This is Dr. Paul Thomas with Startup DPC (https://www.startupdpc.com/) and I receive new questions each day about how to start and grow a Direct Primary Care practice. I believe in the power of the Direct Primary Care model to restore our broken healthcare system for both patients and doctors. That's why I'm really passionate about this topic and why I'm on a mission to educate my fellow physicians and the public about their options in the direct primary care model.
Our questions today come from a Resident Physician in Florida. Here's the questions:
If I have a big student loan debt, can I still start a direct primary care practice?
1. How did your decision to pursue DPC work affect your student loan repayment strategy?
I graduated from Residency with a student loan burden of $170,000. This was the average student loan burden for graduates in 2013. In 2019, the average student loan burden increased to $190,000. That being said, I went on a straight 10-year repayment plan, and I spent about $2,000 each month on my student loans.
In order to do this, I didn't splurge on unnecessary expenses and I focused on the practice I wanted to build. I also started moonlighting as soon as possible in residency to have enough money to pay down my student loans and have a comfortable lifestyle.
In short, my large student loan debt did not deter me from starting my direct primary care practice. My mission of serving others via this DPC model outweighed any misgivings I had about a large student loan balance. If you have a dream of starting a DPC practice, you can do it, even if you have a big loan balance.
How do you build a strong personal brand while a Resident Physician?
2. As residents, we’re mostly responsible for our patients. We connect with some of them but don’t know how to engage them while they wait for us to complete residency, what was your strategy?
This question is really about building a strong personal brand, and how do you build a strong personal brand in during your Residency training. It comes down to engaging with people in your community in a positive way.
Be a leader, a volunteer - work with different free clinics or hold a board position. Reach outside of your network and get to know professionals from other fields, like law, finance, philanthropy, the food and beverage industry, the hospitality industry, and others.
You can also take time to build your presence on one or all of the following social media channels: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, or SnapChat. If you build a strong personal brand on these channels, you'll be more easily able to invite your audience to become patients of your direct primary care practice.
I take a deep dive on these concepts in my course on Attracting Patients to your Direct Primary Care practice, here: https://www.startupdpc.com/take-action
Can you work a second job (moonlight) while starting your direct primary care practice?
3. Private practice finance is a big issue, didn’t working multiple jobs interfere with your time commitment to your private practice patients?
No, you can work 20 hours a week pretty easily while you start your direct primary care practice. For me, I was moonlighting for 12 hours on a week day and 8 hours on a week end day and earning enough to support myself and pay down my student loans.
I worked at an urgent care for $70 to $80 an hour, which allowed me to grow my direct primary care practice organically. I worked at my DPC practice 4 days each week and at the urgent care 2 days each week. I was able to care for and manage my DPC patients easily over that 4 day work week, as I had fewer patients at that time.
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
