Why should you attend a Direct Primary Care Conference?
If you are looking to start and grow a direct primary care practice, you should definitely attend one or all of the major direct primary care conferences held in various locations across the US. These will be especially important for in-person networking and meeting other courageous physicians who are starting and growing their direct primary care practices. It will also show you what’s possible for you, your practice, and your future.
All of these conferences are excellent, and they each have their strengths and weaknesses. In general, these conferences are great places to learn about the practice of direct primary care and to connect with thought leaders and colleagues. There’s a distinct ethos of the DPC movement, and you can immerse yourself in this environment and learn some of those intangibles that are hard to pick up through other mediums.
You can find doctors who are practicing in your community and start building some mentoring relationships that can be valuable over the long term. You can also find a cohort of DPC docs who are at a similar stage in their journey. Take the time to connect with these doctors as well, as you will likely face similar challenges in your individual practices.
What are the three major Direct Primary Care Conferences?
The three major direct primary care conferences are the AAFP DPC Summit, the Docs 4 Patient Care Foundation DPC Nuts and Bolts Conference, and the Hint Summit. In short, you can benefit from all three conferences. It might come down to cost and geography for you, but there’s value with each conference.
Here’s what’s on tap for 2020:
The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) DPC Summit
The AAFP DPC Summit in June or July of each year caters to independent direct primary care physicians, and DPC doctors set the agenda. There are typically three days of educational sessions with a broad range of topics. The location bounces around the country and has been in Chicago (2019), Indianapolis (2018), Washington D.C. (2017), and Kansas City (2016). The 2020 conference will return to Kansas City from July 17th to 19th.
The focus is on the independent Family Medicine DPC practice, but there’s also information for larger DPC practices as well as more corporate DPC structures. The content and speaker selection is driven by a group of ten or so practicing DPC doctors and a few medical students and residents. There are scholarships available for medical students and residents, and the application can be found on the AAFP website. Further, Internists, Pediatricians, and Medicine-Pediatric doctors have also been known to attend.
In 2017 I was a panelist at the AAFP DPC Summit on starting a direct primary care practice, in 2018 I was a main-stage speaker and delivered “DPC Hustles Harder”, and in 2019 I was a main-stage speaker discussing how to build your personal brand to grow your direct primary care practice.
Dr. Paul Thomas of Plum Health DPC delivering his “DPC Hustles Harder” Presentation at the AAFP DPC Summit on building a strong business brand and a strong personal brand to grow your Direct Primary Care practice.
The Docs 4 Patient Care DPC Nuts and Bolts Conference
The DPC Nuts and Bolts Conference presented by the Docs 4 Patient Care Foundation is in Orlando each November, usually during the first or second full weekend in November. Dr. Lee S Gross organizes the Nuts and Bolts Conference, and he is a relentless advocate for the DPC model and movement. After the 2018 Nuts and Bolts conference, he posted this on his Facebook page:
I spent this weekend with some of the most inspirational and brave physicians I have ever met. It is time for physician leaders to step up and take back control of health care on behalf of our profession, our patients, and our nation. It is time for us to call out those that put themselves in between the doctor and patient.
I’ve saved this specific quote from Dr. Gross because it’s so damn inspiring – I’ve read this aloud at the AAFP DPC Summit 2019 and got chills as I said it on stage in front of 300 or more doctors.
Within this quote is a great mission statement: I believe that it’s time to take back health care for our profession, our patients, and our nation. Inspiration from Dr. Gross and other attendees comes standard at the Nuts and Bolts Conference.
The DPC Nuts and Bolts Conference is valuable in that there’s excellent DPC content and a strong showing of practicing and prospective DPC docs. The only point of contention with this conference is that there are some political overtones and some speakers with a political agenda.
Dr. Paul Thomas of Plum Health DPC at the podium during the Docs 4 Patient Care Foundation Nuts and Bolts Conference, sharing about passion, purpose, authenticity and caring. — with Ellen McKnight, Chad Savage, Josh Umbehr, and Lee S. Gross at Rosen Hotels & Resorts Orlando.
The Hint Summit
The Hint Health Summit is usually held in San Francisco each year, but in 2020, it’s moving to Denver. Hint Health sponsors this conference, and they describe themselves as “the direct primary care solutions company that partners with visionary provider organizations to build successful DPC programs.”
Paul Thomas, MD of Plum Health DPC at the Hint Summit 2018 - the conference topic was Breaking the Status Quo in health care and ZDoggMD was the keynote speaker!
I attended the Hint Health Summit in 2018, and I enjoyed it immensely. I got to rub elbows with speakers like Zubin Damania aka ZDoggMD, Garrison Bliss, Clint Flanagan, and Zak Holdsworth. For the Hint Summit, Hint Health has a bigger budget and can afford big name speakers like ZDogg MD and Marty Makary et al. But, they are trying to sell you a product, the Hint billing platform.
The one criticism that I have is that the content is tailored for larger DPC groups and more corporate DPC structures. Because of this, the content was not as valuable for an independent DPC practice like mine relative to the content presented by the AAFP and the Docs 4 Patient Care Foundation. However, I have heard that there may be some changes to the 2020 Hint Health Summit content and format.
This is a good opportunity to introduce this concept: it matters who you spend time with, and by spending time with successful and inspiring people, you can raise your frequency and increase your chances for success. Motivational speaker Jim Rohn famously said that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with.
By immersing yourself in these conferences with exceptional DPC docs, you will pick up on the pearls, the tips, and the idiosyncrasies that make these doctors successful. Your choice to attend these conferences will depend on costs, distance traveled, and proposed content.
All three conferences are great for networking. They will raise your frequency and show you what’s possible for you and your practice in DPC and beyond.
HOW CAN I LEARN MORE ABOUT STARTING A DIRECT PRIMARY CARE PRACTICE Right Now?
If you want to learn more about starting and growing your direct primary care practice, look no further than our courses on how to start and grow your direct primary care practice. We at Startup DPC have begun compiling some of the best content available on this blog and in our courses.
The best place to start is to take our Direct Primary Care Business Plan course, available here. From there, you can learn how to attract new patients to your direct primary care practice and how to find the perfect location or build out the practice of your dreams.
Thanks for reading and watching, and best of luck in your direct primary care journey!
- Dr. Paul Thomas with Startup DPC