Can My Direct Primary Care Practice Succeed in a Rural Area?
Yes! There are several direct primary care doctors who have been successful in rural areas.
One example is Beth Renzulli, MD in Middletown Delaware, and according to the 2010 Census, the population of the town is 18,871. Dr. Renzulli says, “This is the view from my backyard, about 7 miles from my practice. The practice location itself I would describe as small town, but we do serve some of the surrounding rural communities. Well Primary Care, Middletown, DE.”
“This is the view from my backyard, about 7 miles from my practice. The practice location itself I would describe as small town, but we do serve some of the surrounding rural communities. Well Primary Care, Middletown, DE.” - Beth Renzulli, MD
How Many New Patients Will You Get Each Month with a Rural Direct Primary Care Practice?
Another successful direct primary care doctor in a rural community is Noemi Gamel, MD with Culver Pediatrics in Culver, Indiana. Dr. Gamel says, “I just opened in August and I am at 31 patients. So I am not sure about "successful" yet. I live in rural Indiana. 3 miles from the center of a town with a population of 1500. Marshall County has a population of 50,000. My clinic is the front part of my house. My neighbors are soybean fields, corn fields, and cows. I LOVE being a small town rural pediatrician!”
In my opinion, 31 patients in under 3 months is good growth. Netting roughly 10 patients each month puts your DPC practice at 100 patients in 10 months and 120 patients in 1 year. Typically doctors reach a break even point on their overhead at 60 patients to 100 patients, depending on their overhead of course. Usually DPC doctors can start taking a modest salary at 150 to 200 patients, and usually direct primary care doctors are full at 500 patients.
The first year is the most difficult year in that you are establishing your personal brand and identity in the community. After the first year and the first 100 patients served in your practice, you will start to see a snowball effect. This is especially true if you deliver excellent care and service.
Next up is Dr. Joel Schumacher with Schumacher Family Medicine in Plymouth Indiana. Here’s what he had to say about being a small town direct primary care doctor:
Texting a patient from my front porch (view this AM attached). what makes rural/small town DPC awesome is what makes it awesome anywhere- relationship. People are craving for a doctor that has time to know them and care. DPC allows us to return to that in a sustainable way. Many of my older patients remark how much it reminds them of their doctor as a kid 50-70 years ago.
I agree with Dr. Schumacher - people in our communities are craving a relationship with their doctor in which the doctor has time to know them and care for them.
View from Dr. Joel Schumacher’s porch. He’s a successful direct primary care doctor in a rural area.
Can a Rural Direct Primary Care Practice Succeed?
There are several other successful direct primary care doctors in rural areas. Here’s a short list:
Dr. Deborah Sutcliffe with Red Bluff Family Medicine in Red Bluff, California. She says that she has about 400 patients in “cow and orchard country in far Northern California”
Dr. Lara Briseno Kenny with Leeton Medical in Leeton, Missouri. She says “Define successful. I am paying my bills and happy again so I've made it! I have 92 patients and my goal is 200 to 300. The town my office is in is ~500. I love it.”
Dr. Rob Rosborough with Township Health DPC in Silverton, Oregon. He says “3 1/2 years in a town of 10k.. Currently have over 1000 pts. Wait list is growing fast.”
Dr. Justin Abbott with Abbott Family Medicine in Salina, Utah. He says “Abbott Family Medicine, Salina Utah population 2000, about 20k in a 60 mile radius.... between small employers and the public about 600 patients..... open 2 years, Absolutely love it!!!!”
I could go on, but I’ll stop here for the moment.
The beauty of the direct primary care model is that if you are a solo doctor starting a practice in a rural community, you only need 100 to 200 patients to be sustainable, 200 to 300 patients to earn a decent salary, and 400 to 500 patients to be very profitable.
The other nice thing about having a rural practice is that you will likely have a low rent for your office space and a low rate for your malpractice insurance. These two factors will help you have a lower overhead overall, and therefore you will more easily reach a sustainable practice and a profitable practice.
As with many things in the direct primary care world, you define your own success!
Best of luck on your journey, thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day,
-Dr. Paul Thomas with Startup DPC
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