Can I Open A DPC Clinic?

As I sit here, building this website, I am getting more and more excited about opening my own Direct Primary Care clinic. It has been a long time coming. I have always loved Family Medicine and being able to connect with my patients, but there was always something missing - time.

Starting in residency and throughout the many different clinics I have worked in, the traditional way of practicing medicine always left me feeling rushed with each patient, with each appointment, and with every lab and phone call I got. Then I heard about DPC. I’ll be honest, I was skeptical at first. You expect patients to pay more on top of their insurance? Ha!

But something kept nagging me in the back of my brain, especially when I had days where I felt like I could have done so much more, if I just wasn’t so rushed, if I could just spend a little more time discussing the problem, if I could explain our treatment options a little more thoroughly… all of these thoughts kept bringing me back to DPC.

A couple years ago I started reading more and more about DPC. Yes, it’s a membership, and that’s going to be new for most people. But you know what else is going to be new? Having better access to your doctor - wouldn’t it be nice to talk by phone, email or text directly with your doctor or MA rather than playing phone tag with the receptionist and nurses all day. Having longer appointments to get the most out of each visit. Having labs, medications and imaging at more affordable prices. Having after-hour access for urgent issues. DPC can make these things happen.

For a moment of honesty and transparency, above I said I started reading about DPC years ago - so why did it take so long to make the leap. I was scared. Scared that patients would not understand and see the value that DPC offers. I was afraid of failure. But a conversation I had with a previous boss is one of the many things that kept pushing me on and leading me to this decision - they said that to be successful I needed to be less thorough with each patients’ visit, that I needed to make patients come back and discuss separate issues in separate visits - address the main thing and put the others on hold. This idea has never set well with me. Our lives outside of the doctors can’t just be put on hold so neither should the healthcare you get from the doctor.

I know that opening my own clinic is a risk, both professionally and for my family. I am really hoping patients will continue to trust me with their healthcare and see how much more DPC can offer than traditional family medicine.

-Nicki