, and does my price reflect that honestly. That might be same-day access. It might be visit length. It might be a specific clinical focus, a specific population, or a specific relationship to a local employer. Differentiation does not require the highest price in the market. It requires a clear, honest reason for the price you have chosen, one you can say out loud to a patient without flinching. Panel growth built on discounting tends to attract patients who are price-shopping and will leave the moment a cheaper option appears next door. Panel growth built on a clear, differentiated value proposition tends to attract patients who stay, refer, and tolerate a price increase because they understand what they are paying for. This article is intended for educational and informational purposes for physicians and healthcare leaders. It does not constitute financial, legal, accounting, or medical advice, and practice pricing decisions should be made in consultation with qualified financial and legal advisors familiar with your specific market and regulatory environment. Sources Rao, Akshay R. and Bergen, Mark E. "How to Fight a Price War." Harvard Business Review, March-April 2000. hbr.org/2000/03/how-to-fight-a-price-war "Price war." Wikipedia, accessed August 2026. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_war "How a Race to the Bottom Hurts Your Business's Bottom Line." Kinsta, July 15, 2024. kinsta.com/blog/race-to-the-bottom Porter, Michael E. Competitive Strategy (1980) and Competitive Advantage (1985), Harvard Business School Press. Summarized via "Porter's generic strategies," Wikipedia, and Strategic Management Insight, strategicmanagementinsight.com/tools/porters-three-generic-strategies "State of DPC 2026: Key Takeaways From DPC Alliance's Physician Survey." Hint Health, July 18, 2026. blog.hint.com/state-of-dpc-2026-key-takeaways-from-the-dpc-alliances-physician-survey "Hint Health Releases 2026 Direct Primary Care Trends Report." Hint Health, April 23, 2026, distributed via PR Newswire, Yahoo Finance, and Morningstar. "DPC Membership Pricing Trends." Hint Health Blog, June 24, 2022. blog.hint.com/dpc-membership-pricing-trends "High cost of health care may be boosting direct primary care membership." Medical Economics, November 16, 2025. medicaleconomics.com/view/high-cost-of-health-care-may-be-boosting-direct-primary-care-membership Sagebien, Julia; L'Haridon, Olivier; Wiesen, Daniel; et al. "The formation of physician altruism." Journal of Health Economics, Vol. 87, 2023. sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167629622001308 (also indexed on PubMed, ID 36603361) "Professional identity formation of clinical medical students during and beyond the pandemic." PMC, National Library of Medicine. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11150932 Cammisa, Jason. "The Absurd Engineering Obsession Behind the 1989 Lexus LS 400." Hagerty Revelations, YouTube, youtu.be/i15Ii4yetLM "How the Lexus LS400 Crashed the Luxury Party." Autoblog, October 2, 2025. autoblog.com/features/how-the-lexus-ls400-crashed-the-luxury-party "How Lexus defeated 'the best car in the world.'" Motoring Research, July 25, 2024. motoringresearch.com/car-news/lexus-ls-400-review "Lexus LS 400: 'the finest V8 engine in the world.'" Cult Classics, Adrian Flux, August 21, 2023. adrianflux.co.uk/cult-classics/lexus-ls-400-the-finest-v8-engine-in-the-world Dawson, Chester. Lexus: The Relentless Pursuit. John Wiley & Sons, revised edition. Publisher synopsis via AbeBooks, abebooks.com/9780470828045 A detailed companion recap of the Hagerty Revelations episode, covering Project F1 staffing, the Laguna Beach research house, the coffee-table dealership model, and Suzuki's engineering targets, was supplied directly by the editor. Its original publisher and byline could not be independently confirmed at time of writing. Facts drawn from it (drag coefficient, price gap, engineer count, dealership vetting) were cross-checked against sources 11 through 15 above before inclusion, and the editor should confirm original attribution before publication.

One month shy of five years. That is how long Big Trees MD ran on the electronic health record it opened with, and this month, that ended. Not because Dr. Maryal Concepcion went looking for something shinier, but because the terms under which her patients' data lived changed, and she could not accept them.In this solo episode, Dr. Concepcion documents the switch in real time from her rural Direct Primary Care practice in Arnold, California, which she owns with her husband, Dr. Jeremiah Fillo, and runs with a fully virtual team. No vendor names, on purpose. The names change. The framework does not.Built from The Toolkit's Battle of the EHRs issue, where over 200 DPC EHR users shared what they use and why, this episode walks through how to choose an electronic health record that grows with your practice instead of boxing you in:Why an EHR is the memory of your practice, and why the DPC version of this decision is nothing like the fee-for-service versionThe 10 categories to score every EHR on, from membership billing and charting speed to support quality and scalabilityThe 5 questions to ask before you switch, starting with "what problem am I really trying to solve?"How to run a demo on your terms: build a fake patient, count clicks out loud, ask about migration before features, and ask the question nobody asks, which is "how do I leave you?"Why you should research who owns the EHR company, especially as private equity and venture capital creep into Direct Primary CareRunning the real math: subscription, add-ons, switching costs, and exit costs over a three year horizon, plus what an hour of your life is actually worthThe hidden costs no spreadsheet captures: patient trust, the emotional weight of change, and the 90 day post-switch reality checkThings have changed since the Summer 2025 issue published, and the second Battle of the EHRs opens for voting in Q1. The only way to vote is through the My DPC Story newsletter, so sign up at mydpcstory.com.FREE from The Toolkit at mydpcstory.com:How to Interview Electronic Health Records comparison worksheetPatient handout on choosing healthcare vs. health insurance (perfect for open enrollment season)The Lean Startup Business PlanThe First Year RoadmapEvery issue of The Toolkit, including the new Battle of the Support StackFollow the full switch in real time: demos, migration answers, the four-bucket spreadsheet, and the second guesses, all inside the My DPC Story Patreon community. Leave a voice message with your question, challenge, or win at mydpcstory.com/contact and you might hear it on a future episode.If this episode helped you, a five star review on Apple Podcasts helps other physicians find these stories when they need them most.Support the showGET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOADBecome A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE PODMy DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG!FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

In this episode, Justin is joined by Salina, a family nurse practitioner who has built a successful DPC and wellness practice. They discuss expanding the practice with additional providers, creating new service lines, increasing patient lifetime value, and using a lean business model to grow without unnecessarily increasing overhead.The conversation also explores Salina's interest in expanding into men's health, how to structure and compensate a part-time provider, and how building a team can create additional revenue without requiring more of the owner's time. Justin and Salina also discuss whether pursuing another certification makes sense when it doesn't directly support the future she wants to build.For nurse practitioners who have already built a practice and are thinking about what's next, this episode offers a practical look at scaling with intention, staying aligned with your goals, and building a business that creates more freedom over time.

Send us Fan MailDr. Angela welcomes Cecilia Dinora, COO of Terra Health Coaching, to The Lifestyle MD podcast for a conversation on the power of lifestyle medicine. Cecilia shares her personal journey — from growing up in a family affected by diabetes to becoming a lifestyle medicine-certified health coach — and how that experience shaped Terra Health Coaching's mission. The two dive deep into evidence-based lifestyle interventions, the surprising cost-saving impact of coaching alongside GLP-1 medications, the importance of muscle mass and metabolic protection, and why community, nature, and human connection are just as vital to health as nutrition and exercise. They close with a practical breakdown of Terra's programs, pricing, and how physicians and individuals alike can get connected.In this episode:- Cecilia Dinora's path to lifestyle medicine and founding story of Terra Health Coaching- How Terra's year-long GLP-1 support program helped 22% of enrolled employees avoid starting the medication altogether — and the major cost savings that come with it- Why muscle mass and body composition (not just BMI) matter for long-term health, especially for women- The core pillars of lifestyle medicine: whole food plant-based nutrition, physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, positive social connection, and avoidance of risky substances — plus an "honorary" pillar: time in nature- The science and personal story behind "forest bathing" and its impact on mental health- Terra's program structure: lifestyle medicine coaching, chronic disease management, GLP-1 support, and a newer autoimmune protocol- How physicians can refer patients, and how individuals can self-refer- Terra's human-first coaching model (no AI bots), available in eight languages- Terra's employer partnership model and how it benefits DPC/concierge practices- Pricing ($285/month, HSA/FSA eligible), chronic care management billing for physicians, and program length (3 months / 12 sessions minimum)- A preview of Cecilia's upcoming lifestyle medicine retreat in Verona, ItalyConnect with Cecilia & Terra Health Coaching:- Website: terrahealthcoaching.com- Email: cecilia@terrahealthcoaching.com- YouTube: Terra Health Coaching (patient testimonials)Support the showFollow me on Instagram @angelalifestylemd and don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to my podcast & SHARE this episode.

"Patients have already told the market what they're willing to pay for a health outcome," CMT Editor-in-Chief Michael Tetreault said in an interview for this article. "A GLP-1 subscription and a concierge medicine membership now cost about the same, roughly $3,000 a year. The question isn't whether patients will invest in their health. It's who earns that investment." By Editorial Staff, Concierge Medicine Today, August 2026 (See full list of citations and sources and disclaimers at end of article) Please note, this is market and editorial analysis, not medical, legal, financial, or accounting advice, and it does not evaluate the clinical merits of GLP-1 medications, which is a conversation between a patient and their physician. Concierge medicine is not, and should never be marketed as, a treatment alternative to any prescription medication, including GLP-1s. That distinction matters enough that we're stating it plainly here, before we go any further, and readers should keep it in mind throughout. That said, let's unpack the topic. FULL ARTICLE: https://conciergemedicinetoday.org/2026/08/24/what-glp-1-marketing-reveals-about-concierge-medicines-opportunity/ A patient on a compounded GLP-1 and a patient enrolled in a concierge medicine practice are now spending almost exactly the same amount each year. Roughly $3,000. We put the real numbers next to each other: GLP-1 telehealth pricing, our own 2026 concierge medicine benchmark survey, direct primary care spend, urgent care, etc. The overlap doesn't stop at price. The age group spending the most on GLP-1s, 50 to 64, is also the core of the concierge medicine patient base. Patients have already decided they'll pay out of pocket for a health outcome. That part isn't up for debate anymore. What's still open is who earns that trust, and why. To be clear about what we're saying and what we're not: concierge medicine is not a substitute for any medication a patient and their physician decide is right for them. What it can be is the unhurried relationship where that conversation actually happens, something a fifteen-minute visit rarely allows. Full research, sourcing, and what this means for how practices market themselves are in the article. Disclaimer: This article is for informational and editorial purposes. It does not constitute medical, legal, financial, or accounting advice, and it takes no position on the clinical use, safety, or efficacy of GLP-1 medications or any other prescription treatment. Concierge medicine as described here, is a healthcare membership business model. It is not a treatment, and it should not be marketed or described as an alternative or substitute for any medication a patient and their physician have determined is appropriate. Physicians and practices using any messaging from this article in their own marketing are responsible for ensuring compliance with FTC truth-in-advertising standards and their state medical board's advertising rules, including avoiding any claim, direct or implied, that concierge membership treats, replaces, or competes with a specific medication or clinical intervention. Figures labeled as estimates reflect Concierge Medicine Today's own analysis of published per-unit data and are identified as such throughout. Readers should consult a licensed physician, attorney, or financial advisor for guidance specific to their situation. Sources glpchart.com. "GLP-1 Telehealth Price Report 2026." 2026. GLP-1 Telemedicine. "The Real Cost of Telehealth GLP-1 Programs in 2026: Subscription Fees, Hidden Charges, and What You're Actually Paying For." 2026. Chronos Body Health & Wellness. "The Real Cost of GLP-1 Weight Loss Medications in 2026: What You Should Know Before You Start." April 14, 2026. Concierge Medicine Today. 2026 Industry Pricing Benchmark. 2026. (cited via Concierge MD Finder, "How Concierge Medicine Pricing Works in 2026: A Real Cost Breakdown," May 30, 2026) Connectedly Health. "DPC Pricing Index by State (2026): Direct Primary Care Costs." February 15, 2026. Medical Economics. "Five surprising findings about the state of direct primary care," citing the Direct Primary Care Alliance 2026 physician survey. 2026. Mira Health (talktomira.com). "Urgent Care Visit Cost With and Without Insurance (2026 Update)." July 8, 2026. ClinicAds. "Telehealth Marketing in 2026: The Complete Guide to Compliant, Profitable Patient Acquisition." July 17, 2026. EMARKETER. "GLP-1 drugs dominate prescription TV ad spend," citing iSpot.tv data. 2025. EMARKETER. "Pharma linear TV ad decline in H1 driven by steep GLP-1 spending cuts." July 16, 2026. Foley & Lardner LLP. "GLP-1 Compliance: FDA Targets Telehealth Marketing in 30 New Warning Letters." March 12, 2026. Sheppard Mullin. "FDA's Focus Returns to Compounding and Telehealth: Another Wave of Warning Letters." June 18, 2026. Target Patients MD. "GLP-1 Provider Marketing That Works Right Now." May 12, 2026. KFF. "Poll: 1 in 8 Adults Say They Are Currently Taking a GLP-1 Drug for Weight Loss, Diabetes or Another Condition, Even as Half Say the Drugs Are Difficult to Afford." November 14, 2025. RAND Corporation. "New Weight Loss Drugs: GLP-1 Agonist Use and Side Effects in the United States." August 6, 2025. Concierge MD Finder. "U.S. Concierge Medicine Market Report 2026: 2,601 Practices, DPC vs Traditional, Pricing," citing the Concierge Medicine 2026-2030 industry report. May 30, 2026. Straits Research. "Direct Primary Care Market Size, Top Share, Demand" industry report. July 21, 2025. Drexel News Blog. "Q+A: Is the Growth of Direct Primary Care Expanding Health Care Access Where It's Needed Most?," citing Goldstein et al., Annals of Family Medicine. November 26, 2024. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. "Urgent Care Center and Retail Health Clinic Use: United States, 2024." NCHS Data Brief No. 562. American Academy of Private Physicians (AAPP). 2026 concierge physician count estimate. (cited via Concierge MD Finder, "How Concierge Medicine Pricing Works in 2026," May 30, 2026)

When Dr. Laura Petrescu opened Athena Direct Primary Care & Lifestyle Medicine, she was the only Direct Primary Care physician in the Rochester, NY metropolitan area. Health system leadership thought she was out of her mind. Colleagues told her nobody would pay a membership on top of insurance. The advice everywhere was the same: New York is too restrictive, and DPC will not work here.Today there are seven or eight DPC practices in the Rochester area, and Dr. Petrescu has founded the New York State Direct Care Physicians Alliance with board members from Buffalo, Syracuse, Hudson Valley, and New York City.In this episode of My DPC Story, she and Dr. Maryal Concepcion get specific about the mechanics most physicians never hear.In this episode:Why she filed as a 501(c)(6) business league instead of a 501(c)(3), and why the charitable designation would have blocked advocacy entirelyWhat the state and IRS filings actually cost, and where the paperwork gets returnedHow reading her contract first led to her health system releasing her from a 10-mile non-compete radiusHow to build a board representing rural, metropolitan, and downstate practicesWhy eight busy physician owners vote on motions by email instead of scheduling Zoom callsWhat New York's lab restrictions mean in practice, and why they are the alliance's top legislative priorityHow California organized, from monthly meetings that fizzled to a state summit with 80 physiciansAbout the guest: Dr. Laura Petrescu is triple board certified in internal medicine, lifestyle medicine, and menopause medicine, with 25 years in practice. Originally trained as a surgeon in Romania, she is founding president of the New York State Direct Care Physicians Alliance.Links:New York State Direct Care Physicians Alliance: nysdirectcare.com California DPC: calidpc.com Legal question for My DPC Story State by State with Dr. Phil Eskew? Leave a voicemail at mydpcstory.com/contact Organizing in your state? Leave a voicemail there too so we can highlight your group Free startup checklist, The Physician Owner's Planner, The Toolkit Magazine, and every episode: mydpcstory.com Follow @mydpcstoryUpcoming: Illinois DPC Summit, October 2 to 3, NIU Naperville. California DPC Summit, June 2027, registration open. caradirectcare.com/summitExplore Hint's Marketplace today, an app-like experience connecting all your tools into Hint! CHIEF COMPLAINT COFFEE & TEA. Celebrating when nothing comes between you and your patient. NO PRIOR AUTHS. Literally, that's one of the coffees you'll find at CHIEF COMPLAINT COFFEE & TEA.Support the showGET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOADBecome A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE PODMy DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG!FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

Direct Primary Care no longer disqualifies patients from HSA eligibility. As of January 1, 2026, DPC membership fees are a qualified HSA expense at or below $150 per month for one person and $300 for a family. Above $150 you are not in violation. You are in the same gray zone DPC lived in for a decade, and the tax position belongs to the patient and their accountant, not to you.Dr. Phil Eskew (DO, JD, MBA) of DPC Frontier joins Dr. Maryal Concepcion to break down what changed and what it means for your practice, then walks through the Medicare opt-out calendar most physicians discover too late.KEY NUMBERS AND DATES $150/month per person, $300 family. Effective January 1, 2026. Opt-outs take effect only on January 1, April 1, July 1, October 1. Affidavit must be filed at least 30 days before the effective date. File by roughly December 1, 2026 to be opted out January 1, 2027. 90-day reversal window, but you must refund every membership dollar collected.QUESTIONS ANSWEREDCan patients use an HSA to pay for direct primary care? Yes, as of January 2026. Both old IRS objections were fixed: whether the fee is a medical expense, and whether membership disqualifies HSA contributions.Should I put "HSA eligible" on my website? No. Write "We accept HSA cards." Promising eligibility in your marketing or agreement takes on a tax position on your patient's behalf.How do I get under $150 without losing revenue? Enrollment fees are not compensation for care. Blood draws, injections, EKGs, and dispensed medications can price separately.What does the rule exclude? Prescription drugs other than vaccines, and lab services not typically done in an ambulatory primary care setting.If I opt out, can I still order labs and referrals? Yes. Opting out is not disenrollment. You stay credentialed and Medicare pays for labs, imaging, referrals, DME, and prescriptions you order.Where can I still work while opted out? VA, Indian Health Service, corrections, and hospice administrative work. Precepting usually requires participation. TRICARE requires Medicare participation. Medicaid uses ORP/OPR status, prohibited in Kentucky and Colorado.Does opt-out apply to Medicare Advantage? Yes. Opt-out applies to all Medicare programs nationwide. You cannot opt out selectively.MENTIONED DPC Frontier · McCarran-Ferguson Act (1945) · ACA primary care carve-out · bronze and catastrophic plans as HSA-compatible · capacity vs. competency · durable power of attorney · prior authorization escalation strategyHAVE A QUESTION? WE ANSWER THEM ON AIR. Leave a voicemail at mydpcstory.com/contact with your name, state, and question.NEXT EPISODE: ILLINOIS, timed to the Illinois DPC Summit, October 2 and 3, NIU Naperville. Subscribe to the My DPC Story newsletter at mydpcstory.com to know when it drops.Educational only. Not legal or tax advice. Dr. Eskew is not your attorney.Stand With Dr. Nyasha Spears and the Future of Patient-Centered Healthcare. Get the MEDICARE & MEDICARE ADVANTAGE OPEN ENROLLMENT SURVIVAL GUIDE at mydpcstory.com/shop! Get your copy of the Physician Owner's Planner today at mydpcstory.com/library Start using the done-for-you patient emails, scripts etc. in our 2027 Edition of the MEDICARE & MEDICARE ADVANTAGE OPEN ENROLLMENT SURVIVAL GUIDE at mydpcstory.com/shop!Support the showGET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOADBecome A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE PODMy DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG!FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

Dr. Kyle Rickner heard about Direct Primary Care in a side room at the AAFP National Conference in October 2014 and committed to it 50 minutes later. Today Primary Health Partners cares for employee lives in 30 states, and it started with a patient named Jason who owned a 22 person company and handed Dr. Rickner a check covering every employee for a full year, six weeks after opening.In this episode, Dr. Rickner talks with Dr. Maryal Concepcion about what it takes to build a DPC practice that serves employers without giving up autonomy. He opened with 198 members on day one after a 15 month runway, a $1,000 equipment haul from a shuttered nursing program, and a lot of honest conversations with patients he wanted to bring with him.He also gets direct about the mistakes he sees. Enrollment is not engagement. A 375 employee contract can gut a 600 patient panel overnight if that company sells or closes. And overpromising to an employer poisons the well for the next DPC doctor who walks through that door.What you will hear:Why commitment and enthusiasm persuade patients faster than any marketing budgetThe three pillars Primary Health Partners built on before opening the doorsHow to identify a good employer partner, and when to say noUtilization differences between retail members and employee members, and why adoption rates range from 10% to 92%How he built a 28 doctor affiliate network in three weeks using DPC MapperWhat he thinks about private equity and venture capital money entering DPC, and the two non-negotiables that protect your practiceWhy passive customer acquisition channels may be how DPC reaches the next tens of thousands of patientsLessons on autonomy from practicing inside the Army health systemFind resources and your next step at mydpcstory.com, including the free startup checklist and the Physician Owner's Planner built for the business side of practice ownership.Leave a voice message at mydpcstory.com/contact and your question could be featured on a future episode.Follow My DPC Story on socials @mydpcstory.Stand With Dr. Nyasha Spears and the Future of Patient-Centered Healthcare. Get your copy of the Physician Owner's Planner today at mydpcstory.com/librarySupport the showGET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOADBecome A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE PODMy DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG!FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

Two months after opening Amity Creek Primary Care in Duluth, Minnesota, Dr. Nyasha Spears returns to My DPC Story with the real numbers, the real costs, and the parts of a Direct Primary Care startup nobody puts on a slide.She and her DPC partner Dr. Kristin Lusian hit 130 patients six weeks in, with no advertising beyond a website and word of mouth. As of June they are covering overhead, rent, and debt payback, though they are not paying themselves yet. Meanwhile the non-compete case that made the opening possible is still moving. Her former employer appealed the temporary injunction and filed a motion to stay, so Dr. Spears is funding an appellate defense while building a brand new practice from scratch.In this episode:What a non-compete fight really costs, and what physicians considering the legal path should prepare for financially and emotionallyWhy keeping membership prices low was a boundary decision, not only a pricing decisionHow she handles patients wanting care her practice does not offer, and when "no" beats "yes, with limits"The justice and equity case for DPC, and why she is focused on patients who fall through the safety nets rather than on replacing Medicare and MedicaidBoring wins worth celebrating: custom patient ringtones so calls stop landing in personal voicemail, decoding hospital lab orders with CPT and ICD codes, and 12 successful blood draws in five weeksTwo-physician cross coverage, planning the first vacation, and the schedule she rebuilt once her husband started working three days awayKeeping skills sharp with journal club, procedures, and actually reading againWhy she says the more DPC the better, even in her own cityMaryal also shares how Big Trees MD partnered with Calaveras County Health so uninsured patients get same-day help, including one patient who went from panicking about medication access to picking up a prescription within eight hours.If you are weighing a non-compete, pricing your memberships, or wondering whether patients will actually come, this conversation is the honest version.Resources mentioned:Amity Creek Primary Care: amitycreekclinic.com Advocacy with the DPC Coalition: dpcare.org Big Trees MD: bigtreesmd.comFind your starting point at mydpcstory.com, from the free startup checklist to the Physician Owner's Planner built for the business side of your practice.Leave Maryal a voice message at mydpcstory.com/contact. Your question or win could be featured on a future episode.Follow @mydpcstory and please leave a five star review on Apple Podcasts so more physicians find these stories.Cooperative of American Physicians or CAP. Learn more about the medical malpractice company used by Dr. Maryal Concepcion since 2021 at capphysicians.com or by calling 800-356-5672.Guava Health. A premium patient experience, pulling data from EHRs and wearables, helping  see the full picture and uncover root causes to deliver personalized care. ZION HealthShare. Get peace of mind for major medical events without going back into the insurance maze. Support the showGET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOADBecome A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE PODMy DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG!FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

Recorded LIVE on the floor at the AAFP Co-sponsored DPC Summit in New Orleans, Dr. Angela Andrews of Direct Primary Care of West Michigan and Dr. Nicholas Jones of Clear Health Direct Primary Care in Eugene, Oregon sit down with Dr. Maryal Concepcion for an honest roundtable on what changes between year one and year three of direct primary care practice ownership.Both opened in November 2023. Both came to New Orleans with a list. What they say out loud is what most physicians only think: the workflows you built on day one and never revisited, the boundaries you are usually the first to cross, and the succession question this movement has not solved yet.IN THIS EPISODEPhysician owned regional DPC networks, and using them for call coverage, internal locums, and physician funded startup loans instead of banksWhy you do not need a nonprofit to do nonprofit workRevisiting the workflows you built when you were solo, and what to automate, eliminate, or documentEmployers as the next phase of DPC growth, and the arrival of employed DPC positionsBoundaries, moral injury, and why the physician is usually the first one to violate the boundaryHow to handle one star reviews and trolls without losing your weekendSuccession planning, and what happens to patients when a DPC physician gets sick or closesOregon's corporate practice of medicine law, the non compete ban, and what advocacy looks like when you own your practiceGetting onto your state chapter committees, and why DPC needs representation at AAFP and state academiesSpouses, kids, and the family roles that quietly keep practices runningChoosing an EHR you will not have to leave in three yearsMENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEDr. Emily Holt, Dr. Esther Khatibi, Dr. Julie Gunther, Dr. Timothy Blain, Dr. Phil Eskew, Dr. Jill Scherer, Dr. Clodagh Ryan, Dr. Neil Douglas, Dr. Hailey Miller, Dr. Amy Tressan, and Shaunna SandersRESOURCESThe Toolkit Magazine, including this year's Battle of the Support Stack and last year's Battle of the EHRs: toolkit.mydpcstory.comThe Physician Owner's Planner Limited First Edition Bundle: mydpcstory.com/shopPHYSICIAN OWNER'S PLANNER BUNDLEFifteen available. Each one includes the printed Physician Owner's Planner in a binder, the digital bundle with our Medicare and Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Guide, the yellow "Insurance is not healthcare" T-shirt, and a personal website review from Dr. Maryal Concepcion and Nathalia Hyland, head of marketing and strategy at My DPC Story. Limited shirt sizes remain. mydpcstory.com/shopCooperative of American Physicians or CAP. Learn more about the medical malpractice company used by Dr. Maryal Concepcion since 2021 at capphysicians.com or by calling 800-356-5672.Guava Health. A premium patient experience, pulling data from EHRs and wearables, helping  see the full picture and uncover root causes to deliver personalized care. ZION HealthShare. Get peace of mind for major medical events without going back into the insurance maze.  Hint AI helps you move faster through every stage of the patient visit. Hint AI Chat lets you ask questions about a patient's chart and instantly surface relevant notes, labs, and clinical history. Learn more at hint.com/ai.Support the showGET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOADBecome A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE PODMy DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG!FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

Send us Fan MailDr. Angela welcomes Dr. John Italiano, a family medicine DO and founder of Thrive Family Health Direct Primary Care, who launched his practice in January 2026, to begin a short men's health series. They discuss his path into direct primary care (DPC), beginning in medical school, and why he chose family medicine for its focus on continuity, relationships, and whole-person care. Turning to men's health, they explore how many men delay seeking care because of cultural expectations around toughness and self-reliance, often dismissing symptoms that deserve attention. They emphasize proactive prevention through six pillars of health—nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress management, social connection, and avoiding risky substances—using a car-maintenance analogy to illustrate the importance of routine care. The conversation highlights commonly overlooked concerns such as weight gain, fatigue, low motivation, poor sleep, snoring or sleep apnea, irritability, and assumptions about low testosterone, while encouraging early checkups to identify high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, insulin resistance, and prediabetes before they lead to irreversible events like heart attacks or strokes.Support the showFollow me on Instagram @angelalifestylemd and don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to my podcast & SHARE this episode.

Cathal Ryan Deputy Commissioner, with responsibility for Consultation and Supervision joins Jess to explain his remit within the DPC.

From physician assistant to DPC physician, Dr. Reid Lancaster took the long road on purpose. In this episode of My DPC Story, he sits down with Dr. Maryal Concepcion to trace his journey from PA to DO and the moment a three-minute news clip about direct primary care planted a "worm in his brain" he couldn't shake.Dr. Lancaster is the founder of Ethos Modern Medicine in La Quinta, California, just outside Palm Springs in a community as economically diverse as almost anywhere in the country. He shares why he chose to become a physician rather than practice independently as a PA, the honest differences he sees between PA, NP, and physician training, and how residency shaped what he can now do for his patients in primary care.This conversation is packed with practical wisdom for anyone weighing a DPC of their own. Dr. Lancaster opens up about the naysayers he faced through medical school and residency, the mentors who pushed him to "cash in" on a traditional job, and the wife who kept the dream alive when the doubt crept in. He also reflects on the business side he never trained for, from California compliance surprises to the taxes and systems that fall through the cracks in year one and beyond.You'll hear the real stories behind the lessons: the AI answering service named Jarvis that tanked his consults by 80 percent, the patients stuck in referral limbo despite having insurance, and the goals he wrote down before opening that he rediscovered in an old drawer. Dr. Lancaster makes the case that mistakes are lessons, that hiring a little earlier than feels comfortable can accelerate growth and protect your quality of life, and that clear boundaries set upfront are what keep DPC sustainable.Now three and a half years in and effectively full at 600 patients with no marketing, Dr. Lancaster reflects on what growth looks like from here, the working partnership he's exploring with PAs and NPs in the DPC space, and why the local coffee shop model, not the franchise, may be the future of direct primary care.Whether you're a pre-med student, a resident or a physician eyeing the exit from fee-for-service, or a DPC owner thinking about your next step, this episode is a reminder that you've done hard things before and you can do this too.Head to mydpcstory.com to find your starting point, and come say hi at the AAFP co-sponsored DPC Summit in New Orleans.Meet the My DPC Story team at DPC Summit NOLA! Summit bundles are live: HERE the Physician Owner's PlannerThe "insurance is not healthcare" teeA digital tool bundle for your practice A website reviewA 50% off our $350 Patient Explainer VideoPlus a chance to win an hour with Dr. Concepcion.  Cooperative of American Physicians or CAP. Learn more about the medical malpractice company used by Dr. Maryal Concepcion since 2021 at capphysicians.com or by calling 800-356-5672.Guava Health. A premium patient experience, pulling data from EHRs and wearables, helping  see the full picture and uncover root causes to deliver personalized care. ZION HealthShare. Get peace of mind for major medical events without going back into the insurance maze. Support the showGET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOADBecome A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE PODMy DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG!FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

Dr. Meaghan Andre is a board-certified pediatrician and the founder of Empowering Pediatric Wellness, a concierge-style pediatric practice in Princeton, NJ. She created her DPC model to offer families the kind of care she believes in—personal, preventive, and rooted in lifestyle medicine. Her passion lies in helping children thrive through a whole-child approach that honors each family's values, rhythms, and wellness goals.Some of the topics we discussed were:Balancing an employed position while growing a pediatric DPC practiceCreating a flexible practice model through scheduling, telemedicine, and home visitsUsing AI, automation, and virtual assistants to streamline administrative tasksSetting healthy boundaries while providing personalized access for patients and familiesBuilding referral networks through community partnerships and professional relationshipsGrowing your practice organically through networking, events, social media, and patient referralsLeveraging testimonials, online reviews, and automated follow-up to support practice growthWhy reaching out to mentors and learning from other physicians can accelerate your journeyAnd more!Interested in learning more about my telehealth direct specialty care practice? At AmazVita MD, I help patients optimize weight and metabolic health, harmonize hormones in peri/menopause, and enhance wellness and vitality. Accepting new patients now.Website:amazvitamd.comEmail:hello@amazvitamd.comLearn more about me or schedule a FREE coaching call:https://www.joyfulsuccessliving.com/ Join the Voices of Women Physicians Facebook Group:https://www.facebook.com/groups/190596326343825/Connect with Dr. Andre:Website:www.EmpoweringPediatricWellness.comInstagram:@EmpoweringPediatricianEmail:Dr.Andre@EmpoweringPediatricWellness.com

When Dr. Timothy Blain opened his direct primary care practice in the middle of COVID, he finally felt like a “real doctor” again — after two decades of employed medicine, five-year burnout cycles, and the constant ache of knowing he could help patients but never had the time.In this honest and moving episode, Dr. Blain shares his full journey: graduating in 2000 as hospitals bought up practices, surviving non-Hodgkin lymphoma at 38, then weathering COVID pneumonia, a heart attack, and adult-onset Still's disease — all while continuing to care for his patients. He opens up about how DPC helped save his marriage, why empathy is the first thing burnout takes from physicians, and what it truly means to be the patient when you're also the doctor.Dr. Concepcion and Dr. Blain dig into:•The 5-year burnout curve, and why “just take a half day” never works•Building patient loyalty so deep that almost no one left, even through his hospitalizations•Practical steps for leaving employed medicine for DPC (including the prepay discount that funded his startup)•Why DPC doctors may be best positioned to use AI in medicine•Supplements, home visits, ultrasound, and staying curious as a physician•How and why he chose to close his practice — the taxes, timing, and grief involved•Redefining “failure” and finding peace in a one-year sabbaticalWhether you're burned out and dreaming of a way out, a few years into your own DPC, or simply wondering what a fulfilling end to a medical career can look like, this conversation is a breath of fresh air.“Failure is in the eye of the beholder.” — Dr. Timothy Blain—

Dr. Meaghan Andre is a board-certified pediatrician and the founder of Empowering Pediatric Wellness, a concierge-style pediatric practice in Princeton, NJ. She created her DPC model to offer families the kind of care she believes in—personal, preventive, and rooted in lifestyle medicine. Her passion lies in helping children thrive through a whole-child approach that honors each family's values, rhythms, and wellness goals.Some of the topics we discussed were:Dr. Andre's journey from traditional pediatrics to pediatric Direct Primary Care Defining your mission and ideal patient before launching your practiceBuilding an essential startup checklist—from forming an LLC to finding office spaceKeeping startup costs low with a lean, flexible practice modelLearning from the DPC community and avoiding common startup mistakesFinding mentors and resources to simplify the launch processBalancing an employed position while gradually launching a DPC practiceGrowing your practice one step at a time with a progress-over-perfection mindsetAnd more!Interested in learning more about my telehealth direct specialty care practice? At AmazVita MD, I help patients optimize weight and metabolic health, harmonize hormones in peri/menopause, and enhance wellness and vitality. Accepting new patients now.Website:amazvitamd.comEmail:hello@amazvitamd.comLearn more about me or schedule a FREE coaching call:https://www.joyfulsuccessliving.com/ Join the Voices of Women Physicians Facebook Group:https://www.facebook.com/groups/190596326343825/Connect with Dr. Andre:Website:www.EmpoweringPediatricWellness.comInstagram:@EmpoweringPediatricianEmail: Dr.Andre@EmpoweringPediatricWellness.com 

What does it look like to build a Direct Primary Care practice that protects your health as fiercely as it protects your patients? In this episode of My DPC Story, Dr. April Soto of Love and Light Integrative Medicine in South Pasadena, California shares how she systematically exited corporate medicine over three years and built an integrative DPC practice rooted in authenticity, boundaries, and healing.After more than a decade in fee-for-service family medicine and infectious disease, including HIV care, Dr. Soto completed an integrative medicine fellowship, trained in ketamine-assisted therapy, and opened a micropractice designed around her own capacity as a physician living with chronic illness and mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS). Today she receives MCAS referrals from specialists across the country and offers ketamine journeys, transgender care for patients from age three to eighty, and deeply unhurried visits that can run four hours.In this conversation, Dr. Soto and host Dr. Maryal Concepcion discuss:Why she left corporate medicine and how she planned her three-year exitFacing fears around money, homelessness, and financial security before opening a DPCPricing as a quality-based practice instead of competing on discountsWhat she learned from giving too many discounts in year oneHow her assistant Natalie supports meet and greets, workflows, and boundariesBuilding an inclusive practice for LGBTQIA+ patients, immigrant communities, and neurodivergent patientsCaring for patients afraid to seek care because of ICE enforcementMCAS diagnosis, testing pitfalls, and why these patients need a different kind of visitKetamine-assisted therapy pricing, informed consent, and managing patient expectationsBurnout, trauma as a superpower, and why inclusivity has to include the physicianHer five-year vision: wellness contracts, motivational speaking, and growing her teamWhether you are planning your DPC launch or working to make your existing practice more sustainable, this episode is a masterclass in valuing yourself, honoring your capacity, and practicing medicine on your own terms.Learn more about Dr. April Soto at Love and Light Integrative Medicine in South Pasadena, CA.Visit mydpcstory.com for the free 90-Day Startup Checklist, the Physician Owner's Planner, and DPC tools for every stage. Leave a voicemail at mydpcstory.com/contact and you might hear it on a future episode. Support the show on Patreon for commercial-free and extended episodes.Meet the My DPC Story team at DPC Summit NOLA! Summit bundles are live: HERE the Physician Owner's PlannerThe "insurance is not healthcare" teeA digital tool bundle for your practice A website reviewA 50% off our $350 Patient Explainer VideoPlus a chance to win an hour with Dr. Concepcion.  Cooperative of American Physicians or CAP. Learn more about the medical malpractice company used by Dr. Maryal Concepcion since 2021 at capphysicians.com or by calling 800-356-5672.Guava Health. A premium patient experience, pulling data from EHRs and wearables, helping  see the full picture and uncover root causes to deliver personalized care. ZION HealthShare. Get peace of mind for major medical events without going back into the insurance maze.  Hint AI helps you move faster through every stage of the patient visit. Hint AI Chat lets you ask questions about a patient's chart and instantly surface relevant notes, labs, and clinical history. Learn more at hint.com/ai.Support the showGET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOADBecome A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE PODMy DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG!FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

In part 1 of this specialist report series, Jess brings you inside the Irish Data Protection Commission to meet with the team working on the frontline with complaints. Just this week, it was announced that DPC received a 45% jump in complaints in 2025. We find out the nature of those complaints and how they are handled.

CLOSING SOON! VOTE IN THE 2026 MY DPC STORY BATTLE! VOTE HEREWhen most physicians hear the word sustainability, they think about keeping the doors open. But after a weekend with more than 80 doctors at the California DPC Summit, our host Dr. Maryal Concepcion came away certain it means so much more. In this episode of My DPC Story, five voices from the Direct Primary Care community share what makes a medical career, a practice, and a life sustainable.The throughline is simple. Healthcare becomes sustainable when the people providing the care are allowed to thrive.You will hear from:Dr. Deepti Mundkur, My Happy Doctor, nearly six years into DPC, on how continuity and deep patient relationships became her real measure of sustainability, including watching patients need less medication over time.Dr. Shannon Connolly of Open Arms Direct Primary Care on how community and physician innovation build confidence, and why scaling DPC looks nothing like the venture-backed version.Dr. Dedra Beckles on knowing your worth, protecting your energy, and why boundaries are not optional if you want to keep showing up with joy.Dr. Grace Hassell on authenticity, presence, and a powerful highlining metaphor for becoming the doctor she wrote about in her personal statement.Noreen Gutierrez, RN, on building sustainable teams through head, heart, and hands, and her five Rs for clinic culture.Registration is open for the Illinois DPC Summit this October in the Chicagoland area, and for California's third annual DPC Summit next year. Find both on the Events page at mydpcstory.com.If you will be at the AAFP co-sponsored DPC Summit in New Orleans, come say hi, grab the latest magazine, and share your story on a live mic.Want a summit in your state? Send us a note through the contact page at mydpcstory.com. Tennessee is already in the works.Leave me a voicemail at mydpcstory.com/contact and you might hear it on a future episode.For commercial-free episodes, extended conversations, and the State by State with Dr. Phil Eskew series, check out our Patreon.If this episode moved you, please leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. It helps other physicians find these stories when they need them most.Keywords: direct primary care, DPC, DPC physician, physician burnout, sustainable medical practice, California DPC Summit, Illinois DPC Summit, membership medicine, family medicine, My DPC StoryMeet the My DPC Story team at DPC Summit NOLA! Summit bundles are live: HERE the Physician Owner's PlannerThe "insurance is not healthcare" teeA digital tool bundle for your practice A website reviewA 50% off our $350 Patient Explainer VideoPlus a chance to win an hour with Dr. Concepcion.  Cooperative of American Physicians or CAP. Learn more about the medical malpractice company used by Dr. Maryal Concepcion since 2021 at capphysicians.com or by calling 800-356-5672.Guava Health. A premium patient experience, pulling data from EHRs and wearables, helping  see the full picture and uncover root causes to deliver personalized care. ZION HealthShare. Get peace of mind for major medical events without going back into the insurance maze.  Hint AI helps you move faster through every stage of the patient visit. Hint AI Chat lets you ask questions about a patient's chart and instantly surface relevant notes, labs, and clinical history. Learn more at hint.com/ai.Support the showGET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOADBecome A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE PODMy DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG!FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

What if you could get back fifteen hours of your work week without seeing a single extra patient?In this special episode, recorded live in a breakout room workshop following the California DPC Summit, Justin Lam, CEO of Cool Blue VA, sits down with a room full of physicians to talk about getting real help in your practice and in your life. Dr. Maryal Concepcion opens by sharing her own experience working with a virtual assistant she found through Cool Blue VA, then hands the room over to Justin.Justin walks through the questions so many physicians sit with when building a Direct Primary Care practice. Research shows only twenty-seven percent of a physician's time goes to direct patient care, while nearly half disappears into desk work and admin. Justin breaks down how to change that.You will hear:The "only you" test for deciding what to delegate and what to keep. If someone else can do it, it probably should not be on your plate.Why fifty percent is the right time to hire, not one hundred percent, and how waiting too long leads to rushed decisions and the wrong hire.How to design your ideal role before you ever start looking, including the top tasks to hand off, the tools your assistant will use, and how to measure success.The real difference between a local medical assistant and a virtual assistant, and what each one is best suited for. Local staff handle high-touch, in-person, revenue-generating work. Virtual assistants cover the inbox, scheduling, prior authorizations, records, specialist coordination, billing, and more.Practical hiring tools you can use today, from spelling and math checks to typing tests and strength assessments.The honest back and forth with physicians in the room, who ask about charting support, inventory, time zones, vacation coverage, billing by the minute, and even using a virtual assistant as an executive assistant for your home life.Whether you have a full panel or you are still mapping out your first month open, there is something here worth holding onto.Ready to grow your practice with the right support? Start here: coolblueva.com/dpcgrowA quick note on the audio. Because this was captured in a smaller breakout space, the sound gets tricky in spots. Thank you in advance for your patience with it.Connect with My DPC Story: Listen, subscribe, and explore more at the My DPC Story podcast and media platform.Support the showGET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOADBecome A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE PODMy DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG!FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

What happens to a family physician when the system that trained him decides he no longer has value? In this deeply personal episode, Dr. Maryal Concepcion hands the introduction to a special guest, then sits down with her husband, Dr. Jeremiah Fillo of Big Trees MD, for an honest conversation about sustainability, not just as a doctor, but as a whole person.Dr. Fillo shares the path from rural Nebraska training under Dr. Tim Blecha (Blay-kee), through residency in Modesto, into a corporate regional medical center that slowly turned the heat up the way you would on a frog in a pot. He talks candidly about the evergreen contract, the exclusivity clause, and the moment he was told to sign or be terminated while his wife was pregnant. He describes being let go and replaced by a non-physician model, the AB 890 reality in California, and the months of uncertainty that followed.This is also a conversation about what comes after the devaluation. Dr. Fillo opens up about how he held onto his sense of self when the system told him he had none, why splitting and stacking firewood mattered as much as any clinical workflow, and how he learned to quiet his "referralologist" training once he joined a Direct Primary Care practice with real time and autonomy. Listeners will hear how DPC reshaped his parenting, his task switching between in-office visits and asynchronous telemedicine, and his perspective on joining an established practice he did not build from scratch.For any physician who has felt like a charge sheet instead of a clinician, this episode is a reminder: the system does not get to decide your worth, and there is real life after fee-for-service.In this episode: How job share became the foundation of a sustainable two-physician family. Why residency training around fee-for-service leaves new physicians blindsided to independent options. What being replaced by a non-physician model does to a person, and how to rebuild. Why rural communities cannot sustain healthcare on a three-day-a-week, hard-to-access model. How Direct Primary Care creates room to practice full scope again and still be present for your kids.About the guest: Dr. Jeremiah Fillo is a family physician at Big Trees MD in Arnold, California, where he practices Direct Primary Care alongside Dr. Maryal Concepcion. He trained at Creighton University School of Medicine and completed residency in Modesto, with additional procedural training at Brodstone Memorial in rural Nebraska.Connect with My DPC Story: Subscribe wherever you listen, leave a review, and share this episode with a physician who needs to hear that there is a sustainable path forward. Have a question or a story of your own? Call the My DPC Story voicemail and you may hear your answer on a future episode.Lean more about Hint Clinical today! Check out CoolBlue VA today at coolblueva.com/dpcgrow VOTE in the 2026 Battle of the Support Stack HERE! Support access to women's healthcare and join us for Fireside Chats for Women's Health in New Orleans! July 17th 7-9 pm. BUY tickets at mydpcstory.com/upcoming-events. If you're interested in donating or sponsoring, email hello@mydpcstory.com Get your copy of the Physician Owner's Planner today at mydpcstory.com/librarySupport the showGET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOADBecome A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE PODMy DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG!FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

Anne Gonzalez, MD is a practicing Direct Primary Care physician at Emerald Health DPC in Western North Carolina. After eight years in insurance-based medicine, she made the leap to DPC and hasn't looked back. She hosts the DPC Life Podcast, where she has honest, unscripted conversations with DPC physicians about the real work of building an independent practice, and runs the DPC Lifer Club, a free community for physicians in the early stages of doing the same.Some of the topics we discussed:Implementing the 4Rs of practice growthHow to use automation to grow your practice without doing everything manuallyAttracting and retaining patients with a membership-based practiceImproving patient engagement and responsivenessUsing AI-powered phone assistants and website chat widgets for 24/7 patient communicationReplacing multiple software subscriptions with one platformHarmony Ops' custom GPTs and AI tools for practice developmentCRM systems, workflow automation, and HIPAA-compliant technology solutionsStreamlining scheduling, forms, onboarding, and communicationsUsing social media strategically to grow an independent practicePractice growth strategies for physicians with full patient panelsBalancing automation with authentic human connectionOpportunities for coaching, community, and physician supportAnd more!Interested in learning more about my telehealth direct specialty care practice? At AmazVita MD, I help patients optimize weight and metabolic health, harmonize hormones in peri/menopause, and enhance wellness and vitality. Accepting new patients now.Website:amazvitamd.comEmail:hello@amazvitamd.comLearn more about me or schedule a FREE coaching call:https://www.joyfulsuccessliving.com/ Join the Voices of Women Physicians Facebook Group:https://www.facebook.com/groups/190596326343825/Connect with Dr. Gonzalez:DPC LIFE PODCASTWebsite: https://dpclife.comSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5eHR2BEnHwEVklUYWJQ11XFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/dpclife/Instagram: @dpclifeHARMONY OPSMain Site: https://harmonyopsfordpc.comInstagram: @harmonyopsfordpcFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/harmonyopsfordpc/Ep 195: How to Use Automations to Elevate Your DPC with Dr. Anne GonzalezApple PodcastsSpotify

Many physicians know about Direct Primary Care (DPC) and Concierge Primary Care on a surface level, but what about when you go under the hood? How do they work? Which model is better for you? My guest today helps his clients sort these questions out, and he'll give us his insights. Bob Whittemore is a consultant in the Healthcare Services Group with WebsterRodgers, based in South Carolina. Bob has over three decades of experience both as a senior executive at large physician practices and as a commercial lender at some of the country's biggest banks. Bob brings practical and insightful understanding of the regulatory, financial, and operational pressures that healthcare entities encounter. In his consulting role, Bob advises physicians and their practices in the areas of operational and financial improvement, compensation, and overall practice optimization. In this episode Carl White and Bob Whittemore discuss: Core similarities and differences between DPC and concierge primary care The upsides and headaches of each one that physicians don't realize until they start Keys to success in opening up, and missteps to avoid Want to be a guest on PracticeCare®? Have an experience with a business issue you think others will benefit from? Come on PracticeCare® and tell the world! Here's the link where you can get the process started. Connect with Bob Whittemore https://websterrogers.com/industries-who-we-serve/healthcare/ Connect with Carl White Website: http://www.marketvisorygroup.com Email:  whitec@marketvisorygroup.com Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/marketvisorygroup YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD9BLCu_i2ezBj1ktUHVmig LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/healthcaremktg

What does it take to make women's healthcare access sustainable, not just for patients, but for the physician carrying the mission? In this episode of the My DPC Story podcast, Dr. Maryal Concepcion welcomes back Dr. Esther Khatibi, family physician who does surgical obstetrics, and founder of My DOC, a nonprofit delivering high-quality, evidence-based obstetric care to women regardless of their social, economic, religious, or ethnic background.Dr. Khatibi shares how she nearly tanked her own practice caring for pregnant patients who could not afford care anywhere else, and why the answer was not working harder. It was building a coalition: volunteer physicians, a board that believed in her before she had proof, sonographers, grant writers, and donors who each carried part of the load.This is a conversation about the maternal health gap, why early, individualized prenatal care matters most for the most vulnerable moms, including the higher risk faced by African American women, and why Direct Primary Care doctors are positioned to bring obstetric care back as the share of family physicians doing OB falls from 25 percent to just 7 percent.What you'll learn:How Dr. Khatibi went from nearly tanking her DPC to founding the My DOC nonprofitThe My DOC model: enrollment for uninsured, underinsured, or high-risk women on the DPC modelWhy early prenatal care reduces maternal morbidity and mortality, especially for African American momsHow volunteer physicians protect continuity from first visit through delivery and postpartumHow a 501(c)(3) sends most funds straight to patient services, labs, and ultrasoundsWhy the ER is the wrong place for a pregnant patient, and how a direct line to your doctor helpsDr. Concepcion and Dr. Khatibi also preview the My DPC Story fireside chats in New Orleans during the DPC Summit, where My DOC and Dr. Emily Holt's Poppy Direct Care come together for women's health access. Only 60 seats.Links:Support My DOC: mydoc.orgNew Orleans Women's Health Fundraiser: mydpcstory.com/upcoming-eventsSupport Poppy Direct Care's autoclave fund: https://bit.ly/4oqTS3DNew to DPC? Start here: mydpcstory.comSubscribe to My DPC Story on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and leave a five-star review so more physicians can find these stories.Get your copy of the Physician Owner's Planner at mydpcstory.com/library. Check out CoolBlue VA today at coolblueva.com/dpcgrow Earn money WHILE running your DPC! Join SERMO for FREE today!Support the showGET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOADBecome A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE PODMy DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG!FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

Anne Gonzalez, MD is a practicing Direct Primary Care physician at Emerald Health DPC in Western North Carolina. After eight years in insurance-based medicine, she made the leap to DPC and hasn't looked back. She hosts the DPC Life Podcast, where she has honest, unscripted conversations with DPC physicians about the real work of building an independent practice, and runs the DPC Lifer Club, a free community for physicians in the early stages of doing the same.Some of the topics we discussed:Benefits of DPC for physicians and patientsLessons learned from growing a DPC practiceMarketing challenges and patient acquisition strategies for DPC physiciansCustomer Relationship Management (CRM) systems for medical practicesThe creation of Harmony OpsUsing AI receptionists and chatbots to facilitate patient communicationManaging leads and patient inquiries more efficientlySocial media and online reputation management, such as Google reviewsReducing administrative burden through automationTechnology tools that save time and reduce overwhelmSupporting women physicians interested in entrepreneurship and DPCThe future of physician-owned practicesAnd more!Interested in learning more about my telehealth direct specialty care practice? At AmazVita MD, I help patients optimize weight and metabolic health, harmonize hormones in peri/menopause, and enhance wellness and vitality. Accepting new patients now.Website:amazvitamd.comEmail:hello@amazvitamd.comLearn more about me or schedule a FREE coaching call:https://www.joyfulsuccessliving.com/ Join the Voices of Women Physicians Facebook Group:https://www.facebook.com/groups/190596326343825/Connect with Dr. Gonzalez:DPC LIFE PODCASTWebsite: https://dpclife.comSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5eHR2BEnHwEVklUYWJQ11XFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/dpclife/Instagram: @dpclifeHARMONY OPSMain Site: https://harmonyopsfordpc.comInstagram: @harmonyopsfordpcFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/harmonyopsfordpc/

Amanda Decker is a family nurse practitioner, metabolic health practitioner, and founder of Clear Path Medical. After overcoming her own struggles with weight and chronic psoriasis, she shifted her focus from conventional primary care to nutrition and lifestyle medicine. Today, Amanda helps patients address the root causes of chronic disease through evidence-based approaches centered on metabolic health, low-carb nutrition, and sustainable lifestyle change. With nearly two decades of clinical experience and multiple advanced certifications in obesity medicine, ketogenic nutrition, and metabolic health, she is passionate about empowering people to take control of their health and transform their lives. In this episode, Dr. Brian and Amanda talk about… (00:00) Intro (05:54) Cholesterol and cardiovascular health (09:50) Amanda's experience switching to and working in a DPC practice (11:54) Triglycerides and coffee (13:57) Stress, community, and working in the medical field (19:11) Amanda's upcoming Low Carb for Better Health conference (link below) (22:55) Bio-individuality and the proper human diet (25:54) The speaker line-up at the upcoming Low Carb for Better Health conference (link below) (31:29) Gut health, carnivore diets, and holistic health (39:45) Gut health and fatty liver disease (40:34) Health outliers and food noise (48:18) Cortisol and Cushing's Disease (01:01:50) Outro For more information, please see the links below. Thank you for listening! Links: Please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.lowcarbmd.com/   Amanda Decker: Website: https://www.clearpathmedical.net/ X: https://x.com/deckerlesscarbs?lang=en IG: https://www.instagram.com/deckerlesscarbs/?hl=en FB: https://www.facebook.com/deckerlesscarbs/?ref=NONE_xav_ig_profile_page_web# Low Carb for Better Health: https://events.humanitix.com/low-carb-for-better-health Dr. Brian Lenzkes:  Website: https://arizonametabolichealth.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrianLenzkes?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author Dr. Tro Kalayjian:  Website: https://toward.health Twitter: https://twitter.com/DoctorTro IG: https://www.instagram.com/doctortro/ Toward Health App Join a growing community of individuals who are improving their metabolic health; together.  Get started at your own pace with a self-guided curriculum developed by Dr. Tro and his care team, community chat, weekly meetings, courses, challenges, message boards and more.  Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/doctor-tro/id1588693888  Google: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.disciplemedia.doctortro&hl=en_US&gl=US Learn more: https://toward.health/community/

In this June sustainability episode, Maryal sits down with Dr. Daniel Hochman, a psychiatrist in private practice in Texas and the founder of Self Recovery, an online addiction curriculum built from thousands of hours of one-to-one clinical work.Dr. Hochman left the insurance model early, around 2014, because the deep, philosophical therapy he wanted to practice could never be reimbursed in a fee-for-service system. His definition of sustainability is simple and worth sitting with: work that is aligned with your interests is sustainable, and the drag of burnout shows up when there is interference and conflict instead of alignment.What you will hear in this episode:Why sustainability is about alignment with your interests, not just doing less, and how "slow down" can mean five different thingsHis trial-and-error method for building a personal repertoire of recovery tools, using something as ordinary as what you choose to watch at nightHow he protects a sacred solo lunch, eats at his desk, and works calisthenics and movement into the day instead of a separate gym routineThe honest distinction between what drains him: a suicidal patient that morning did not deplete him, but a misaligned patient asking for a quick fix didHow he screens for fit by taking every call himself and asking one question: "Are you curious?"How to neutrally end or decline a relationship that is not a fit, and why modeling that can itself be therapeuticThe story behind Self Recovery: why he spent years writing a true addiction curriculum rather than referring patients to subpar optionsHis addiction model that became the course structure: emotional pain leads to craving, craving to following through, following through to false pleasure, with a capstone on how to actually liveWhy an educational designer helped him break heavy material into digestible, story-driven modules that keep people asking "what's next"Why online, private, self-paced work helps people face their hardest material when they are ready, on their own timeA one-minute motivational interviewing technique any physician can memorize: "On a scale of zero to 10, how ready are you to change?" then "Why not higher, and why not lower?"The tool most physicians leave on the table in addiction care, and how to pitch it as helping a patient be accountable to their own better halfHis incremental, no-big-scary-beast advice for physicians who feel stuck but are not yet a 10 out of 10 ready to make the leapConnect with Dr. Hochman:Self Recovery (online addiction curriculum, direct to consumer)The Zanko Method, a curriculum for professionals living with addiction.One-day Intensives at his practice: hochmanhealth.com (see the Intensives tab)New to DPC? Head to the Start Here page at mydpcstory.com for a practical startup guide and the essential beginner episodes.Got a question for the show? Leave a voice message on the contact page at mydpcstory.com.Want commercial-free and extended episodes? Join the My DPC Story Patreon.Follow along @mydpcstory and find everything at mydpcstory.com.If this episode inspired you, please leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. It helps more physicians find these stories when they need them the most.Lean more about Hint Clinical today! Learn more about VIVID VAULT HEALTH SOLUTIONS TODAY! The DPC Directory: If you're a DPC doctor, you'll find resources to grow your practice! If you serve the DPC world, grab a FREE listing today and get discovered by doctors who need your services.

Amanda Decker is a family nurse practitioner, metabolic health practitioner, and founder of Clear Path Medical. After overcoming her own struggles with weight and chronic psoriasis, she shifted her focus from conventional primary care to nutrition and lifestyle medicine. Today, Amanda helps patients address the root causes of chronic disease through evidence-based approaches centered on metabolic health, low-carb nutrition, and sustainable lifestyle change. With nearly two decades of clinical experience and multiple advanced certifications in obesity medicine, ketogenic nutrition, and metabolic health, she is passionate about empowering people to take control of their health and transform their lives. In this episode, Dr. Brian and Amanda talk about… (00:00) Intro (05:54) Cholesterol and cardiovascular health (09:50) Amanda's experience switching to and working in a DPC practice (11:54) Triglycerides and coffee (13:57) Stress, community, and working in the medical field (19:11) Amanda's upcoming Low Carb for Better Health conference (link below) (22:55) Bio-individuality and the proper human diet (25:54) The speaker line-up at the upcoming Low Carb for Better Health conference (link below) (31:29) Gut health, carnivore diets, and holistic health (39:45) Gut health and fatty liver disease (40:34) Health outliers and food noise (48:18) Cortisol and Cushing's Disease (01:01:50) Outro For more information, please see the links below. Thank you for listening!   Links:   Amanda Decker: Website: https://www.clearpathmedical.net/ X: https://x.com/deckerlesscarbs?lang=en IG: https://www.instagram.com/deckerlesscarbs/?hl=en FB: https://www.facebook.com/deckerlesscarbs/?ref=NONE_xav_ig_profile_page_web# Low Carb for Better Health: https://events.humanitix.com/low-carb-for-better-health   Dr. Brian Lenzkes:  Arizona Metabolic Health: https://arizonametabolichealth.com/ Low Carb MD Podcast: https://www.lowcarbmd.com/   HLTH Code: HLTH Code Promo Code: METHEALTH • • HLTH Code Website: https://gethlth.com

Can Direct Primary Care really pay off for a physician family carrying student loan debt and no employer match? In this episode of the My DPC Story podcast, host Dr. Maryal Concepcion talks with Dr. Manuel Vogt of Texas DPC about the real financial tools behind building a thriving practice.From a billboard at a railroad crossing to a 220-patient pre-enrollment list on opening day, Dr. Vogt shares how he and his wife built two separate Direct Primary Care clinics in San Antonio while protecting each other's autonomy. The standout story: how they used federal and state historic preservation tax credits, ADA credits, and a solar carport credit to fund a clinic renovation, then sold the state credits for 93 cents on the dollar.In this episode you'll learn:How a physician couple runs two independent DPC practices as a familyUsing historic tax credits to fund a clinic renovationSubleasing clinic space to cover your entire overheadMarketing to employers through a multi-clinic DPC umbrellaA workaround for Texas dispensing laws and discounted wholesale labsBetter diabetes care with CGMs and same-day textingFinding the panel size (around 500) that supports a daily 5K and school pickupsA pricing strategy that raises rates without losing patientsAdvocacy priorities: in-office dispensing and FSA eligibilityWhether you are a resident exploring Direct Primary Care or an established DPC owner planning expansion, this conversation is full of practical, money-saving ideas.

Are you tired of the "lazy way" to cut healthcare costs—just increasing deductibles and co-pays? In this episode, we're talking to someone who calls that approach what it is: the definition of insanity. Host Ramesh Kumar welcomes Adam V. Russo, Esq.—co-founder and visionary of The Phia Group, LLC, an innovative cost containment leader and attorney who represents employers and plan fiduciaries across the U.S. Adam is here to break down the secrets of delivering a great healthcare experience on a self-funded plan. You'll learn: • Why Direct Primary Care (DPC) is being called the "best" plan design choice for both employee retention and health, with studies showing a 13% reduction in overall claim spend in the first year. • How Adam's company, a successful self-funded employer, leveraged DPC to personally circumvent a $6,000 to $10,000 ER bill for just $80 a month. • The critical need for a complete employee mindset shift and a five-year education plan to truly win at cost management. Don't miss this powerful conversation on why increasing cost-sharing measures has failed, and how DPC offers a path to long-term success. Tune in now! Find all of our network podcasts on your favorite podcast platforms and be sure to subscribe and like us. Learn more at www.healthcarenowradio.com/listen/

DPC Is Growing in Pediatrics: Dr. Andrew Hertz on Zest's Expansion, Survey Findings, and the Future of CareThe Pediatric Lounge welcomes returning guest Dr. Andrew Hertz, co-founder and president of the Zest Pediatric Network, to discuss the growth of direct pediatric care (DPC) and results from Zest's national survey. Hertz reports Zest's expansion from three Cleveland-area practices to 10 sites opening by summer, with 13 physicians across Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida, and describes using annual surveys because pediatric DPC data was previously lacking and the movement is growing about 25% yearly. Survey findings include that pediatric DPC is largely women-led (about 90%), mid-career, mostly solo practices; most charge $100–$175 per child per month with panels under 250 patients; about 48% are AAP members; and many report improved satisfaction and less moral injury. They discuss DPC benefits such as reduced office, urgent care, and ED visits, challenges with insurance and Medicaid capitation without CPT codes, AI's operational promise and societal risks, and employer value focused more on employee satisfaction than pediatric ROI.00:00 Welcome Back Dr Hertz01:30 Zest Network Growth02:50 Why Survey DPC03:49 Who Joins DPC05:06 Boards and MOC Debate09:31 AAP Membership Questions13:54 Why DPC Is Rising18:22 AI vs EHR Efficiency22:03 Insurance and Capitation25:14 Hybrid Models and Access29:08 Costs and Who Can Afford32:45 Medicaid Capitation Hurdles35:06 Data Without CPT Codes36:24 Data Without Red Tape37:07 ICD-10 and Simple EMRs38:23 Holistic Prevention Coaching41:32 Defining DPC Success42:43 Net Promoter Score Explained46:10 NPS for Behavior Change49:19 Storytelling to Drive Adoption55:53 AI in Pediatrics Promise and Peril01:03:21 Beyond DPC Payment Models01:06:15 Employers and Care Navigators01:09:24 Closing Thoughts and Growth01:11:31 Podcast OutroSupport the show

"To quote my business partner, a broker makes you broker."To celebrate the 5-year and 250th-episode anniversary of the podcast, we recorded a special live panel in front of an audience featuring three of the most forward-thinking minds in the benefits space: Chris Hamilton (Hotchkiss Insurance), Taylor Rogers (CCIG), and Seth Denson (Acrisure).In this "State of the Union" episode, we tackle the existential crisis facing mid-market employers and the healthcare industry at large. The panel holds nothing back as we debate the illusion of PPO network discounts, the weaponization of AI in medical billing, and why staying fully-insured absolutely does not protect a CFO from fiduciary liability lawsuits. The guys also share their personal "Jerry Maguire" moments - the exact turning points in their careers when they decided to stop chasing commissions and start fighting for the patients and employers footing the bill.Following the main discussion, we hosted a Q&A featuring questions from the audience.If you are an employer looking to take control of your healthcare spend or an advisor wanting to stay relevant in a rapidly changing market, this live discussion is packed with actionable strategy.Thank you to all who have listened for helping us get to 5 years!Thank you to our 2026 sponsors!ParetoHealth: ParetoHealth empowers midsize employers with a long-term solution to reduce volatility and lower overall health benefits costs. Visit https://www.paretohealth.com/fully-insured-vs-self-funding-with-paretohealth-spencer-podcast/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=SelfFundedwSpencer to learn more.Samaritan Fund: A program that connects those who need help to the support they need. We are proud to offer the Samaritan Fund Program. Visit SamaritanFundProgram.com to learn more.Vālenz Health: We're Vālenz Health, your partner in improving health literacy, reducing plan spend, and delivering high-value healthcare. Visit ValenzHealth.com to learn more.Imagine360: Imagine360 helps self-funded employers save on healthcare with smarter health plans. Cut expenses by 20-30% with custom solutions. Contact us today at Imagine360.com.Episode Chapters(00:00:00) Intro: Welcome to the 5-Year Anniversary Live Show (00:01:51) Meet the Panel: Chris Hamilton, Taylor Rogers, and Seth Denson (00:04:56) State of the Union: Is the Benefits Industry in a Crisis? (00:11:12) Broker vs. Consultant: Defining the Difference (00:17:26) Following the Money: Controlling Facility Costs & Member Experience (00:24:02) Are Traditional PPO Networks a Scam? (00:34:46) Building Tiered Benefit Structures and Narrow Networks (00:40:22) The AI Threat: Weaponized Billing and the Loss of the "Training Ground" (00:55:40) Fiduciary Responsibility and the Threat of Employer Lawsuits (01:05:03) The Next 5 Years: Breaking Up Insurance Monopolies (01:11:18) Audience Q&A: Preventing High-Cost Claimants with DPC (01:15:30) The Panel's "Jerry Maguire" Career Moments (01:20:46) The Reality of Price Transparency and Medical Shopping (01:26:03) Navigating the Wild West of the No Surprises Act (NSA) (01:29:45) Why Fully-Insured Plans Don't Protect CFOs from Fiduciary Liability (01:32:21) Closing Remarks and the 5-Year Whiskey GiveawayKey Links for Social:@SelfFunded on YouTube for video versions of the podcast and much more - https://www.youtube.com/@SelfFundedListen/watch on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1TjmrMrkIj0qSmlwAIevKA?si=068a389925474f02Listen on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/self-funded-with-spencer/id1566182286Follow Spencer on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencer-smith-self-funded/Follow Spencer on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/selffundedwithspencer/

Dr. Emily Holt returns to the podcast one year after opening Poppy Direct Care in New Orleans, and the landscape around her has changed dramatically.When Maryal last spoke with Dr. Holt, Poppy was just months old and DPC Summit attendees were touring her 100-year-old clinic house. A year later, her panel has more than doubled, she's about to opt out of Medicare, and she's a named plaintiff in a lawsuit against Louisiana's Attorney General over the state's classification of mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled substances.This conversation goes deep on what it actually looks like to build a mission-driven DPC in a state that keeps making reproductive healthcare harder to deliver.In this episode, Dr. Holt shares:How word of mouth (plus authentic Instagram and TikTok) became her entire growth engineWhy her practice is intentionally slow-rolling, and how she and her husband decided what "enough" looks likeThe patient shift happening as 2026 insurance premiums skyrocket and Medicaid eligibility stays restrictiveWhat it means that every Planned Parenthood in Louisiana has closed, and how Poppy is trying to fill the gapHer free Tuesday night clinic for birth control and rapid STI testing, and the new Louisiana Health Department rules designed to shut clinics like hers outWhy being a Baija Charitable Alliance affiliate mattered for 340B pricing, and what the new program changes mean for small DPCs serving uninsured patientsThe reality of trying to provide IUDs for emergency contraception when no nearby pharmacy stocks themHow being her own boss let her join a lawsuit that employed physicians told her they couldn't touchWhat Reproductive Health Access Project (RHAP) offers cliniciansHer vision for turning Poppy into a training ground for med students and residents shut out of reproductive health experience in-stateMemorable moments:"If you can't stand for something, you will fall for anything."The state offering one dollar per patient to reimburse rapid STI testing supplies that cost forty-five dollarsThree generations of plumbers getting Poppy ready for Monday patientsWhy patients tell her, unprompted, that they trust her to trust themResources mentioned:Dr. Emily Holt's GoFundMe for an autoclave at Poppy Direct CareTake Me Home Program — free at-home HIV, hepatitis C, and syphilis testing mailed nationwideReproductive Health Access Project (RHAP)Dr. Byron Jasper and Byja Charitable AllianceAAFP DPC Member Interest GroupThe July My DPC Story live event in New Orleans, pairing Dr. Esther Katibi's nonprofit with Dr. Holt's work at PoppyDr. Holt's advice for DPC physicians thinking about reproductive health access in their own communities: find the helpers, get connected to local groups already doing the work, and don't wait until you have everything figured out to start.Learn more about VIVID VAULT HEALTH SOLUTIONS TODAY! Find a My DPC Story Event near you! State Summits in CA, IL, a My DPC Story LIVE event and the DPC Women's Summit are all coming! Learn more at mydpcstory.com/upcoming-events! The DPC Directory: If you're a DPC doctor, you'll find resources to grow your practice! If you serve the DPC world, grab a FREE listing today and get discovered by doctors who need your services.

What if your new patient visit didn't start with a 200-page ER record dump, scattered portal logins, and a patient saying "I think mom had some kind of cancer"? In this episode of My DPC Story, Dr. Maryal Concepcion sits down with Anna Smith, RN, MPH, CEO of Vivid Vault Health Solutions, to talk about a patient-owned, multi-generational health navigation platform built to strengthen the physician-patient relationship, not replace it.Anna shares her realization that healthcare collects massive amounts of data but rarely puts it in patients' hands in a way they can actually use. That moment became Vivid Vault, a bootstrapped, non-VC, non-PE-funded platform designed to help families consolidate records across generations so DPC physicians can finally practice with the comprehensive, portable patient story we've always needed. Big Trees MD is an early adopter, and Dr. Concepcion walks through exactly why.If you want to give your patients a comprehensive, portable, patient-owned record system without adding another six-figure EMR to your stack, book a leadership call at vividvaulthealth.org or email together@vividvaulthealth.org. Download the Vivid Vault app in the Apple Store starting April 22. If this episode moved you, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts.What You'll LearnWhy fragmented records cost DPC physicians time, accuracy, and patient retention. How Vivid Vault works as a health navigator, not a new EMR or added workflow. Why multi-generational, family-linked records matter, and how permissions, proxies, and minors are handled. How PROMIS assessments give physicians insight between visits. How wearable data (Apple Health, Oura, WHOOP, Garmin, Dexcom soon) is timestamped and clinically usable. Why patient-owned data is non-negotiable and what happens if a patient leaves your practice or the platform. How LLM-assisted review surfaces what matters in a 200-page ER packet without replacing clinical judgment. Why B2C with a DPC practice discount keeps the financial burden off clinics.About Our GuestAnna Smith, RN, MPH, is the CEO and founder of Vivid Vault Health Solutions, a Colorado-based, bootstrapped health navigation platform. Her background spans bedside nursing, public health, medical records administration in cardiology, and patient advocacy. She is a mother of three and builds alongside a leadership team whose lived experience, including parenting a heart transplant recipient, shapes every design decision.ResourcesFind the Vivid Vault app in the Apple App store today!Website: vividvaulthealth.org (scroll to bottom right and click "Schedule with Leadership") Email: together@vividvaulthealth.org Connect with My DPC StoryStart Here page for every stage of your DPC journey: mydpcstory.comSupport the showGET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOADBecome A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE PODMy DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG!FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

This month on the My DPC Story podcast we are talking about the tools that serve us, and Dr. Michael Hobbs is a voice you do not want to miss.Dr. Hobbs is a pediatrician and founder of Lakes Pediatrics, the first pediatric Direct Primary Care practice in the Minneapolis area, serving families across Edina, Wayzata, and the western suburbs. He brings over twenty years in Twin Cities pediatrics, more than a decade as an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School, Top Doctor recognition from Mpls.St.Paul Magazine and Minnesota Monthly, subspecialty training in infectious diseases and Group A Strep, and a Reach Institute mini-fellowship in pediatric mental health care.What makes this episode essential listening is Dr. Hobbs himself. A self-described knowledgeable hacker who grew up alongside the technology, from a Commodore 64 to writing early web pages, he has watched the entire arc of medical documentation: index cards, paper charts, dictation, the EHR, templates, and now AI scribes. He knows what gets better and what gets worse when tech enters the exam room.In this conversation, Dr. Hobbs covers:The one question to ask before adopting any tool, EHR, phone system, or AIWhy building your own tools is more doable than you thinkWhy now is not the time to lock into a long term software contractThe difference between AI that serves you and AI that turns you into a liability machinePatient transparency, shadow AI, BAAs, and using tools safelyWhy LLMs are terrible at math, learned the hard wayThe best first AI investment for a new DPC doctor on a small budgetAI as a clinical decision support thought partner, not a guideline machineAnd because both Dr. Concepcion and Dr. Hobbs are recovering anthropology buffs, they keep returning to the truth underneath the technology: people like people. The tools only matter if they give us more room to be human with the families we serve.Whether you are deep into building AI workflows or you hear the word AI and want to run, this episode meets you where you are.New to DPC or ready to go deeper? Visit the Start Here page at mydpcstory.com. Have a question for the show? Leave a voice message on the Contact page. Loved this episode? Leave a five star review on Apple Podcasts and follow @mydpcstory on socials.Connect with Dr. Hobbs at lakespediatrics.com.Learn more about VIVID VAULT HEALTH SOLUTIONS TODAY! Find a My DPC Story Event near you! State Summits in CA, IL, a My DPC Story LIVE event and the DPC Women's Summit are all coming! Learn more at mydpcstory.com/upcoming-events! The DPC Directory: If you're a DPC doctor, you'll find resources to grow your practice! If you serve the DPC world, grab a FREE listing today and get discovered by doctors who need your services.

Dr. Maryal Concepcion welcomes Dr. Nyasha Spears, family physician and co-founder of Amity Creek Primary Care in Duluth, Minnesota. After her century-old community clinic was closed by a corporate hospital system with just 36 days notice, Dr. Spears took her former employer to court, won a temporary injunction against her non-compete, and opened the doors to Amity Creek alongside her partner Dr. Kristen Lusian.What You'll LearnHow a corporate hospital merger transformed a beloved community clinic and pushed Dr. Spears toward DPCWhy she chose to sue for her freedom rather than accept her non-competeThe strategies she explored to get around her non-compete and why most didn't workHow she partnered with Dr. Kristen Lucian while legally restricted from being an LLC ownerWhy "don't lawyer up" advice didn't apply to her situationHow a judge ruled physician non-competes against the public interestWhat it looks like to serve patients with catastrophic insurance, trauma history, and chronic anxiety in DPCWhy partnership in DPC reduces decision fatigueHow to balance opening a practice with parenting and presenceAbout Dr. Nyasha SpearsDr. Nyasha Spears is a family physician in Duluth, Minnesota. She trained at the Duluth Family Medicine Residency Program and practiced full spectrum family medicine including operative obstetrics in Ashland, Wisconsin before returning to Duluth. She is passionate about community medicine, independent physician practice, and serving patients in the way they truly need.Connect with Dr. Nyasha SpearsVisit Amity Creek Direct Primary Care online for more information about her practice in Duluth, Minnesota.Subscribe and Support My DPC StoryLeave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts to help other physicians find these stories. Join our Patreon for commercial-free episodes and extended conversations. Visit mydpcstory.com for the Start Here page, free resources, and the DPC Toolkit Magazine. Follow @mydpcstory on all platforms.Learn more about VIVID VAULT HEALTH SOLUTIONS TODAY! Find a My DPC Story Event near you! State Summits in CA, IL, a My DPC Story LIVE event and the DPC Women's Summit are all coming! Learn more at mydpcstory.com/upcoming-events! The DPC Directory: If you're a DPC doctor, you'll find resources to grow your practice! If you serve the DPC world, grab a FREE listing today and get discovered by doctors who need your services.

Dr. Courtney Barrett, founder of True Insight Direct Care in the Raleigh, North Carolina area, opens our May theme, The Tools You Use, with a conversation that redefines what tools means in a Direct Primary Care practice. As a DO offering osteopathic manipulative treatment alongside full-spectrum primary care, Dr. Barrett shares how OMT functions as both a clinical tool and a front door to membership.We dig into her EHR vetting process, her non-negotiables for tech stack decisions, and why patient experience optimization shaped every choice. Dr. Barrett also shares how her husband Jeff, a former 911 dispatcher, joined the practice full-time and built operational workflows that anticipate needs before they happen. From phlebotomy setup to OMT documentation, prior authorization handling, employer contracting, HSA-funded memberships, health share pairings, and her board work with Hope and Vine supporting young women aging out of foster care, this conversation covers the full spectrum of tools that make a DPC practice work.What You Will LearnHow non-member OMT services bring patients in who later become DPC membersHow to talk to patients about DO vs MD, and OMT vs chiropractic careWhy HSA-funded DPC memberships became a major enrollment driverHer tech stack philosophy: cohesive over fragmented, patient experience firstNon-negotiables: charting without juggling windows, automated patient communication, CSV file portabilityWorking directly with employers without middlemenPairing DPC with health shares for catastrophic coverageResourcesTrue Insight Direct Care blogmydpcstory.com Learn page: free business plan, BAA, and EHR rubricDr. Feneisha Franklin's episode on acquiring a DPC practiceVote in the Battle of the Support Stack running all month at mydpcstory.com.Learn more about VIVID VAULT HEALTH SOLUTIONS TODAY! Find a My DPC Story Event near you! State Summits in CA, IL, a My DPC Story LIVE event and the DPC Women's Summit are all coming! Learn more at mydpcstory.com/upcoming-events! The DPC Directory: If you're a DPC doctor, you'll find resources to grow your practice! If you serve the DPC world, grab a FREE listing today and get discovered by doctors who need your services.

Send us Fan MailDr. Amina is a family medicine physician, wife, mom of two, and 6-to-7 member who left a full-time employed position with no plan, no financial system, and a student loan burden she had been avoiding for years. She is now building a direct primary care practice called A Place for Moms and she came on the MoneyFitMD show to tell the whole truth about what it took to get here.This episode is for anyone who has been sitting on the fence. Dr. Amina was there too. She tells you exactly what it looked like, what changed, and why she wishes she had started sooner.In this episode:Growing up middle class with spending parents and a student loan burden that drove every career decision she madeLeaving full-time practice after a year and a half with no financial planHow she found MoneyFitMD through a winding chain of physician communities, a med school friend, a church in Atlanta, and a podcast and what made her finally take the leapWhat four months inside 6-to-7 actually looked like — sitting down with a student loan planner she had been avoiding for years, building a complete business plan with startup costs for her DPC, and going from financial avoidance to financial confidenceHer advice to anyone still waiting: the world will move without you. Time will pass. The kids will grow. The more you delay the start, the more you delay the result. Just take a small step."Life is going to move regardless. Start somewhere. The change has to start with you."You're making six or even seven figures and still asking, “Where did all my money go?”  The Money Left Over program gives women physicians the tools to uncover 4–5 figures in extra monthly cash and finally let your money start working for you.

Dr. Maryal Concepcion welcomes Dr. Jihan Ansari, founder of Harbor Direct Primary Care in South Orange County, California. Dr. Ansari shares the marketing strategies that grew her DPC practice from patient zero to a thriving two-physician clinic she runs with her husband, Dr. Pedram Ansari. From cold-calling former co-resident Dr. Jose Buenostro to learn about DPC, to filming a TikTok before jury duty that unexpectedly went viral, Dr. Ansari's story is a real-world playbook for direct primary care physicians who want to market authentically without expensive ads or pushy sales tactics.What You'll LearnHow a single TikTok with the tagline "I'm the doctor who doesn't take insurance" went viralWhy the "I'm the doctor that..." hook captures attention on social mediaHow she built a virtual waitlist of 10 to 11 patients before opening day using Facebook groupsWhy TikTok rewards organic content and how she uses it to educate patients about DPCHow to evaluate and hire a marketing team that genuinely understands DPCWhy she stopped Facebook and Instagram ads and doubled down on Google ads and SEOHow transparent cash pricing on her website attracts patients seeking alternatives to insuranceWhich community marketing efforts didn't pay off and why she walked awayHow a virtual assistant helped scale onboarding without losing the personal touchWorking together as a physician couple in one DPC practiceServing small employer groups in Orange CountyBoundaries, parenting, and sustainability as a DPC physicianAbout Dr. Jihan AnsariDr. Jihan Ansari is a board-certified family medicine physician and co-founder of Harbor Direct Primary Care in South Orange County, California. She completed her residency at UCSF Fresno alongside Dr. Jose Buenostro. Born in Southern California and educated on the East Coast, she practiced briefly in Canada before returning to launch Harbor DPC with her husband, Dr. Pedram Ansari. She is passionate about lifestyle medicine, root-cause care, and accessible primary care.Connect with Dr. Jihan AnsariVisit Learn more about VIVID VAULT HEALTH SOLUTIONS TODAY! Find a My DPC Story Event near you! State Summits in CA, IL, a My DPC Story LIVE event and the DPC Women's Summit are all coming! Learn more at mydpcstory.com/upcoming-events! The DPC Directory: If you're a DPC doctor, you'll find resources to grow your practice! If you serve the DPC world, grab a FREE listing today and get discovered by doctors who need your services.

Cynthia Thurlow is a nurse practitioner, bestselling author, and leading voice in women's metabolic health. With over two decades of clinical experience, she's known for translating complex science into practical strategies—helping women navigate perimenopause, optimize fasting, and reclaim energy, resilience, and long-term wellness.   In this episode, Dr. Brian and Cynthia talk about… (00:00) Intro (04:30) Why Cynthia became so interested in the gut microbiome as a women's health expert (10:07) Gut health, blood sugar, and insulin resistance (12:04) Fiber, carnivore, and the microbiome (26:39) Adverse Childhood Events, stress, and women's health (32:47) Pros and cons of the Western medical system (38:56) Why going to extremes with carb restriction and exercise can backfire for some people (43:24) Why stress is such a killer (45:48) The benefits of the DPC healthcare model (53:23) Gut health and aging (01:01:14) Outro   For more information, please see the links below. Thank you for listening!   Links:   Please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.lowcarbmd.com/   Cynthia Thurlow: Website: https://www.cynthiathurlow.com/ X: https://x.com/_CynthiaThurlow IG: https://www.instagram.com/cynthia_thurlow_/ Books: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2345217/cynthia-thurlow-np/   Dr. Brian Lenzkes:  Arizona Metabolic Health: https://arizonametabolichealth.com/ Low Carb MD Podcast: https://www.lowcarbmd.com/   HLTH Code: HLTH Code Promo Code: METHEALTH • • HLTH Code Website: https://gethlth.com

After nearly a decade as a hospitalist in the Washington, DC area, Dr. Nadia Sirdar realized she had stopped feeling. End-of-life conversations had become a script. Length-of-stay metrics were drowning out the humans in front of her. She wasn't burned out on medicine. She was burned out on the system.In this episode of My DPC Story, Dr. Maryal Concepcion sits down with Dr. Sirdar, internal medicine physician, public health expert, and founder of Find Bethesda Doctor, to talk about the leap from hospital medicine to Direct Primary Care, opting out of Medicare to care for elderly patients aging in place, building a practice for women in midlife (and the surprise wave of husbands who joined too), and what it actually takes to thrive as a physician and as a patient over a lifetime.This conversation is for any physician who has scrolled federal job boards at midnight wondering "is this it?", and for anyone who needs to hear that saying your dream out loud is the first move toward making it real.What You'll LearnWhy hospitalist autopilot can mimic a stable career while quietly costing you everythingHow opting out of Medicare unlocked Dr. Sirdar's ability to care for elderly patients aging in placeWhy multilingual care (English, Spanish, Hindi, Urdu) and cultural fluency change patient outcomesHow to build a DPC practice for women in midlife, perimenopause, and menopause, and why men keep asking to joinThe financial planning realities of leaving fee-for-service: self-funding, opt-out timelines, and why a smaller piggy bank forces smarter decisionsHow to set boundaries with patients without losing the relationshipWhy "if you've seen one DPC, you've seen one DPC" is the most freeing sentence in medicineThe vendor traps new DPC physicians fall into and how to avoid themHow functional strength, real food, and aging in place are the three pillars of thriving Dr. Sirdar teaches her patientsTake the FREE DPC Marketing Self Assessment from AlignedMD HERE.  Find a My DPC Story Event near you! State Summits in CA, IL, a My DPC Story LIVE event and the DPC Women's Summit are all coming! Learn more at mydpcstory.com/upcoming-events! The DPC Directory: If you're a DPC doctor, you'll find resources to grow your practice! If you serve the DPC world, grab a FREE listing today and get discovered by doctors who need your services.

What does it actually take to market a direct specialty care practice in a city full of competitors? For Dr. Ashley Agan, otolaryngologist and founder of Scottie ENT in Dallas, Texas, the answer had nothing to do with billboards or ad spend, and everything to do with how patients felt when they left her office.In this episode, Dr. Agan shares her journey from nearly 13 years at UT Southwestern, including a clerkship director role, to opening her own cash-pay ENT practice named after her late grandmother. From her first pivot away from saying "I'm an otolaryngologist" to leading with "I help you breathe better," Dr. Agan breaks down the marketing mindset shift that changed everything for her practice growth.In this episode, you'll hear:Why Google reviews became the cornerstone of her marketing strategy and what patients consistently say that sets Scottie ENT apartHow she approaches the elevator pitch without feeling salesy and the mindset reframe that makes it feel naturalWhy she stopped offering superbills and what happened when she didHow transparent cash pricing on her website is attracting a patient population she never expectedThe one marketing mistake she would undo from day one, and what she would start doing before she even opened her doorsHow her physician podcast, Back Table ENT, became an unexpected referral engine for out-of-state and international patientsWhat DPC primary care physicians need to know about referring into a direct specialty care practice and how to make those referrals countHer approach to bundled surgical pricing and how she found a surgery center partner that makes cash-pay surgery accessibleHow she uses telemedicine to serve patients across Texas and beyond, including virtual second opinions for her niche specialty in patulous eustachian tube dysfunctionDr. Agan also speaks candidly about building a personal brand alongside a clinic brand, the role her executive MBA played in understanding the business of medicine, and why she believes marketing your practice is ultimately an act of service — not self-promotion.Connect with Dr. Ashley Agan: Scottie ENT | Dallas, Texas Back Table ENT PodcastResources mentioned in this episode: Take the FREE DPC Marketing Self Assessment from AlignedMD HERE.  Find a My DPC Story Event near you! State Summits in CA, IL, a My DPC Story LIVE event and the DPC Women's Summit are all coming! Learn more at mydpcstory.com/upcoming-events! The DPC Directory: If you're a DPC doctor, you'll find resources to grow your practice! If you serve the DPC world, grab a FREE listing today and get discovered by doctors who need your services.

Dr. Aleea Gupta of Family First Direct Primary Care in the western suburbs of Chicago returns to My DPC Story four years after her first appearance, and a lot has changed. Her Instagram following has grown to over 12,000 organic followers, she has partnered with national brands including GoodRx and the AAFP, and her solo practice has evolved into a model of physician entrepreneurship built on authenticity rather than advertising dollars.In this episode, Dr. Gupta and Dr. Maryal Concepcion dive deep into what so many listeners have been asking between seasons: How do you make your DPC practice visible without feeling salesy or icky? How do you show up online authentically and actually get patients to find you? And what does a realistic social media strategy look like for a physician who is also a mom, a wife, a daughter, and a solo practice owner?Whether you are just starting your DPC journey or you have been in practice for years and want to grow your presence, this episode is packed with actionable strategy, hard-won lessons, and a refreshingly honest take on what actually works.What You'll Learn in This EpisodeHow Dr. Gupta pivoted her Instagram from patient acquisition to inspiring the next generation of physicians, and why that shift organically grew her platformThe key difference between Instagram and Google for DPC visibility, and how to leverage both without spending hours on eitherWhy human connection, not content, is what converts a curious follower into a committed patientThe "Macedonian truck driver" niche story: how one patient connection became her largest demographic, and what it teaches us about community outreachHow to identify niche groups in your own community and approach local businesses to present DPCA minimum viable visibility strategy for physicians starting from zero in 2026Content pillars every DPC physician should post about, broken down by audience typeThe essential equipment for quality content creation: lighting, audio, and your smartphoneHow to balance content creation with clinical care, family life, and solo practice managementWhat Dr. Gupta learned about brand partnerships and why you should never underestimate a contractHow to handle negative comments and critics online, professionally and without losing your sanityWhy cross-posting the same content to Instagram and TikTok does not work, and what each platform rewardsUsing Instagram analytics and trial reels to understand what resonates with your audienceHow to gracefully handle being at capacity and Find a My DPC Story Event near you! State Summits in CA, IL, a My DPC Story LIVE event and the DPC Women's Summit are all coming! Learn more at mydpcstory.com/upcoming-events! Earn money WHILE running your DPC! Join SERMO for FREE today!Support the showGET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOADBecome A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE PODMy DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG!FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

This episode was sponsored by Cardiff & The DPC Launch   LightSpeed VT: https://www.lightspeedvt.com/ Dropping Bombs Podcast: https://www.droppingbombs.com/ This Dropping Bombs episode features former Marine turned functional medicine PA Courtney Contreras, who's fixing America's broken healthcare system one patient at a time. Courtney exposes why traditional healthcare is failing providers and patients—and reveals her Direct Primary Care (DPC) model disrupting the entire industry.   Courtney breaks down functional medicine, hormone optimization secrets doctors miss, and why entrepreneurs without medical licenses can launch multimillion-dollar DPC clinics. Hear how text-access healthcare beats emergency room chaos, the estrogen black box warning scandal, and actionable steps to escape provider burnout or start your own practice.    Whether you're an entrepreneur ready to disrupt a broken industry or a high-performer who refuses to settle for mediocre care, this conversation delivers the healthcare freedom everyone deserves.