Direct Primary Care Master Class

Last month, we hosted an inspiring conference with doctors from across the country who want to start and grow their own Direct Primary Care practices!

It was amazing to work with them, and I cannot wait to see the impact that they make for the people they serve.

We're hosting another DPC Master Class on August 20th and 21st to help more doctors free themselves from insurance contracts and practice medicine on their own terms.

Join us! https://www.startupdpc.com/masterclass

#StartupDPC #DirectPrimaryCare #FamilyMedicine #DPCMasterClass #DPCConference #DirectPrimaryCareConference

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Startup DPC Book Reaches 42 ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Reviews

Direct Primary Care Book ON Amazon is Highly Rated

Today, our book, Startup DPC reached 42 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ reviews on Amazon. Here’s our latest review:

Sports medicine physician looking to make the jump to membership based practice....Dr. Thomas lays out a transparent plan on how to make this business model feasible for physicians. This is a must read.

Thanks Jasper! Glad you liked it! If you’d like to pick up a copy, do so here:

Today, we hit 42 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ reviews for #StartupDPC https://t.co/Oj1NvcN0tj see what the buzz is all about #DirectPrimaryCare #StartupDPC #FamilyMedicine #DetroitDoctor #PTMD #PaulTMD

— Paul Thomas, MD (@PlumHealthDPC) November 2, 2020

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

How to Earn Grant Money for Your Direct Primary Care Practice

Just about every day, I get a new question from a direct primary care doctor who wants to start and grow their own direct primary care practice. They’re looking to replicate the success that we’ve had with Plum Health DPC here in Detroit, Michigan. One of those questions is in regard to how we were able to earn grant money for our direct primary care practice. Here’s the question:

I saw you had mentioned getting a grant for your DPC practice and I wanted to find out how you were able to do that. I haven't been able to find much online. 

Thank you. 

- Aspiring Direct Primary Care Doctor

To date, we’ve earned $107,500 in grant money to start and grow our direct primary care practice, Plum Health DPC in Detroit Michigan. We’e earned this money by applying to specific programs that can help us succeed in this space.

The first program that we ever won was a pitch competition for $7,500. This pitch competition came at the end of a Retail Boot Camp experience at TechTown Detroit. Here’s the full blog post:

Over the past 9 weeks, I have participated in a class at TechTown Detroit called Retail Boot Camp. The RBC course is comprehensive in its approach to helping your business grow, from addressing your financial situation, to helping you choose a POS system, to refining your marketing and advertising strategies, and beyond. 

The best part of the RBC course was having a strong group of entrepreneurs to work with and learn from - people like Jay Rayford of Social Sushi, Nicole Mangis of Brut Detroit, Lionez Kimber of Artistic Flesh Tattoo and Supply, and 16 more phenomenal, bright small business people. I learned a lot from their successes and emulated their approaches to doing business in the city. 

The class culminated in the Retail Boot Camp Showcase, a mini pitch competition for the 20 students/small businesses who took part in the class. It was a great night that brought together teachers, mentors, supporters, consultants, family and friends. 

We were able to give our 90 second pitch on Plum Health DPC and then we were selected to give a follow-up 3 minute pitch about our plan to deliver affordable, accessible healthcare services in Detroit. It was well received and we were ultimately awarded a $7,500 grant from TechTown! 

The next grant we won came through the City of Detroit and their Motor City Match program for $50,000. For this program, we were looking at building out a larger office in Detroit, and we were trying to match with a vacant retail space in the City of Detroit. We applied three times to this grant program, and received the grant on the third try. The journey for this grant is detailed in this blog post:

This was a big week for Plum Health DPC - we received a grant from the Motor City Match Program! This brings us one step closer to delivering affordable, accessible healthcare services in Detroit.

Crain's Detroit Business wrote an article about the event, and here's what they said about Plum Health DPC: 

Plum Health Direct Primary Care, $50,000: This health care facility provides an alternative to the traditional fee-for-service model. Direct Primary Care emphasizes wellness, prevention, communication and personalized patient relationships. For a monthly fee, members receive primary health care services that are tailored to their needs. These might include annual checkups, urgent care services and direct and unrestricted access to their doctor through calling, texting, emailing or in-person visits. The business is planned for 607 Shelby St. in downtown Detroit.

Additionally, Local 4 News in Detroit (WDIV) wrote an article about and created a video of the Award ceremony. Here's what they said: "Six Detroit entrepreneurs are putting their small-business plans into action after the Motor City Match program awarded them thousands of dollars to get started. Mayor Mike Duggan made the announcement Friday morning."

An article from the Michigan Chronicle wrote about the award and quoted Mayor Duggan: 

“Quality restaurants, health and wellness providers, arts centers are exactly the types of establishments that people expect when they think of a strong community,” said Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. “These Detroiters are proving that our neighborhoods are great places to start a business.”

This is another step in the journey toward bringing affordable, accessible healthcare services to Detroit and we will continue to work diligently to deliver these services. 

The last grant that we won was for another $50,000 via the Quicken Loans Demo Day. Again, this was a pitch competition and I applied to this pitch competition twice. The first time, I was rejected, and the second time, I was given the opportunity to pitch. Once on stage, I rocked it out, and we were awarded $50,000 to help us deliver affordable and accessible health care in Detroit and beyond. Here’s the full blog post detailing the event:

Last night, Plum Health DPC won the Detroit Demo Day 2018 prize for $50,000 in the "Start" category! This was an amazing experience from start to finish - the level of professionalism on the Demo Day team is unrivaled. 

It was an honor to even be selected for the pitch competition, but then to have a team of professionals help me hone the pitch, and a team of people create such an amazing event to showcase small businesses in Detroit was truly incredible. Thank you to these folks at Quicken and at the Music Hall!

I was blown away by the amount of people who came out to support entrepreneurship in Detroit, the Music Hall auditorium was packed with cheering family members, friends, business associates, investors and enthusiasts - this is truly a special moment in Detroit for entrepreneurs and small business owners. 

Additionally, I have so much love for all of the presenters and Detroit entrepreneurs who stood tall and pitched their unique businesses, whether or not they walked away with prize money. They are all worthy of your support as they've worked tirelessly to even get onto this stage - House of Pure Vin,  Michigan Farm to Freezer, Rebel Nell, Accelerate Kid, Building Hugger, Cynt-Sational Popcorn, Detroit Denim, Tait Design, The Ten Nail Bar, Bloomscape, Lush Yummies, Reilly Craft Creamery, Fangage, and Yum Village. 

Now that we've won, we plan on growing into a larger space, hiring another doctor, and serving more people in our community. This is just the beginning. 

Here's our winning pitch (time 1:11:23):

How to Earn Grant Money for your Direct Primary Care Practice

Here’s my general advice on earning grant money for your direct primary care practice:

1. Meet a need in your community.

2. Make your service affordable for the everyday people and the typical patients in your community.

3. Deliver an excellent service that helps people and that gives more value than the price paid for the service.

4. Find grant programs that support the type of work that you’re already doing.

5. Define the goal that you want to achieve and the gap that the grant money will help you transcend. The people who give out grant money want to see the money put to great use to solve a problem or address a major challenge. Show these people why you’re the right person to solve that problem or address that challenge.

6. Apply, apply, and apply again. Don’t be discouraged by rejections.

7. If the Grant involves a pitch competition, practice your pitch 100 times (I’m not exaggerating) until you know ever word, every inflection, every pause, and every emphasis in your pitch.

8. If the Grant involves a pitch competition, work with a professional to help you hone and improve your pitch so you can elevate your game. Even NBA All Stars have coaches, right?

9. Use the money to benefit your patients by making your service even bigger and better. We used our grant money to build out a larger office and hire a second doctor, which helped us to serve more patients and therefore attract new patients.

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 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

Should I start a direct primary care practice during this recession?

This is Dr. Paul Thomas with Startup DPC - I help doctors start and grow their direct primary care practices. A common question that I have been getting lately is in regards to if it’s a good idea to start a direct primary care practice right now because of the coronavirus and the effect on our economy.

Should I start my Direct Primary Care Practice During a Recession?

The first thing that I’ll say is that there’s never a good time to start a mediocre business. If you write an excellent business plan, and if you consistently deliver excellent care and service to your patients, you will be successful with your direct primary care practice, regardless of the greater economic forces. On the other hand, if you start a mediocre DPC practice, that gives okay service, that doesn’t put customers first, you’ll have a difficult time regardless of the economic ups and downs.

What is the most important thing that you can do to build a strong Direct Primary Care business, regardless of the economy?

The most important thing that you can do to build a strong direct primary care practice is to build trusting relationships with your patients and the broader community. As long as you’re producing quality care and not mediocrity, you can build strong relationships with your patients. With everything going on in the world today, with our economy taking a hit from the Coronavirus and people who are scared of the global pandemic, people are looking for a trusted physicians to talk to.

This is where you come in - you can be that trusted physician to help guide your community through these troubling times. You can communicate your knowledge in an understandable way and help people to navigate these difficult times. You can provide people with affordable and accessible healthcare, even as they lose employment and therefore their health insurance policies.

How to Weigh Price and Value when selling your Direct Primary Care services

If you're adding value to a consumer, you'll be in business. The value proposition is measured in terms of value versus price. If you believe you're offering value and a quality service but aren't seeing customers, marketing is needed. If your marketing plan is solid and customers know about you, but you're not getting business, you should re-evaluate your value proposition.

If you still can't figure it out, find a business strategy expert who will work with you to increase your chances of success. They can help you find the gap in your marketing plan and business plan, and help you break through whatever gaps exist.

HOW CAN I LEARN MORE ABOUT STARTING A DIRECT PRIMARY CARE Practice?

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

The StartUpDPC Show Episode 2: Dr. Shane Purcell on Working with Employer Groups and an AAFP FMX Recap

The StartUpDPC Show Episode 2

This is Episode 2 of the StartUpDPC Show, this time Dr. Paul Thomas interviews Dr. Shane Purcell of Direct Access MD in Anderson South Carolina. Check out his website, here: https://www.directaccess.md/. Here’s the full episode and read the discussion below!

Deciding to go DPC

Dr. Shane had been practicing for 17 years prior to starting his Direct Primary Care Practice, mostly as an urgent care doctor. But he noticed that many patients were having more and more chronic issues that he wanted to address. However, he lacked the technology resources to start a DPC practice, namely the automated monthly billing option.

He was actually considering a Micropractice option. However, he read more about DPC via journals like Medical Economics and the AAFP Journal, and once the technology component became available, he jumped in on the DPC movement. By leveraging technology like a cell phone and texting, he’s been able to be successful in streamlining his workflow and taking care of patients more efficiently. 

Working with Employer Groups

Doc Shane left the urgent care work 3 years ago, and slowly built up 300 patients and then shifted towards working with larger employer groups. Doc Shane has been on the speaking circuit about engaging with larger employers, and you can catch his talk via the Hint Health website, here: https://video.hint.com/magic-pixie-dust-and-miracles-dpc 

He’s been steady around the 600 mark for his patient panel, and he’s in a relatively small city with 25,000 people in Anderson South Carolina, and 200,000 people in the County. As a nerd, I looked up these stats – there are 27,293 people in Anderson, SC as of 2017 and 198,759 people in the County of Anderson, SC as of 2017.

All of this is to say that you can be successful with a DPC practice in small towns with relatively low levels of population.  Doc Shane says, “People need help everywhere, so even in small towns, DPC is very attractive for a lot of people. And, more and more employers are asking for it and looking for it and looking for ways to save money.”

Doc Shane is also trying to get some good data around taking care of large employer groups and how this translates to cost savings for the companies or larger entities involved. In my opinion, this is really important for growing the movement – proving the efficacy of DPC as a cost-saver for larger companies all while giving a better primary care experience for employees.

Doc Shane and Paul Thomas, MD catch a ride together at the AAFP DPC Summit.

How many patients do you see as a DPC doctor vs as a Fee-for-Service Doctor?

Comparing and contrasting patient volumes, Doc Shane would see 30 to 40 urgent care patients in a day while he was practicing in that model in 2014. Now, in 2019, he’s seeing about 5 or 6 patients a day even with a full panel. But, he notes he does a lot of emailing and texting each day.

For me, I have a full panel of 500 patients and I estimate that I engage in 20 text message conversations and 5 to 10 email conversations daily. Doc Shane agrees with this, and estimates around 20 to 30 technology conversations each day. There are some fluctuations in terms of the days – Mondays and Fridays can be busier than the middle of the week.

On Partnerships in Direct Primary Care and on Hiring Doctors in DPC Practices

Doc Shane is a 50/50 partner with another Family Physician. He also employs two other physicians, and he pays them a certain percentage of their revenue. He and his team take care of collecting the revenue, social media, advertising, or reaching out to employers. We discuss how this allows the employed physicians to work 9 am to 5 pm, take care of their patients and enjoy a good balance between work commitments and home commitments.

One of Doc Shane’s employed physicians brought 300 patients or members with him when he joined the practice. He quickly filled his practice, and got up to 500 members. He works with an assistant and is able to earn just under what he made in the Fee-for-Service system, but with only 500 patients and only working 4 days each week.

I estimate that when you convert your Fee-for-Service practice to a DPC practice, and you have a long-standing relationship with your patients, you can anticipate 10 to 20% of your patients making the transition with you to DPC. Doc Shane agrees and adds that this depends on the time frame. We agree that Kissi Blackwell and Amanda Pennington have had rapid growth and high conversions.

Of your existing patients, it can be very hard to judge who will follow you to DPC. Doc Shane adds that some of those patients who don’t initially make the leap to DPC may reconsider 6 months down the line once they have a bad experience in the Fee-for-Service world without you as their doctor.

AAFP FMX 2019 Recap

Doc Shane is a leader in the Direct Primary Care movement, and also a rebel at heart.

AAFP FMX is perhaps the largest gathering of Family Physicians in the country, with about 5,000 to 6,000 Family Physicians as attendees. If you need live CME, this is a good conference because there’s an opportunity to get 30 or so CME credits. Doc Shane gives high praise to Julie Gunther’s “Trojan Horse” DPC talk aka the Joy in Medicine. However, if you’re focused on learning about DPC, there are few opportunities to zone in on DPC content because the DPC content tends to get washed out by the large volume of other sessions – like lectures on practice management in the Fee-for-Service world and general medicine lectures like Diabetes, Hypertension, and COPD. 

However, there is an opportunity to have a little bit of the AAFP’s ear in terms of participating in the DPC MIG aka Direct Primary Care Member Interest Group. There’s also an opportunity to discuss bigger issues via the DPC MIG online, a forum for AAFP members.

Should Midlevel Providers be able to Start and Run Their Own DPC Practices?

We also discuss Mid Level Providers engaging in Direct Primary Care, like Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants starting DPC practices. Doc Shane says that this is more of a legal issue, and that if this practice is legal in your state “you’re kind of stuck.” Additionally, he says that the AAFP is unlikely to take a formal stance on this issue.

Ultimately, Doc Shane advises DPC Docs to do the best that they can do in terms of offering services to your patients and letting your work speak for itself. For me, I agree with this. As a Doctor practicing in the DPC model, you have more time to use all of your tools, to deliver an even higher level of care than you could in the FFS model. This ability to practice at the top of your license will set you apart from the typical doctor in the FFS system, the typical doctor in the urgent care setting, and any midlevel provider in any care setting.

Doc Shane then brings up the other market forces, like Walmart setting up care clinics, which are mostly staffed by Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants. These are $50 per visit.

To combat this, Doc Shane recommends that we keep generating positive stories about our work as DPC doctors, and focus on the provision of higher levels of care, preventing ER visits, and providing a high level of value for our patients.

How to be Successful in DPC 

Find a mentor and spend time with another doctor in your area. The DPC community has good support, and doctors are generally willing to help other, newer doctors to be successful in this model. Hopefully this collegiality and support will continue as the movement gets larger. Use the online resources and attend conferences. Also, get together with your local DPC doctors, try to meet up a few times each year.

Closing Thought from Doc Shane

“It’s not easy doing DPC, but it sure is a lot better than traditional; it’s not easy but nothing worth having and nothing worth enjoying is ever easy.” It’s fulfilling, it’s satisfying, you go home with a full heart, and you’re really helping people, so it makes a big difference.

Thanks for reading and let me know what we should talk about next!

-Dr. Paul Thomas with StartUpDPC

Dr. Paul Thomas at AAFP FMX 2019

Paul Thomas MD at the AAFP FMX 2019 in Philadelphia

This week, I’m at the AAFP’s FMX for the DPC Summit and it’s been a ton of fun - this is the largest gathering of Family Physicians and it’s been inspiring to be a part of the conference.

Further, it's been an honor to speak about Direct Primary Care and the growing movement of physicians across the United States who have adopted this practice model over the traditional fee-for-service system.

Today, I was able to speak to family doctors who are considering the Direct Primary Care practice model and they brought a ton of great questions and a ton of positivity to the conversation.

Tonight, we'll be at AIA Philadelphia for a DPC mixer and tomorrow, we'll be hosting a DPC Member Interest Group meeting as well as two panel discussions on Direct Primary Care.

Full schedule for the event is here.

Anyways, I always want these posts to be valuable for my readers - I’m trying to help everyone grow the best DPC practice that they can. So a lesson learned from this trip is to post about your travels to conferences on social media. This gives your patients an opportunity to root for you as you lean and grow in your DPC practice. I wrote a post on my personal Facebook and Instagram account about my trip, and I had a ton of people reacting, commenting, wishing me well, and otherwise supporting me in my journey. When you get people excited about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it, they can become your biggest cheerleaders, champions, and advocates.

Thanks for reading and have a great day, and if you’re in Philly, say ‘what’s up!’

- Dr. Paul

Dr. Paul gettin’ loose before the presentation. Photo cred: Shane Purcell

How to Build Your Personal Brand for your Direct Primary Care Practice

Building a Personal Brand can help you build your Direct Primary Care practice. By having a trusted personal brand, more people will be willing to sign up with your Direct Primary Care service.

But, many of you reading this are unfamiliar with how to build a personal brand. So, I wanted to show an excellent example of how to get this done.

Dr. Kendrick Johnson is a Direct Primary Care doctor with Ark Family Health and he recently made an excellent post on LinkedIn, which helps build his personal brand. The post is titled “Why this Doctor Had to Escape the Healthcare System.” During the video, he tells a personal story, shows real emotion, and even vulnerability. He becomes a relatable person and builds trust with his audience.

Video of Dr. Kendrick Johnson posted on LinkedIn - this is a great example of how you can build a strong personal brand that will help you attract new patients to your practice.

So, the first part of building a strong personal brand is building brand recognition. Brand recognition is exactly what it sounds like: the ability of a consumer to recognize one brand over other brands. In other words, it's the ability of consumers to identify your product by its attributes and design elements.

But, in this case, it’s you and your face, your body, your beliefs, and the stories you tell. And no, you do not need to have a perfect face, body, belief system, or stories, but you do have to share these elements (aka your personality) with your audience.

So, in the example above, Dr. Kendrick Johnson is introducing himself to his audience by telling a story about himself. He even tells a very touching and relatable story about his father.

Importantly, he Dr. Johnson uses a medium that many people use - LInkedIn, a very popular social media platform. This sort of professional discussion about the role of a physician in society plays really well on this medium. In fact, LinkedIn is probably the perfect medium for this video.

And, because Dr. Johnson delivers a strong message with a great medium, he has great results, and this is based on the engagement that this post has received - over 100 reactions and several comments with thousands of post views.

The third part of this formula is consistency. If Dr. Johnson can create unique, engaging, thoughtful content that demonstrates his trustworthiness and compassion on a regular basis, he’ll build a strong personal brand. If this is a one-off thing, Dr. Johnson’s efforts here won’t be as impactful.

Consistency is key. Consistently generating high-quality content helps you win on social media platforms.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more content and more informational blog posts and courses.

Sincerely

-Dr. Paul Thomas