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?

How do you price your Direct Primary Care Practice to earn $70 per member per month?

How do you price your Direct Primary Care Practice to earn $70 per member per month?

Today I got an email asking a great question:

Dr. Thomas,

I'm getting close to giving my 120-day notice to my employer, with a target DPC start date of September!

I have a pricing question. If you prefer not to answer, I totally understand. In your business plan, you stated that your target average PMPM monthly rate was $70. Have you been able to achieve that?

Thanks, and have a great day!

This is a great question because in your business plan, you should figure out how much money you need to make to have a successful and thriving practice.

Because we work in a lower income community, Southwest Detroit, our pricing is lower to meet the needs of our community. Our per member per month revenue is around $50. We recently increased our prices to bring our per member per month revenue up to $55 monthly. This will help us to be more sustainable and profitable in the long term.

If you were to price a Direct Primary Care practice to make $70 per member per month, it would probably look like this:

• $25/month for children

• $65/month for young adults

• $80/month for older adults

The cut off for kids would be 17 and under, the cut off for young adults and older adults would be around 40 or 45 or 50 years of age, depending on your demographic.

@plumhealthdpc I help doctors start and grow direct primary care practices via #StartupDPC - today I’m answering a question on pricing 💯 #doctor #familymedicine ♬ 茉 莉 花 茶 - CHILLVIBE

I’ve been active on TikTok and I’m happy to answer any questions you have like this!

Best of luck in building your DPC practice,

-Dr. Paul Thomas with Startup DPC

How to Raise Your Prices as a Direct Primary Care Practice

How to Raise Your Prices at your Direct Primary Care Practice

As a direct primary care doctor, you may come to a point where your prices don’t match the value that you provide to your community. Throughout this pandemic, we’ve gone above and beyond for our patients, so we’ve maintained a high level of care and service for the people who are members of our direct primary care practice. The pandemic has presented many challenges, one of those big challenges is the rising cost of necessary supplies and equipment for running our practice.

This month, as a group, we decided it was time to raise our prices to maintain our sustainability as a family medicine practice, while still keeping our service affordable for our members and community.

Here are the simple steps you can take to raise your prices in your direct primary care practice:

1.) Send everyone an email that you’re raising your prices.

2.) Be prepared for praise and criticism, and a few cancellations.

3.) Keep doing the great work that has helped you attract and retain patients thus far.

4.) Realize that there is no perfect answer, and keep moving forward and doing your best work every day.

Sample Letter for Raising Prices at your Direct Primary Care Practice

We wrote up a short and easy to digest email about raising our prices. We wanted to keep it simple without too much extra information.

At this time, we are raising our prices for most of our membership tiers. These pricing changes will go into effect on March 1st, 2022. Our new pricing sets are as follows:

Children, 0 to 17 years of age: $15 per month (an increase of $5/month)

Adults, 18 to 39 years of age: $55 per month (an increase of $6/month)

Older Adults 40 to 64 years of age: $75 per month (an increase of $6/month)

Senior Adults 65 and up: $89 per month (no change)

We had to make this difficult decision because of several factors including the increasing complexity of the services that we deliver at our clinic and the rising costs of necessary supplies and equipment for our business.

For example, pre-pandemic, a box of 200 latex gloves would cost $9.95, now it costs $24.95 for that same box of gloves.

We remain committed to delivering affordable and accessible health care services. These price increases will allow us to continue to deliver excellent care and service.

We appreciate you for being a part of the service, and our unending thanks for being a part of the our clinic.

Sincerely,

The Doctors of the Practice

Praise we received after raising our prices

Interestingly, we received a ton of praise after raising our prices! Here’s a smattering of what folks said:

• “Still the best deal in town!!!!!!”

• “It’s worth it.”

• “Thanks for letting me know. I think it’s only fair and justified!”

• “Makes sense- everyone is experiencing these price increases. You're doing amazing- people get it.”

• “As a small business owner who works (mostly) off a subscription model as well, i always talk about how i want my clients to look at what they pay me and say to themselves: ‘That’s the most valuable $xxx.xx i spend per month.’ I can tell you that as a customer in this case, the money I pay towards your services is the most valuable dang money i pay out every single month. Thank you for all that you do.”

Cancellations After We Raised Prices

We have faced some cancellations - 24 hours after our price increase, we have had about 8 people close their accounts. This month, we’ve had 46 new patients enroll in our service. We have had steady growth over the past few months and years, and our growth has almost always been greater than our attrition. That will hold true for this month as well. We currently have 1,125 patients in our practice.

In Summary

In summary, if you feel like your prices are too low, they probably are. Be bold and make the price increase so that you can feel good about the work that you do and the value that you provide for your patients and the community.

HOW CAN I LEARN MORE ABOUT STARTING A 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

Latest Review for Startup DPC Book

I love reading the reviews for the Startup DPC book - I really appreciate all of the kind words you’ve said about the material therein! Here’s the latest:

Dr. Paul presents the full story here on how he himself started his DPC clinic. While some books might be vague about the general processes, Dr. Paul tells you exactly what he did, what he used, and how much everything cost. It's important for people to know what they're really investing when it comes to DPC clinics, and Dr. Paul makes shares everything in his book. He does a great job articulating each step, and he writes in a way that is easy to read. He has a great story and a great approach that would benefit anybody who might be interested in DPC. Definitely worth the read.

I love being a part of this direct primary care movement. Reflecting on 2021 , the Direct Primary Care movement is continuing to grow every day and every week - there seems to be a new direct primary care doctor starting their own practice just about every week, and it’s amazing to see this happen. Here’s to the continued growth and success of the movement and here’s to a healthier nation and a stronger doctor-patient relationship.

Thanks for reading and have a great week.

-Dr. Paul Thomas with Startup DPC

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

Reviews for Dr. Paul Thomas at the DPC Summit 2021

Dr. Paul Thomas at the DPC Summit 2021

On July 17th, 2021, Dr. Paul Thomas presented at the DPC Summit 2021, hosted by the American Academy of Family Physicians. It was a phenomenal, and well-attended event, and it was an honor to be a part of it and presenting at such an important conference.

The presentation focused on branding and marketing for direct primary care doctors. Family doctors are not taught how to promote themselves or their work in a meaningful way. This presentation focuses on how to do just that, and how to attract new patients to a family medicine practice. It focuses on leveraging social media channels, search engine optimization, and social media.

Paul Thomas, MD presenting at the DPC Summit 2021 hosted by the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Reviews for Dr. Paul Thomas at the DPC Summit 2021

Dr. Paul Thomas’ session at the DPC Summit 2021 hosted by the American Academy of Family Physicians received high reviews for the effectiveness, clarity, organization, and subject knowledge of the presentation. Dr. Thomas’ presentation focused on Branding and Marketing for Direct Primary Care Doctors.

Here are some of the reviews for Dr. Paul Thomas’ presentation at the DPC Summit 2021:

• This is consistently one of the best presentations that provides the most relevant content for the doctor just starting out their DPC practice. I would recommend this particular session for anyone before they decide on a name, even, as the information provided about that simple (not so simple) decision can make the rest of marketing, branding, etc. even easier.

• Dr. Thomas was excellent as always! Gained a lot of insight into how to run social media with a DPC practice. Wow, that guy has energy. wondering when he has time to do any patient care with all that energy in marketing. If I decide to do this I will definitely use his information as a resource.

• Enthusiasm and clear joy in practice was inspiring -- appreciate the broad overview of the basics that go in to branding as well as the resources shared

• Dr. Paul, your book is great! Would like to visit you/your practice before I start my own DPC in California on 2022.

• Wow, I learned so much from this. I feel like I know so little. This was wonderful

• Really great speaker with passion.

• Outstanding marketing info. Great principles. I'll be studying this!

• Wonderful lecture for options and guidance on marketing

• Such a great talk- thank you! | Enjoyed the book | Wonderful presentation!

Dr. Paul Thomas’ session at the DPC Summit 2021 hosted by the American Academy of Family Physicians received high reviews for the effectiveness, clarity, organization, and subject knowledge of the presentation. Dr. Thomas’ presentation focused on Branding and Marketing for Direct Primary Care Doctors.

You can see the full agenda for the DPC Summit, here: http://www.dpcsummit.org/agenda.html

Paul Thomas MD at Hint Summit 2021

Paul Thomas, MD will be Presenting at the Hint Summit 2021

This Thursday, I’ll be leading the Direct Primary Care Accelerator at the Hint Summit 2D’21, which will help doctors start and grow their direct primary care practices. I’m really excited to be working with Hint Health and their team to give the best information in a short amount of time to the aspiring and growing DPC doctors. It’s important to know that this conference is FREE for students and residents, so register today!

Dr. Paul Thomas will be speaking at the Hint Summit 2D’21

Here’s what the Hint Team has to say about the upcoming Hint Summit:

Hint Summit 2D'21 is less than a week away, running Thursday and Friday, October 28-29th. Register now and join hundreds of other DPC professionals and business leaders for this year's virtual event! Hint Summit will provide you with the most up-to-date information on alternative primary care payment & delivery models as well as personal stories from pioneers of this movement.

Hint Summit 2D’21 Session Highlights

• Collaborations Transforming the Health of our Nation, One Community at a Time

• Forward-looking Care Delivery Models to Serve Your Patients & Grow Your Practice

• Healthcare House of Cards: A System Ripe for Disruption

• Advancing Direct Care Models through Employer-Sponsored Plans

• Digging into the Way We Pay for Healthcare

• Advanced Primary Care: Integrating Specialties into Your DPC Practice

Audience-favorite DPC Speed Dating is back!

You’ll meet old friends and make new connections through this fun, rapid-fire networking activity.

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 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