Dr. Paul Thomas on the Soul of Enterprise Podcast

Dr. Paul Thomas on the Soul of Enterprise

In February 2022, Dr. Paul Thomas was featured in an episode of The Soul of Enterprise with Ron Baker and Ed Kless. In the episode we discuss all things Direct Primary Care! and they plug my book, Startup DPC:

Dr. Paul WROTE THE BOOK on Direct Primary Care. It’s called Startup DPC. Ron recommends this book because you can learn a lot from Dr. Paul’s experience. Here’s the Amazon link.

Here’s the full interview.

Dr. Paul Thomas is a family medicine physician who started Plum Health DPC in 2016, right out of residency. He is a board-certified Family Medicine Physician.

Direct Primary Care (DPC) is a model of primary care that is growing in popularity as an alternative to the traditional fee-for-service model. In a DPC practice, patients pay a monthly or annual membership fee for access to comprehensive primary care services. This fee typically covers all office visits and DPC practices offer at-cost medications, lab work, and imaging services to lower the cost of care for patients.

One of the benefits of DPC is that it allows for more time for the physician to spend with each patient. This is because DPC practices typically have fewer patients than traditional practices, which allows for more personalized care. Additionally, DPC patients often have direct access to their physician through phone or email, which can lead to quicker resolution of health concerns.

Another benefit of DPC is that it can help to lower healthcare costs for patients. By eliminating the need for insurance and reducing the number of unnecessary tests and procedures, DPC can save patients money in the long run.

Dr. Paul Thomas has been offering DPC services for the last 6 years and has seen positive results in the health of his patients. He believes that the DPC model allows for better continuity of care and a stronger physician-patient relationship, which leads to better health outcomes.

A big thanks to Ed Kless and Ron Baker for highlighting the work of Dr. Thomas and Plum Health DPC on The Soul of Enterprise!

-Paul Thomas MD with Startup DPC

Dr. Paul Thomas at the American Academy of Family Physicians Students and Residents Conference 2021

Dr. Paul Thomas at the American Academy of Family Physicians Students and Residents Conference 2021

In 2021, I got to participate in the AAFP’s Students and Residents Conference! It was a great experience and I loved interacting with students and teaching them about Direct Primary Care. I had a great time, and I think the students learned a lot from the presentation. My session was called “Direct Primary Care: Why Doctors Are Ditching Insurance for a More Fulfilling Practice of Medicine.”

This month, I got the most wonderful email from the AAFP staff about my presentation:

Hi!

Hope you are doing well.

As you may know, each of the National Conference workshops allowed participant review via numerical scores and written comments. These surveys were available throughout the conference and for the duration of time the platform was open for archive viewing. Results have now been tallied, and your session report is attached.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out. Thanks again for your participation in National Conference.

Best,

-AAFP Staff

Okay, the email was pretty good, but what was attached was truly wonderful. Attached to the email were the reviews from students, residents, and program directors for the presentation. Here’s those reviews:

• Amazing and encouraging. I don't know what the solution is to fixing healthcare in America, but this seems very promising.

• Amazing! Dr. Paul Thomas did a great job.

• Amazing! Very informative.

• Caught last half. Always looking for the latest and greatest opportunities for my residents to explore during or after graduation. We had a few residents speaking with interested applicants for this conference, but I don't think they attended your lecture. Our program will definitely be contacting you regarding lecture or rotation in future. You have a plethora of information to share, thank you very much. As a non physician, I will share you with my friends.

• Fantastic workshop, very informative!

• Great learning about a new way to practice FM!

• Great presentation

• Great talk and I appreciated how he answered so many questions.

• That was an eye-opening session for me. Thank you!

• Very helpful indeed. Will share this to our residents.

• Very informative!

• Wonderful presentation. Loved the topic has open my mind to a new way to practice FM!

• Wow, thank you for this presentation. I am inspired and optimistic for the future of family medicine.

On top of that, the overall rating from the 27 survey responses was a 5 out of 5!

Overall, Dr. Paul Thomas got a 5 out of 5 for the Direct Primary Care presentation at the AAFP National Conference.

The comments from students and residents blew me away!

The reviews and comments from the folks who attended this session really blew me away, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with the AAFP and teach the future of family medicine about Direct Primary Care and alternative practice models.

Thanks for reading!

-Dr. Paul Thomas with Startup DPC, physician and founder of Plum Health DPC

Decorating your Direct Primary Care Office

How to Make Your Primary Care Office Look Awesome

Doctors aren't the best interior decorators, so I'm showing you a few ways you can warm up your office with some simple pieces of art, news articles, diplomas, and furniture.

An Accent Wall is a Must

Having an accent wall behind your desk is a nice way of inviting people into your office. This can be a wood accent wall, a tile accent wall, or simply a fresh coat of paint that is colorful. The idea is that you want to draw people in and make people feel welcome when they visit your office.

Having a Feature Wall Can Showcase You and Your Team, and the Work that You Do

Having an interesting feature in your conference room can be a nice way to feature some achievements or your team dynamic. We have a photo of our team during a ribbon cutting and we also have some awards we've won along the way, as well as a plant.

Make Sure You Have a Coat Rack Near Your Scale

Having a coat rack near your scale is important - this allows patients to take off their coats and shed some of that extra weight when they have their weight measured.

Diplomas and Newspaper Articles About Your Practice Can Add Legitimacy to Your Office

Near the exam rooms, it would be nice to hang a newspaper clipping that features you or your office in the local news. We used a company called 'that's great news' to create a sleek version of two of our different media features. That gives us some legitimacy for our prospective patients when they tour the office - they will look at these articles and know that we're vouched for by the local news and that we've been around long enough to have some press materials.

Additionally, hanging your diploma or board certification near your exam room can help patients to know that you're board certified and that you have completed all the steps necessary to be a fully certified primary care physician. Keep these at eye level and, if you can, use the same framing material or the same frame shop for each diploma or board certification so you have nice consistency across these diplomas.

Family and Vacation Photos Above Your Desk Are Great, Too

Finally, above your desk in your office is a good place to keep family, friend, travel, or vacation photos. This will warm up your space and make it more comfortable for you to work, and this will perhaps remind you of why you work or hint at a deeper purpose.

Best of luck with your practice space and best of luck in making it your own!

- Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health DPC in Detroit, Michigan

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

Which Medications Do I Need to Start and Grow a Direct Primary Care Practice?

Which Medications Do I Need to Start and Grow a Direct Primary Care Practice?

Family medicine doctors who are starting direct primary care practices often ask me which medication they need for their direct primary care practice. There are literally thousands of medication that you can order for your practice, and those might include:

• Amlodipine

• Amoxicillin

• Atorvastatin

• Aviane

• Bacitracin

• Benzonatate

• Boosterix (TDAP)

• Buspirone

• Bupropion

• Carvedilol

• Cephalexin

• Clobetasol

• Ciprofloxacin

• Citalopram

• Clindamycin

• Dexamethasone

• Dicyclomine

And on, and on, and on….

That being said, my best advice is to order only what you need for your patients when your patients need it. Otherwise, you could end up with a huge inventory of medication that may expire overtime, resulting in a financial loss. Most medications have a shelf life of 12 months to 18 months, so start by ordering a few medications in small quantities, especially if you’re starting from 0 patients or under 100 patients.

This may change if you have a full panel of patients. Simply look at their med lists and order the medications that these patients commonly use. Keep those medications stocked in your inventory, and dispense and re-order as needed.

Right now, our medication inventory is over $7,000, but we started with a $100 order of Lexapro, Amoxicillin, Albuterol, Lidocaine, and a box of Nitrile Gloves.

How to Order medications for your direct primary care practice

In order to get medications into your practice, you need to set up a relationship with a medication wholesaler. We have a contract with AndaMeds and Henry Schein, but you can also contract with Bonita Pharmaceuticals and others. We get free shipping when we order $100 worth of medications at a time, and we get overnight/next day delivery. Most of our meds usually arrive at 10 am the next day if we order by 9:30 pm. Isn’t that fast?

AndaMeds literally has thousands of medications to choose from. As we use up an existing supply of Omeprazole or Metformin or Sumatriptan, we go into AndaMeds and place the medication we need in the cart. Once the cart gets “full” meaning there’s over $100 worth of medications or supplies in there, we’ll order it/close out the cart and have the meds delivered next day. It’s just that easy!

See my video below for more information:

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

What's the most effective way to distribute information to the community for my Direct Primary Care practice?

How do you distribute flyers for your Direct Primary Care practice?

Making a flyer is helpful for having all of your information for your Direct Primary Care practice in one place. It’s useful if you’re putting together a packet of information - the basic packet might have a flyer or brochure about your business and a business card with your contact information.

What’s the best way to get this out to people? You could take it to the following places:

• small businesses in your community and ask to meet with the owner

• small business incubators in your community or co-working spaces

• churches or places of worship

• community centers or parks

• bulletin boards at the local coffee shop

You’re looking for inexpensive ways to get the word out about your practice, and the above routes are reasonable ways to get that information out there.

The most effective ways to attract new patients to your direct primary care practice

However, in my experience with Plum Health DPC, flyers aren’t super high yield in terms of attracting patients. I’ve never had someone sign up for my practice because they saw our flyer! More often than not, people sign up for our practice for the following reasons:

• referred by a friend or family member

• saw that we had 80+ five star reviews on Google

• saw that we were the highest rated doctor in Detroit on Google or Yelp

• saw a social media post about our practice

• used Google search and found our practice/website

• saw us on TV or in the newspaper

There are so many ways to get your name out there! What matters most is interacting with people in an authentic way and giving them information that they're searching for. I'm a huge advocate of leveraging SEO (search engine optimization) and we've been super successful in building our practice that way. We continuously create content that answers the most important questions for our community, and people enroll when they find the information they need on our site.

It comes down to this: we write blog posts for topics that people are already searching for. For example, our blog posts are entitled:

• Family Medicine Doctor Accepting New Patients

• How to Quit Smoking in Detroit

• How to get the Coronavirus Vaccine in Detroit

• How to Check your Vitamin D Level in Detroit

I focus on teaching doctors how to attract patients by using the above methods via my courses, here.

Other Marketing Tidbits for your direct primary care practice

Remember that marketing is an ongoing discussion between you and your audience. You need to be communicating on a regular and frequent basis to let your audience know that you still exist and that you’re still serving people with valuable medical care.

You definitely want to build up your email list and send regular email blasts.

You'll also want to create content on your blog regularly.

You should meet with business owners in your community - the decision makers who would possibly enroll their employees with your service.

There's so many little things like this that you can do to build your practice! So keep doing these things on a regular basis and your practice will start to grow organically after some time.

It may seem like a lot of work at the beginning, because it is. You’re like an airplane at takeoff, expending the vast majority of your energy during the takeoff process, and then gliding through the air once you’ve climbed to 30,000 feet.

Marketing your practice at the beginning is that energy-intensive take off process, so don’t get discouraged! Know that all of your hard work will pay off once you reach a certain level in terms of new enrollments, then word of mouth will boost your success and sustainability. But, you should always communicate with your broader community about your valuable service in order to keep your pipeline full.

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

How Much Money Will You Make in Your Direct Primary Care Practice?

How Much Money Will You Make in Your Direct Primary Care Practice?

Doctors want to know how much money they’ll make when they start a direct primary care practice. This question came up in the Direct Primary Care Facebook Group. You can join it, here.

Here’s the question in full:

I’ve been looking into doing a DPC practice, however the numbers don’t make sense to me. If I charge a patients $100 a month for unlimited visits, as well as access to email and phone calls. so if I sign up 500 patients that’s $600000 a year. Taking out overhead I’m left with $400,000. But with unlimited visits that encourages pts to constantly come in and makes fir a busy practice and on top of it I’m doing emails and phone calls after hours and after taxes maybe taking home $250,000. Is this correct or am I missing something ? Is there a way to charge for visits in addition to the monthly fee ? Do you drop all insurances when you are dpc?

Here’s my answer:

Well, there’s a lot there.

First, if you’re doing it for the money, then this may not be the right path for you.

Second, there are so many intangible benefits to running a successful DPC practice, like more time with patients, greater autonomy and satisfaction with your practice of medicine.

Third, because you only have 500 patients, not 2,400 like a typical doctor, you see 5x’s fewer patients each day, leading to less stress and more time with your patients.

Fourth, your overhead is super high - there are ways to deliver excellent care at a lower cost than what you’re projecting.

I explain the ethos of this movement in great detail in my book and I give a ton of practical pointers there as well:

https://www.startupdpc.com/books

#StartupDPC

The my response was followed up with a follow-up question:

But overhead is related to where you practice so if you practice in an expensive area the rents will be expensive and people expect higher pay

To which I responded:

yes, that's true, but I think that's a smaller piece of the puzzle than you perceive it to be. In my experience monthly rent is a big expense, but just 5% of our current monthly revenue, so in no way is it the biggest expense. Plus, when you scale up and hire more doctors, the relative cost of your rent becomes much less.

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

Dr. Paul Thomas MD Featured on The Changed Physician

How I started Plum Health DPC - a recap with The Changed Physician

This is Episode 68 of The Changed Physician Podcast when hosts, Drs. Melissa Cady and Kevin Cuccaro, speak with direct primary care physician, Dr. Paul Thomas about how any new physician can successfully start and build a direct primary care practice.

Timeline:

• 01:00​ Why and how he started a DPC practice in 2016

• 03:40​ How he dealt with the fears of risk & recruited interest from patients

• 05:00​ The house call that changed everything

• 06:30​ Where he started his physical practice

• 10:00​ His first “doctor bag” (medications from Andameds)

• 10:50​ Setting up a business entity

• 13:45​ Medical malpractice

• 17:00​ How he acquired new equipment/resources

• 20:00​ How he adds value to his patient members

• 22:30​ Electronic Medical Records from beginning (e.g. Atlas, Hint & Elation, etc.)

• 24:30​ Typical overhead for direct primary care

• 25:40​ Leveraging moonlighting while building own practice

• 28:00​ Reasons not to go into your own direct primary care practice

• 29:30​ The “safer” route?

• 32:00​ How he marketed himself and grew his practice

• 35:30​ Pain now or pain later?

• 39:00​ Paul Thomas’ take on his own practice and work

You can learn more about Dr. Paul Thomas and his practice at: https://www.plumhealthdpc.com/

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.

STARTUP DPC - DIRECT PRIMARY CARE MASTER CLASS

Because there are no in-person conferences this year, we decided to host 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 kickstart your DPC journey!

Thanks for reading and watching, and best of luck in your direct primary care journey!

-Dr. Paul Thomas with Startup DPC

The First Direct Primary Care Doctor in Puerto Rico

Dr. Lorimar Ortiz is the First Direct Primary Care Doctor in Puerto Rico

Dr. Lorimar Ortiz is the First Direct Primary Care Doctor in Puerto Rico - yes you read that correctly! Her clinic is called The Way Family Clinic. She has launched recently, has gained a few members, and looks forward to growing into this model.

About Dr. Lorimar Ortiz (Spanish):

En respuesta al deterioro en la calidad del servicio de medicina primaria en Puerto Rico, fundé la primera clínica de Cuidado Primario Directo (DPC) en nuestra isla. En mi clínica recibirás un cuidado personalizado donde trabajaré en conjunto contigo para lograr tus metas de bienestar físico, emocional y familiar. Estaré accesible para ti a tu mayor conveniencia. Disfrutarás de citas sin espera, evaluaciones agendadas para el mismo día o al próximo, visitas extensas y relajadas, acceso vía llamada telefónica, texto, correo electrónico o vía mensajería a través de tu portal de paciente. Todo esto a un costo mensual asequible, similar a tener una membresía de Netflix o de un gimnasio.

About Dr. Lorimar Ortiz (English):

In response to the deterioration in the quality of the primary medicine service in Puerto Rico, I founded the first Direct Primary Care (DPC) clinic on our island. In my clinic you will receive personalized care where I will work together with you to achieve your goals of physical, emotional and family well-being. I will be accessible to you at your greatest convenience. You will enjoy appointments without waiting, evaluations scheduled for the same day or the next, extensive and relaxed visits, access via phone call, text, email or via messaging through your patient portal. All this at an affordable monthly cost, similar to having a Netflix or gym membership.

Dr. Lorimar Ortiz is the first Direct Primary Care doctor to start a practice in Puerto Rico. She started The Way Family Clinic.

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

Dr. Paul Thomas MD Discusses Personal Branding for Growing Your Medical Practice

Personal Branding for Direct Primary Care and Direct Speciality Care Doctors

Personal branding is such a huge topic for direct primary care doctors and perhaps even more important for direct specialty care doctors. With personal branding, a physician is demonstrating their value to the community by consistently communicating their character to their audience. There are several mediums to communicate your value and leveraging social media platforms or interacting with the media can be powerful ways to build your personal brand.

In this video, I give doctors 8 simple steps to start building their personal brand. If you love this content, you can read more in our book or take our course on personal branding, found here.

Eight Simple steps to build your personal Brand

1. Understand that you are your personal brand - you can demonstrate that you’re there to help people in your community.

2. Get professional head shots - these can make a huge difference in attracting new patients to your practice. Get photos in your office and in your community.

3. Take any speaking engagement you can get - speak to school students, adults in the community, at libraries, at pitch competitions and beyond.

4. Share about these speaking engagements on your social media channels.

5. Share about these speaking engagements on your blog - this will help you reach a broader audience and improve your search engine optimization.

6. Demonstrate that you’re an expert in your field - show people how you’re making people’s lives better by sewing up a laceration or improving their health in a tangible way.

7. Reach out to the media and tell them what you do - you should send out a press release to the media each time you take the next step with your business. Most time, you will not hear anything, but when a producer features you, it will be a home run.

8. Repeat - once you do all of the above, you have to do it again. You have to come up with creative ways to engage with your audience. If you do this consistently, you’ll be able to attract more patients to your practice.

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