Posted by: Atlas MD

June 17, 2024

Why Trust Is the Cornerstone of Successful DPC Models

This may come as a surprise to no one (except, perhaps, existing healthcare providers), but patients who trust their providers tend to stay onboard for longer. 

One report by Accenture found that patients who trust their healthcare providers are six times more likely to remain with them. It also found that 89 percent of patients who did leave a provider did so because the physician wasn’t easy to deal with, the administration was stifling and difficult to navigate, or digitalization was underdeveloped.

These facts are increasingly at odds with the status quo, where there’s a clear lack of trust in public health, with many patients feeling that healthcare has declined rather than improved in recent years.

While big businesses with deep pockets often miss the mark, DPC clinics are making a notable difference by doing something old-school yet radical—building trust through straightforward and fair practices.

Trust and Transparent Pricing

It’s well known that the traditional healthcare industry can feel like a maze of hidden fees, leaving patients not just sick but financially bruised.

And like any market where there’s a clear need and opportunity, DPC models have risen and completely upended this trend by cutting through the complexity with clear, transparent pricing. 

Rather than being terrified of opening a letter from their healthcare provider with an endless list of charges, DPC patients know exactly what they’re paying each month without the dread of unexpected charges. 

This peace of mind embodies the principle that healthcare shouldn’t be a financial gamble.

You can see this clearly with medication and copays. 

Where big healthcare corporations mark up medications and lab tests, turning necessities into profit centers, DPC clinics offer these services at wholesale prices, with a minimal markup of around 10%. 

And while copays often act as barriers, deterring patients from seeking care when they need it, DPC models smash these barriers by ditching copays altogether. Many DPC practices go even further, offering additional procedures as part of their membership at no extra cost. 

This approach does way more than simply lower costs—it builds immense trust. Patients understand where their money goes, and they appreciate the honesty that is part-and-parcel of a DPC clinic’s business model.

The DPC Edge: Flexibility, Speed, and Efficiency

While big healthcare outfits are floundering with their cookie-cutter approaches and bloated bureaucracies, DPC clinics are thriving by staying lean and agile. 

They’re able to adapt quickly, embrace new technologies and tailor their services to the immediate needs of their community. 

Perhaps nowhere was this more apparent than during the COVID-19 pandemic, where DPC clinics were able to provide uninhibited effective care thanks to their rapid adoption of telemedicine technologies prior to and during the pandemic. This meant they could continue to offer virtual consultations and remote monitoring despite lockdowns and social distancing.

Even today, DPC clinics have already started to leverage nascent AI and machine learning technologies to analyze patient data. These AI-driven tools are being used to streamline practices and identify patients at risk of chronic conditions, enabling early intervention and personalized treatment plans.

Many DPC clinics have also developed mobile apps that allow patients to schedule appointments, access their medical records, and communicate directly with their healthcare providers, while traditional hospitals have patients waiting in endless call lists hoping to get an appointment.

These practices aren’t just providing care; they’re cultivating communities anchored in trust.

In DPC settings, this trust translates into tangible loyalty, with patients not just returning but actively promoting their clinics. They become advocates, drawn in by the fair, transparent practices that set DPC apart from the bureaucratic giants of healthcare.

Trust as a Strategy, Not Just a Value

In a landscape dominated by corporate healthcare, DPC clinics prove that being small and focused on trust can be a powerful strategy. 

They offer a blueprint for healthcare that prioritizes patient care over profits, simplicity over complexity, and transparency over obscurity.

By aligning their business practices with patient interests, DPC models aren’t just surviving; they’re thriving, showing that in healthcare, trust is not just a value—it’s a strategy for success.

Posted by: Atlas MD

August 31, 2017

Marketing Your DPC Practice – How Everyone Else Does it.

Marketing Your DPC PracticeThe best marketing strategy is a good business model. It’s a value proposition. Think about it this way: it’s really easy to sell a great product, and it’s really difficult to sell a not-so-great product. Start from the beginning! DPC’s high-value proposition often looks like this: unlimited visits, no copay, free procedures, wholesale meds and labs, up to 95% off and cheaper insurance – that is a huge value proposition that you can sell – no matter what you do, your patients are going to be happier. You’ll find more foundational tips on marketing your DPC practice over in the marketing course of the DPC Curriculum.

You’re Better at This Than You Think. Honestly.

Even though the idea of telling the world all about the great things you have to offer might make your stomach churn, rest assured you already have the skills needed to sell and market your practice. (We wrote all about that over here.) Marketing and sales is largely about having a conversation. Talking to people and answering their questions. You already have the answers, and with knowledge comes confidence.

It’s Time to Walk the Walk.

So once you have that foundation laid, you can do some external marketing. That all sounds good in theory, right? If you’re curious about what that actually means, here are some ideas on places to start networking right in your own community. Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

January 16, 2017

Hey DPC Docs! You’re Better at Sales Than You Think.

You went to med school. You speak medicine. You speak healing, healthcare and patient happiness. So if the idea of sales and selling makes you want to go jump off a cliff… yeah, we get it.

If you’re thinking about transitioning to Direct Care, or even starting fresh with Direct Care, there are two things you need to do. The first thing is call us, because we offer free practice management consulting services. Yep, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about making the transition, opening the doors of your practice, and managing it once you have patients coming through those doors. Seriously, call us. It’s free. As in, doesn’t cost you anything.

Now that we’ve shamelessly plugged our FREE consulting services, what about that other thing you need to do? You gotta wrap your head around the fact that you have business management in your future. And yes, that includes sales. If you’re still standing on the edge of the cliff, we’d like to invite you to chill out and take a step back. Sales in Direct Care looks different than it does in other industries, so throw out that used-car salesman image you have in your head. Get this: you don’t have to break down doors, beg people to become patients, or even convince anyone of anything. Direct Care has already done the heavy lifting by providing a platform to give people something they value. Your role in the whole thing is to just spread the word about it. Which you’re already doing, because it’s something you care about, so you’re naturally going to talk about it. See? That’s not so bad. Care to take another step back from the ledge now? There we go.

You Already Have the Tools You Need to Sell.

Have you ever heard the phrase “a truly great product sells itself?” That applies here, too. All you’re doing is educating people about the features and, more importantly, the benefits of Direct Care. You’re talking about your job. You’re exposing them to a better way – one that will benefit them from a bunch of different angles. Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

January 29, 2016

Download Our Direct Primary Care Survey

DPC Survey

There’s nothing that gets us as excited as sharing, and since we just launched our helpful Direct Primary Care survey, we thought you might be interested in incorporating it in your own practice. The Direct Primary Care survey will help you understand your soon-to-be patients by gauging their interest in a DPC.

If you’ve been meaning to find new avenues in which to market and focus your attention, we think you’ll like our survey. It will help you identify any issues that potential patients have with their current providers, and you’ll be able to see how you can help eliminate and improve their situation with DPC.

Uncover valuable patient data with our DPC survey. You’ll find out the following info: 

  • Whether potential patients were able to meet their previous year’s healthcare premium.
  • Whether potential patients are interested in lowering their health insurance premiums.
  • Whether potential patients are interested in having a $0 copay.
  • Whether potential patients have knowledge of other plans and opportunities available to them.

If you’re hoping to expand your practice, you can circulate this survey in your community, via Facebook and social media, via email, or at community centers. Gathering data on potential patients will help you understand the need for DPC practices in your community, of course, but it will also help generate interest in a DPC in your community.

Your Direct Primary Care practice relies on your ability to find and help new customers, and we think you’ll find this survey to be a great resource. Download our survey to start exploring your future customers’ needs. Download the Direct Primary Care Survey and start helping new patients today.>  Want more ways to generate interest for your DPC? Check out our DPC Curriculum to see what else you can do to reach new and current customers.

Posted by: AtlasMD

October 27, 2015

Three Ways Your Direct Care Practice Can Tell A Better Story. Part One: What You Do Matters.

1-WhatYouDoMattersAs a Direct Care practitioner, you’re doing so much more than practicing medicine. You’re telling one of the most important stories our country, and perhaps the world, needs to hear today. You’re telling the story of happiness. Of freedom. Of satisfaction. Of care. 

Your story paints a picture for healthcare patients. This picture isn’t abstract nor is it intangible. It’s vivid with color, the depth of its honesty and transparency reaching into their souls and telling them that better is possible.

In this three-part series, we’ll dig deep into some ways you can step outside your medical mindset and tell your patients a more engaging story. In return, they’ll keep coming back and sing your praises to

What you do matters.

Every interaction you have with your patients tells the story of what healthcare should look like. In it’s simplest form, this step is just about taking advantage of the foundation Direct Care was built on. It’s sticking to your word and putting your patients first in the following ways:

If you offer same day scheduling, make it happen.
Remember, your patients are probably used to waiting three weeks for an appointment, spending an hour in the waiting room, and then being shuffled right back out the door 10 minutes later. You can show them they don’t have to put up with that nonsense for another minute.

Respond in a timely fashion.
You’ve chosen to keep a limited patient count in order to make time for everyone. So since you don’t have back to back to back appointments scheduled 15 minutes apart, you likely have some form of downtime throughout your day. Use it to keep on top of patient correspondence. You might have six patients to deal with in one day, but they’re only concerned with one doctor… they want to know they’re just as important to you as you are to them. A simple response can go a long way to prove that.

Staff your office appropriately.
You don’t need a whole crew of people to man your DPC practice. You might be the only physician in it! But if you’re behind closed doors with a patient, who’s manning the front desk? The phones? Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

August 7, 2015

Misinterpretation Gone Wild. The HIPAA Edition.

Misinterpretation Gone Wild. The HIPAA Edition.

 

We cannot breathe a sigh of relief deep enough to adequately express how glad we are to be cutting the red tape that surrounds traditional healthcare. More specifically, HIPAA. Its rules and regulations are so convoluted that people don’t know which way is up… and that leads to interrupting a private conversation in a hospital cafe reprimanding the wife of a dying cancer patient for speaking publicly about a patient. Baffled yet? Yup, so were we.

An article posted recently on the NY Times gave several instances where HIPAA was misunderstood, and the consequences could have been dire. Take Ericka Gray’s story, for example:

In 2012, Ericka Gray repeatedly phoned the emergency room at York Hospital in York, Pa., where her 85-year-old mother had gone after days of back pain, to alert the staff to her medical history. “They refused to take the information, citing Hipaa,” said Ms. Gray, who was in Chicago on a business trip.

“I’m not trying to get any information. I’m trying to give you information,” Ms. Gray told them, adding that because her mother’s memory was impaired, she couldn’t supply the crucial facts, like medication allergies.

By the time Ms. Gray found a nurse willing to listen, hours later, her mother had already been prescribed a drug she was allergic to. Fortunately, the staff hadn’t administered it yet.

Now, we get what HIPAA is trying to do: keep personal health information private. And that’s a noble gesture. But there are so many hoops to jump through just to get it right that there ends up being more ways to get it wrong. In the DPC world, we love communicating with our patients how they prefer. Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

August 6, 2015

Announcing the Atlas Direct Care Curriculum!

LaunchMaterials

Announcing the Launch of a Tool that Teaches Everything about DPC.

We’re big believers in doing things the right way, which is why we’ve put together a comprehensive curriculum teaching about Direct Care. And since we don’t think you should have to pay for doing your homework, we’re offering the curriculum completely free of charge – just like our consulting services!

Okay, so let’s dive in. What’s this curriculum all about anyway? It covers all the most important aspects anyone considering DPC would wonder about:

• What is Direct Care?
• What Does it Mean to Cut Out the Middleman?
• Is Direct Care Right for You?
• How Much Will it Cost to Start a DPC Practice?
• What Technology Will I Need to Run a Smooth Practice?
• The Ins and Outs of Insurance in the Direct Care Model.
• Charging and Billing for Direct Care Services.
• Running an In-House Pharmacy.
• Making the Transition: How to Approach Patients About Your Decision to Switch to DPC.
• Marketing Your Direct Care Practice.
• Creating Value for Your Patients.
• Staffing Your Direct Care Clinic.

Additional Resources Galore.

Each lesson features additional resource links so you can continue your education if you so choose. Plus, we’re including our starter packet, stuffed full of templates and real life examples you can actually put to use in your Direct Care practice. We’re talking things like price comparison, Medicare agreements, conversion letters to patients, labs pricing spreadsheets and more.

Who Do You Know?

So, who do you know who might be interested in Direct Care? This curriculum covers multiple angles, including someone starting their practice right out the residency gate and someone transitioning from a long career in traditional healthcare. Send them to the curriculum where they can learn everything there is to know about Direct Care – at your own pace. All the information is available online, or you can have lessons delivered weekly to your inbox.

Less Talk. More Action!

Alright, now that you know the curriculum exists it’s time to check it out. Delve into it yourself, or pass it on to a colleague you think would benefit from Direct Care. Go, go, go!

Visit the Atlas Direct Care Curriculum. >

Posted by: AtlasMD

July 17, 2015

Be Poised to Scale Gracefully.

ScalingWithGrace

We want you to start your Direct Care practice the right way — without cutting corners or having to sacrifice quality because you think you can’t afford it. It’s why we do the things we do. You know, like offering all our consulting services absolutely free. Or traveling the country to help spread the word about DPC nationwide. Things like offering an EMR specifically built for Direct Care clinics that will do more than just meet intrinsic startup needs.

Let’s pause there for a second – that’s a really good point. When you’re starting off, you might only be thinking in terms of the near future. And that’s fine for the most part. But you’d do yourself well to expect expansion. And when you use the Atlas.md EMR, you’re making a smart short-term decision, but you’re also planning for long-term growth.

This EMR is unique because it fits a small clinic with just a few practitioners running the show. But as you grow (from two docs, to four docs with two nurses, to a second, third, tenth location, etc.) the Atlas.md EMR will scale accordingly. Let’s take a look at how that’s possible.

Calendars

Your calendar view can display just your appointments, the appointments for the entire practice, or any combination of the two. This flexibility gives you complete control over what happens within your practice walls.

Task Assignment

The ability to assign tasks to others makes it possible to communicate cross platform, cross patient, or even cross location. Task assignment coupled with notification reminders ensures you’re not letting anything slip through the cracks. Your team will actually operate as seamlessly as they appear.

Billing Reports

The billing reports you can pull for your practice break things down so simply for an accountant that it wouldn’t matter how many providers are contributing. The reports show the patient’s MRN or company name (for privacy), the amount of the payment made, processing status, the type of payment and the date. You can also filter to show a specific timeframe, and export to a CSV file anytime you need. We’ve thought ahead for you!

Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

June 8, 2015

Direct Care is a Slow Tsunami.

Overwhelming. Unstoppable. Enveloping.
Direct Care is taking the nation by storm, but unlike a tsunami, it’s not of the destructive variety. Rather than water, the country is being steadily blanketed with a refreshing alternative to traditional family medicine. As it slowly (but oh, so surely) spreads from town to town, city to city, more and more people realize how much they truly benefit from the patient-centric healthcare model.

Docs are getting excited, too. Every time they hear from a happy patient they wonder why it took them so long to transition in the first place. But even better, all the great feedback they’re hearing just validates they’ve done the right thing – not only for their patients but for themselves as well. Their quality of life skyrockets and their passion for medicine reignites. Once they’ve transitioned, it’s hard to look back at their old lives and remember how negatively they felt way back when.

Dr. Catherine Krouse has gone Direct Care precisely because of the difficulty of that old life. “You just end up getting drained and drained and drained. And then when your cup is completely empty, then you just get guarded and angry. And then you put up walls, and that really creates barriers.” Read her full story here and learn about the newest Direct Care practice in Falmouth, Maine called Lotus Family Practice.

 So as this #slowtsunami continues to commence with many more stories just like Catherine’s, the Direct Care community expands with confidence and the staying power to make patients and physicians happy for the long haul. 

 

Posted by: AtlasMD

June 3, 2015

Direct Primary Care Awareness Happens in December!

Have you heard? Direct Primary Care Awareness now has its own official month, and what better time of year than when we’re already buzzing with love for, well, everything? Bring it on, December!

So, what does that mean for your clinic? It means you get to continue doing what you’ve been doing all year – promoting DPC to everyone you meet on the street, in the grocery store checkout line, and at the car wash. Okay, the car wash might be a bit of a stretch, but you catch the drift. Because Direct Care Awareness now has a month associated with it, that makes it the perfect time to hold community events and staff activities. You still have some time to plan these events and we’ll remind you when it’s not quite so hot outside but it’s never too late to start brainstorming how you can make more of an impact on those around you. The DPC Journal has some ideas to kickstart your creativity.

Here’s something to remind your patients about… 

The holidays tend to be absolutely insane. For patients, getting in to see the doc during those busy months can be nearly impossible in a traditional healthcare environment. A trip to the ER could set them back precious shopping hours, not to mention thousands of dollars. Thank goodness there’s an alternative! With many DPC physicians offering 24/7 availability, house calls and the ability to handle most “ER” type visits right in their own clinic (at no extra cost!!!), your patients can check “the possibility of needing to see the doc” right off their list of things to stress about. Make the decision to switch to Direct Care easy for them by presenting sanity during a time when sanity can usually be found flying right out the window.