The Ingredients Needed to Start a Successful Direct Primary Care Practice
I made this post because I want medical students, residents, and early-career primary care doctors to embrace entrepreneurship and start their own practices. Physicians are often stymied by the perceived complexity of starting their own practices, but it doesn’t have to be that way. I often tell doctors this: if you’re smart enough to pass your boards, gritty enough to make it through residency, and compassionate enough to choose a primary care specialty, you have all of the ingredients necessary to start a successful and thriving direct primary care practice.
“But I Don’t Know Anything About Business!”
Here’s a typical scenario: I speak in front of a large group of family doctors or internists about direct primary care. I lay out the pros and cons, show them my scars from the failures, and show them the trophies from my victories. I see them turning it over in their minds and I see the light bulbs go off (one of the best feelings in the world).
After the presentation, the microphone gets passed around the auditorium and without fail, I get asked this common question: “how did you learn about business? Did you get an MBA?” Translation: “I don’t know anything about business and this running-your-own-business thing is scary!”
My typical response goes something like this: if you had the grit and the wherewithal to endure medical school and residency, if you have the smarts to pass your boards, and if you selected a primary care specialty because you love talking to and taking care of people, you have all of the essential ingredients to be a great small business person.
When it comes down to it, business is all about relationships and building strong relationships with people in your community. If you build a strong relationship with your existing patients, they are more likely to become long- term customers. If you build a strong relationship with the local small business owner, they will be more likely to send their sick employee to your office. Because of the relationship, that small business owner knows that their employee will get compassionate care and great service from you. If you build strong relationships with your community leaders, specialist colleagues, and vendors, you will have a thriving source of referrals and therefore a more sustainable medical practice.
I’m going off on a tangent here, but you don’t need an MBA to be a successful businessperson. Some of the wealthiest and most innovated entrepreneurs in the world do not have an MBA – Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Howard Schultz, Mark Zuckerberg, Tony Hseih, and Gary Vaynerchuk don’t have an MBA and you don’t need one either. Also, savvy people go to top-flight business schools not for the education, but for the relationships that they will develop. These relationships at top-tier institutions open up doors for higher-paying management and consulting positions.
That being said, for you and your DPC practice, you don’t need an MBA. However, if you want to take a small business 101 course that covers the basics, or read a few business books, this will give you a solid foundation to start your DPC practice. Specifically, I’m writing this book to give you the tools that you’ll need to start the DPC practice that you deserve to have.
The above is an excerpt from my recently published book, Startup DPC: How to Start and Grow Your Direct Primary Care Practice, available on Amazon.
STARTUP DPC - DIRECT PRIMARY CARE MASTER CLASS
Because there are no in-person conferences this year, we are hosting an intimate gathering of Direct Primary Care doctors who are looking to start and grow their DPC practices. We did this last year, and it was a rousing success! Join our Direct Primary Care Master Class on May 14th through May 15th, 2021 at our Plum Health DPC office in Detroit, Michigan and accelerate your growth as a DPC doctor.
Thanks for reading and watching, and best of luck in your direct primary care journey!
-Dr. Paul Thomas with Startup DPC
