What are the biggest challenges to starting a Direct Primary Care Practice?

The Biggest Challenges when Starting a Direct Primary Care practice

There are several challenges that doctors may face when starting a direct primary care practice. These may include:

1. Financial risks: Starting a new business always carries some financial risk, and this can be particularly true for direct primary care practices. These practices are often small, and may not have the financial cushion that larger practices have.

2. Marketing and outreach: Direct primary care practices may have a harder time getting the word out about their services, as they are not affiliated with a larger hospital or health system. Doctors may need to be proactive about marketing their practice in order to attract patients.

3. Legal and regulatory issues: Direct primary care practices operate outside of the traditional insurance model, which can create some legal and regulatory challenges. Doctors may need to be familiar with state and federal laws governing the practice of medicine, as well as any additional regulations that apply to direct primary care practices.

4. Managing patients' expectations: Some patients may be unfamiliar with the direct primary care model, and may have expectations that are not consistent with how these practices operate. Doctors may need to spend time educating patients about the benefits of direct primary care and how it differs from traditional primary care.

How to Overcome These Challenges

Fortunately, all of these challenges are manageable and can be overcome with the right mindset and the right tools. Here are a few ways that doctors can address the challenges of starting a direct primary care practice:

1. Seek out resources and support: There are a number of organizations and groups that offer support to doctors starting direct primary care practices. These may include professional associations, business development organizations, and other resources. We’re glad that you’re using Startup DPC as one of those resources! When it comes to reaching out to patients, take a look at our course on attracting new members, here.

2. Carefully plan and budget: It is important to carefully plan and budget when starting a new business, and this is especially true for direct primary care practices. Doctors should have a clear idea of their financial needs and how they will cover them. I would work with another direct primary care doctor or another local business person in your community - have them review your business plan! We created a business plan course as a part of our Startup DPC resources, because doctors don’t often have experience writing a business plan or creating a clinic budget. This is one of our top resources on our site and our business plan course includes a sample budget!

3. Educate patients: It is important to educate patients about the direct primary care model and how it differs from traditional primary care. This may involve explaining the benefits of the model, such as longer appointment times and more personalized care. If you try to do this on a one-on-one scale, this will be difficult. But, if you leverage tools like YouTube or a great website, your patients can watch videos and read blog posts on your site to educate themselves. Make the type of service that you provide in your practice clear on your website. For an example of what this might look like, check out our clinic’s FAQ or Frequently Asked Questions page. We have media interviews, YouTube videos, and written content to explain our services clearly.

4. Stay up to date on legal and regulatory issues: It is important for doctors to stay up to date on state and federal laws and regulations that apply to the practice of medicine, as well as any additional regulations that apply to direct primary care practices. This may involve seeking out legal or regulatory guidance from professional associations or other resources.

Thanks for reading, and best of luck with your DPC practice!

-Paul Thomas, MD with Plum Health DPC

P.S. Our direct primary care practice, Plum Health DPC, recently celebrated SIX YEARS in businesses - I love teaching other doctors how we’ve been so successful at our DPC practice in Detroit. I sincerely wish you the same or greater success - we need excellent doctors like you to create value for patients and create a better health care system.

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How to get low cost labs for your direct primary care practice

How to get low cost labs for your direct primary care practice

I am a physician in suburban Detroit that is interested in the DPC and house call-based primary care model. I recently watched your segment on the Channel 4 news and was particularly interested in:

1. How do you run such low-cost labs (I looked into LabCorp & Quest and they were really expensive unless you do high-volume with them)

2. Similarly, how do you get low-cost meds and imaging?

3. What are the panel sizes that make sense for this model (I would guess that you would need a smaller panel size to support a higher-touch practice)

4. How do you market/attract pts to this model, particularly since you are not getting any referrals from insurance companies?

5. I just bought your book on Amazon, do you have any other resources you recommend?

Here’s my response:

all of these questions are answered in the book :) 

1.) We asked Quest over and over and over and over and over and over and over again for better prices until they caved

2.) We get low cost meds via ANDAmeds, we get low cost imaging via Regional Medical Imaging

3.) We aim for 500 patients per doctor 

4.) We attract via social media and SEO

5.) read the Startup DPC book! and check out our courses on www.StartupDPC.com - the Sales Funnel Course will be especially helpful for you!

- Paul 

Seriously, you have to call Quest over and over and over and over and over again until you get through to the right person. BUT you don’t have to have amazing prices to start. You can get decent prices or start without offering labs, and then just layer on better and better services and better prices as time goes on. Your Direct Primary Care practice doesn’t have to be perfect from day 1, you just have to continually strive to improve it with each day, week, month, and year, and THEN you’ll have an amazing practice and business.

Which electronic medical record system do you use for your direct primary care practice?

Which electronic medical record system do you use for your direct primary care practice?

We use ATLAS MD EMR or electronic medical record system. There are a lot of pros to using ATLAS, for both patients and doctors. In this video I answer a question that was emailed to me this week:

We have chosen Atlas.md as our EMR due to the payment integration and ease of use. I see that you also use Quickbooks and Atlas.md.

My questions are:

• Do you do any sort of integration to get your financial data (income) out of Atlas and into QB? Do you use the Desktop or Online version of QB?

• Do you use the Atlas Phone/SMS integration for interacting with patients?

Sample Voicemail for a Direct Primary Care Office

Sample Voicemail for a Direct Primary Care Office

Throughout starting and growing a direct primary care practice, you will need to continuously refine your operations. One of the most important parts of growing a practice is having an excellent experience for your patients and potential patients when they call your office line. If you can answer your phone within a few rings and address any concerns quickly and with kindness, you can reap continuous business and referrals from satisfied patients. Answering the phone in a timely manner is crucial. But, in the event that you cannot answer the call due to a capacity issue or a cell signal issue, having a phone tree or voicemail is very important.

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that pharmacies expect the voicemail to say not only the practice name, but also list the doctors within that practice.

Here’s an example of our daytime voicemail:

"You've reached Plum Health DPC, the offices of Drs. Thomas, Orlich, and Rabaut. Please leave a voicemail and we will return your call as soon as possible. Alternatively, email [our email address]. Our office hours are 9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday. If you've reached our voicemail during this time, you can try calling back in 1 hour. Our fax number is [our fax number]. If this is an emergency and you cannot wait, please dial 911 or go to your nearest emergency department."

Here’s an example of our after-hours voicemail:

"Thank you for your call. You have reached the after hours line for Plum Health DPC, the offices of Drs. Thomas, Orlich, and Rabaut. Please leave a voicemail and we will return your call as soon as possible. Alternatively, email [our email address]. Our office hours are 9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday. If your concern is non-urgent, please call back during our office hours. Our fax number is [our fax number]. If this is an emergency and you cannot wait, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency department."

Obviously, our goal is to have every phone call answered promptly with a calm and kind demeanor. Sometimes, due to cell service issues or capacity issues, these call can be missed. Setting up a voicemail for these contingencies is important.

-Dr. Paul Thomas with Startup DPC

Interview for the DO Magazine

This week, I was interviewed for the DO (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine) Magazine by one of our rotating students. Here’s what I had to say:

What would you like residents and attendings to know about opening and running a DPC?

• At the core, practicing in a direct primary care (DPC) model allows physicians to engage in work that is satisfying. We can all agree that work is satisfying when we have autonomy, we can engage in complex decision making, and when there's a direct relationship between effort and reward. Unfortunately, these factors are slowly being eroded from employed practice in large health system groups or in insurance-based primary care.

• As a direct primary care doctor, you have the ability to regain your autonomy, to be your own boss. You set your schedule, you determine the price points, you decide on which days you work, you decide when you go on vacation, you decide on which medications you will stock, and you determine which areas of medicine you will focus on. Interestingly, by doing this, by practicing on your terms, you will attract a certain patient or customer for whom this style of practice resonates. You will find patients who respect, appreciate, and seek out care from the authentic doctor who has established this DPC practice. It’s hard to put this concept into words, but you may find your patients have a lot in common with you in interests and in personality.

• When I finished my first book on direct primary care, I sent a press release about its publication to Devin Scillian of WDIV and host of the Flashpoint program. He invited me to an interview on his program after he received the press release and asked some very insightful questions. He closed the interview with the topic of money – “I don’t know how to ask this delicately, but is this lucrative for you? Do you make a fair amount - enough money? Or are you just messing with the system?” Now this is something that we talk about at every national DPC conference. My answer was informed by a panel of physicians at the 2017 DPC Summit hosted by the AAFP. The moderator asked if the panelists – a smattering of doctors in vastly different DPC practices – were making more or less money. The consensus seemed to be that folks were making slightly less money but had much greater fulfillment because of the autonomy that they experienced while practicing in the DPC model.

• Informed by that conversation, I followed with this answer, “As the membership grows, as the doctor gets to full capacity, you earn about what you would make as an employed physician, maybe a little bit less. But, we have a saying in the direct primary care movement that nothing pays like autonomy. I can be the physician I was meant to be. And, in this model, it’s really inspiring for other doctors who want to join this movement because you have the ability to practice medicine on your own terms, and not at the dictates of insurance companies or government health care systems.” You can see the full interview here: https://www. plumhealthdpc.com/blog/2018/12/23/family-doctor-on- flashpoint-with-devin-scillian .

• And for me, five years into the practice, this feeling still holds true and still resonates with me. I’m making slightly less than I would have had I signed the contract with the large hospital system. But, that higher income would have come with seeing 25 to 35 patients each day. That higher income would have come with less time with my family and more time clicking check boxes. That higher income would have come with less time for self-care and a higher risk of burnout. That higher income would have come with a decline in my mental and physical health.

• And you’ll find that I’m not alone in how I feel about this topic. You will find that DPC docs are a self-selecting group who take risks for the sake of their independence and the integrity of their practices. They continuously advocate for policies at the State and National level that protect their ability to practice with autonomy. DPC Docs aren’t likely to make or keep alliances with larger organizations at the expense of their autonomy. As long as we stay alert and proactive, DPC and independent practice will thrive.

How has Plum Health navigated the business challenges of a DPC practice?

• Many doctors look at the direct primary care model and practice style wistfully. They see the benefits for both patients and doctors and they aspire to become a DPC doctor. However, they think that this is only achievable after becoming an MBA. But… You DO NOT need an MBA to be successful as a DPC doctor - if you’re smart enough to finish medical school, gritty enough to complete residency, and compassionate enough to choose primary care, then you have ALL of the ingredients of a successful DPC doctor and business owner. Direct primary care is all about removing the middle men and the barriers between doctors and patients. What makes this DPC practice model so unique and so powerful is the doctor’s ability to get rid of the unnecessary steps and intermediaries between doctor and patient, delivering a streamlined and intuitive primary care service to patients. So doctors, I know that it can be a scary leap to go from an employed physician with no training in branding, marketing, sales, web development, search engine optimization, and other essential skills for a successful DPC practice, but you don’t need to hire an MBA to do this. What you can do is read through the available resources in the DPC ecosystem, learn the new skills that you can, and hire individuals for the skills you don’t have, but you do not need to hire an MBA to manage the entire process. We need more doctors to stand up, start their own practices, and take back medicine for the betterment of the doctor-patient relationship and the health of our communities.

You do not need an MBA to be a successful DPC doctor.

What is your story? What attracted you and how did you get involved with a DPC practice?

• I initially discovered direct primary care while on a road trip – I was driving back to Detroit from a residency position interview at the University of Minnesota. I heard a podcast interview with none other than Dr. Josh Umbehr discussing his startup in Wichita, Kansas. It was refreshing to hear a Family Medicine doctor speaking so passionately about saving people money, delivering better care, and practicing in a unique way. The message resonated with me, but at that time I was pursuing a faculty position at a residency program because I enjoyed teaching so much. Suffice it to say that I filed this “direct primary care” concept in the back of my mind.

• Between my second and third years of residency, I went to the Michigan Academy of Family Physicians (MAFP) annual meeting in Traverse City. It was July 2015 and a full year before I graduated from Residency. This was a critical moment because I had to decide in which direction I would take my career. There I met Dr. Clint Flanagan of Nextera Healthcare in Boulder, Colorado. He spoke unequivocally about the value of being a primary care doctor and the tremendous value that we provide for our patients. His passion for the profession came through in a way that I hadn’t experienced before.

• These two leaders in the field served as a contrast to the typically burnt out and grumbling physician that I had met thus far in training. Even the best doctors grumbled about paperwork, prior authorizations, late patients, packed schedules, and all of the other difficult parts of being a primary care doctor. At that point, I knew that I would pursue an alternative practice model. It only made sense – less-than-fulfilled physicians practicing in a less-than-ideal system surrounded me and I knew that life could be better on the other side.

• Additionally, I always had this inner drive to deliver medicine in a more equitable and just system. Direct primary care seemed to align with my values as an individual and as a doctor, but I needed to dive deeper. As an elective rotation, I drove out to Wichita, Kansas and Boulder, Colorado and spent a week learning from both Drs. Umbehr and Flanagan. I kicked the tires, took copious notes, and tried to bring the best of their practices to my community in Detroit, Wayne County, and Southeast Michigan. How did I accomplish this feat in the middle of residency? I wrote an elective rotation curriculum for myself and I presented it to my Program Director. I was the Chief Resident during my third year, and she accepted the curriculum that I gave her. It allowed me two weeks of travel and immersion time in these practices and I had to meet the criteria that I set forth in my curriculum. If you’d like to download that elective rotation curriculum, you can find it on our website: www.StartupDPC. com.

• At this point, I had already written my business plan. You see, a few months prior to the elective rotation, I had taken a mandatory rotation called Practice Management. During that rotation we had to write a business plan for a potential clinic. They had intended the assignment to be an exercise in futility wherein you became overwhelmed by the complexities of running a practice in the fee-for-service system. Instead, I wrote a relatively simple eight-page document demonstrating how I would run my direct primary care practice. With my business plan in hand, I spent time with Drs. Flanagan and Umbehr and learned a great deal about their practices. They also read over my business plan and gave me their advice and critiques.

How has Plum Health fostered a better doctor-patient relationship?

• We value the doctor-patient relationship. We intentionally set up one-hour initial appointments and thirty-minute follow- up appointments so that we can have enough time to really get to know our patients. We also have enough time to engage in shared doctor-patient decision-making, and thereby empower our patients to make the choices that are best for their health, wellness, families, and budgets.

• We value autonomy, the ability to choose what is best for our patients apart from the insurance company mandates and algorithms.

• We also value price transparency for our healthcare services, so our patients can make the best decisions possible for their personal and financial wellness.
  

How has Plum Health achieved the quadruple aim of medicine-- improving the work-life balance of physicians to make the triple aim of medicine happen?

• I believe that the direct primary care model empowers patients with a transformative opportunity to take more personal responsibility for their health. By practicing in a DPC model, you will empower your patients to take better care of themselves. For example, I met a man named Frank last year who enrolled in our practice at Plum Health DPC. Frank works as a truck driver and delivers medications and supplies for a local pharmacy company. His employer does not provide health insurance and he earns too much to be enrolled in Michigan’s Medicaid program. But, his salary isn’t high enough for him to comfortably afford health insurance. Frank knows that he has high blood pressure and diabetes, but it was too expensive for him to access the fee-for-service system. When he tried to use the fee-for-service system, he spent about $100 monthly for medications and around $500 for a visit with lab work to check his kidney function, electrolytes, and long-term blood sugar values (hemoglobin a1c level). Because of this high cost of care, Frank neglected his personal health. Unfortunately, due to his uncontrolled diabetes, Frank went to the hospital for a large abscess in his right hand. Frank required a long hospital stay with intravenous antibiotics and a complex incision and drainage procedure, followed by further debridement of the wound. At the time of discharge, the discharge nurse informed Frank of our Plum Health DPC practice. Frank signed up that day, and followed up with us the day after discharge. We reviewed all of the medications he was taking – a statin for high cholesterol, two blood pressure medications, and two insulin products. These medications might have cost $100 to $200 monthly at the pharmacy, which would have been cost- prohibitive for Frank. Frank started with our practice, got his comprehensive metabolic panel for $6, his Hemoglobin a1c for $6, and a 90-day supply of his medications for $11.52. We gave him 90 tablets of the lisinopril, 180 tablets of the metoprolol, and 90 tablets of the statin for that $11.52. We were able to get Frank’s Tresiba and Novolog for free from NovoMedLink, a special program from Novo Nordisk. What happened after was tremendous – Frank started to actively manage his medical conditions. He took an active log of his blood sugar levels, and had fasting glucose levels of 139 mg/ dL, 121 mg/dL, and 111 mg/dL during his first week of taking the new regimen. We talked and he told me that this was the first time that his medical problems felt manageable. There are so many people who have given up on taking care of themselves because health care has become too complicated and expensive. As DPC doctors, we have a unique opportunity to empower our patients to live their best lives. For me, helping people like Frank is the reason why I started my direct primary care practice and why I continue to work diligently in my DPC practice. I believe that health care should be affordable and accessible, and the opportunity to serve people like Frank makes that personal and professional mission come full circle. Caring for Frank and patients like Frank allows me to achieve my Ikigai, my reason for being. When I am able to solve complex challenges for patients and empower patients to take care of themselves, I am fulfilling my purpose and working in my true vocation. I am good at this job, I’m delivering a service that the world needs, I’m being paid for this work, and I’m doing what I love. These are the elements of the Ikigai framework, and they are fulfilled in caring for folks like Frank. I’m proud of the work that I do and I am grateful to have the opportunity to serve people and the greater community in this way, and I’m very excited for you to have this same opportunity.
  

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected Plum Health?

• We have had to become more flexible in our health care delivery.

• We have shifted to more curbside testing and virtual care to ensure the safety of those that visit us in the clinic.

• Direct primary care and the continuous revenue stream from monthly billing, has allowed us to have a stable income during this time

• We weren't fired or furloughed by a larger health system, or replaced by mid-level providers during this time

• In fact, our care has become more needed by our patients as they've been grappling with their typical health care concerns and all of the issues surrounding covid - vaccinations, infections, exposure, testing, etc...

Where do you see DPC practices going in the future?

• There is likely an 80/20 rule at play

• 80% of patients and physicians are fine with the current system

• 20% of doctors and patients are looking for something like DPC, even if they don't know what to call it

• Currently, only 1.5% of the primary care workforce practices in the DPC model

• So, there is a huge growth potential for direct primary care

• As more and more entrepreneurial and tech savvy doctors graduate from residency, we'll see more and more physicians adopt the DPC model

• Further, doctors do not want to feel like cogs in the health insurance industrial complex, they want to have time to care for their patients face to face, time to understand them and time to make complex decisions, and the DPC model offers doctors that ability.

• I'm excited to see more and more physicians offer this model and help their patients in this way.

HOW CAN I LEARN MORE ABOUT STARTING AN DIRECT PRIMARY CARE PRACTICE?

If you enjoyed reading this blog post and if you want to learn more about starting and growing your direct primary care practice, look no further than our book and 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, in our book, 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

Startup DPC Book Reaches 82 ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Reviews

Startup DPC Book Reaches 82 ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Reviews

Today, the Startup DPC Book reached 82 five star reviews! I’m really excited about this because it has helped so many doctors start and grow their own direct primary care practices. I really love seeing doctors pick up this book and use it to build their own practices and take care of patients on their own terms. I’m especially excited that more and more doctors are making health care more affordable and more accessible for people in their communities.

Here’s what some of our most recent reviewers had to say:

5.0 out of 5 stars DPC for the win

Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2021

Verified Purchase

This is the third book I have read to help me get started on my DPC journey and it’s by far the most complete. Thank you so much for putting pen to paper and really getting the most information into one book. Learned quite a few things I did not know. Definitely a great book for anyone considering DPC

Only Book Necessary to Start a DPC

Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2021

Verified Purchase

Fantastic and comprehensive guide to starting your own DPC. Whether you are coming out of the gate from residency or converting your current practice, Dr. Paul Thomas has written an easy to follow strategy to set you up for success. My copy has so many sticky notes of great advice and further resources to dive into also. This is the one book you need to help you begin a thriving DPC practice and see it grow. Highly recommend this and will be referencing back to it often!

Thank you for reading, and thank you for helping us get to this milestone!

The Startup DPC Book Reaches 82 ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Reviews - thank you for helping us reach this milestone!

Here’s what I wrote about the book when I first published it on May 5th, 2020. I believe that it still holds true today:

We all know that our current healthcare system is broken, especially for primary care doctors and their patients. Primary care physicians have to see more and more patients in less and less time in order to keep up with declining reimbursement from insurance companies. This leads to rushed office visits, missed opportunities for genuine connections between doctors and their patients, frustrated patients, and burned out doctors. But it doesn't have to be this way.

Direct primary care offers a real opportunity at a fulfilling practice of medicine. It’s a golden opportunity to restructure your time, build the practice of your dreams, and spend your best hours taking care of patients and prioritizing your family life, rather than wasting time as a data entry clerk for an insurance company. In short, direct primary care gives you the opportunity to become the doctor that you're meant to be.

But how do you get this done? How do you go from a less-than-fulfilled doctor in the dysfunctional fee-for-service system to an empowered, entrepreneurial direct primary care physician capable of starting their own successful DPC practice?

The answers you're seeking are in this book!

My name is Dr. Paul Thomas, and I'm a Board Certified Family Medicine Doctor - I launched my own direct primary care practice straight out of residency in Southwest Detroit with over $100,000 in student loan debt. In my first month of practice, I had 7 patients. A few years later, we have over 700 patients, and I've hired a medical assistant and a second family doctor to help me manage the growing demand for our services.

I was named the entrepreneur of the year in 2018 by the Detroit Vanguard Awards, I gave a TEDxDetroit talk on direct primary care, and I've been featured in the Detroit Free Press, Reason Magazine, CBS Radio, Detroit's ABC affiliate WXYZ, Detroit's NBC affiliate WDIV, and Crain's Detroit Business. I've also been a speaker multiple times at the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) DPC Summit, the Direct Primary Care Nuts and Bolts Conference, and the Hint Health DPC Summit.

In this book, I'm going to teach you everything I know about direct primary care and about starting a successful direct primary care practice. Here's a smattering of the topics that we'll cover:

- How to have the right mindset to be successful in your direct primary care journey
- How to become the doctor you're meant to be
- What a typical day looks like for a direct primary care doctor
- How to finance your direct primary care startup
- How to raise money for your DPC practice
- How to overcome a lack of business training in medical school and residency
- How to construct the perfect timeline for starting your DPC practice
- How to write a business plan for your direct primary care clinic
- How to start a direct primary care practice straight out of residency
- How to convert an existing fee-for-service clinic to a direct primary care practice while remaining profitable
- What's the difference between direct primary care and concierge medicine
- How to hire a second doctor for your DPC practice
- How to find a profitable location for your DPC practice
- How to negotiate a lease deal for your medical practice
- How to build out the medical office of your dreams
- How to attract patients to your direct primary care practice
- How to brand your practice so you stand out in your marketplace
- How to build your personal brand to grow your direct primary care practice

And so much more!

By picking up this book, you may be taking your first step in starting your direct primary care practice, or you may be taking the next big leap in growing your direct primary care practice. I know that whoever you are, and whichever stage you're at in your DPC journey, this book will inspire you and demonstrate in concrete methods how you can be even more successful.

Here's to your success in the growing DPC movement! - Dr. Paul Thomas

How to Find a Media Release Form for your Direct Primary Care Practice

How to Make a Media Release Form for your Direct Primary Care Practice

While marketing your practice, you may want to share photos of you taking care of your patients. You can get a verbal consent for this, you can get a written consent for this (via email or text message), but it’s probably best to get a written consent to share people’s likeness on your social media channels. Here’s a sample release that I use for this channel, but it would be easy to update it for your patients in your practice.

If you’d like the PDF copy of this information, please send me your email address, and I’ll send it over! Use the subject, “Please send me your media release form!”

HOW CAN I LEARN MORE ABOUT STARTING AN DIRECT PRIMARY CARE PRACTICE?

If you enjoyed reading this blog post and if you want to learn more about starting and growing your direct primary care practice, look no further than our book and 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, in our book, 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

How to Spend Your Startup Budget for Your Direct Primary Care Pracitce

This week I got a great question! How do I spend my startup budget for my DPC practice? Here’s my answer:

• $3,000 for web design services

• $2,000 - $3,000 for outfitting your first exam room with great equipment (exam table, diagnostic set, BP cuff)

• $2,000 for an EKG machine

• $2,000 for other office furniture and supplies (nice sofa and chairs, computer, printer, Dymo label printer, etc...)

Web design services are important because people/your potential patients will be purchasing your service through your website. You want a website that is easy to navigate and easy to use, while being informative and clear on what you do and what you don’t do.

You should also spend money on making your office look great to ensure that your patients have a seamless experience from interacting with you on social media, to purchasing your membership services through your website, and then through their appointment in your office.

That Dymo label printer is clutch, as you’ll use it for your medication labels and your laboratory orders. I also wrote a blog post about which EKG machine to buy for your DPC practice.

Best of luck in your journey!

- Dr. Paul Thomas

Paul Thomas MD at the AAFP National Conference 2021

Dr. Paul Thomas Speaks at the AAFP National Conference 2021

Dr. Paul Thomas of Plum Health DPC is speaking at the AAFP National Conference today, Saturday July 31st, 2021. The topic is Direct Primary Care as you’ve already guessed, and how it works to make health care more affordable and accessible in the United States.

What Direct Primary Care Doctors Use for Casting and Splinting for Fractures and Sprains

Doctors who are starting their direct primary care practices often wonder what to use for casting and splinting. In this video, Dr. Paul Thomas shows the materials that are often used at Plum Health DPC, a direct primary care practice in Detroit Michigan.

For most sprains, we use a self-closure elastic bandage - these come in many different brands, like ACE Wrap or EZe-Band.

For casting, we use Scotchcast Plus (3 inch). Underneath the cast, we apply a padding material as well as a cotton stockinette that helps protect the patient’s arm.