The LA wildfires have left many facing loss, displacement, and uncertainty. In times of disaster, access to healthcare becomes more critical than ever. With traditional medical facilities often forced to close, residents have limited options for care. Direct Primary Care (DPC) offers a flexible, patient-centered approach that can help fill this gap, ensuring individuals and families receive the support they need in these crucial moments.
How? Well, since many DPC providers already offer telemedicine, patients can receive care remotely even when they can’t visit a clinic.
For displaced families, this means a doctor is just a call or video chat away. Prescriptions can be sent to the nearest pharmacy, and it becomes possible to receive ongoing medical support—without the red tape of insurance. On top of that, this eases pressure on emergency rooms and ensures people continue receiving care when it matters most.
A Call to Action: Mobilizing the DPC Community
This isn’t about capitalizing on a crisis. It’s about responding with meaningful solutions. The LA wildfires highlight the need for an agile and community-driven healthcare system. DPC is more than an affordable and convenient option—it’s a model that can withstand disasters and continue serving patients when they need it most.
As part of this effort, Atlas.md is offering free EMR access to doctors in affected areas. The right tools will help providers maintain patient records, offer telemedicine, and ensure uninterrupted care, even under the challenging conditions they find themselves in.
We’re calling on LA-based doctors and DPC providers nationwide to get involved. Whether it’s volunteering, offering free telemedicine consultations, or sharing resources, every contribution makes a difference. Together, we can prove that DPC isn’t just a healthcare model—it’s a lifeline for communities in crisis.
If you’re a doctor in LA or someone looking to contribute, reach out. Contact us at support@atlas.md and we’ll do our best to help.
Let’s make this vision a reality and show how the DPC model can help the community in difficult times.
Direct Primary Care has revolutionized healthcare access in urban centers, providing a more efficient and patient-focused alternative to traditional fee-for-service models. Now, as DPC practices expand, they’re bringing that success to rural communities, offering underserved areas the same level of care that urban patients have long enjoyed.
But how does DPC impact rural healthcare, and is it the best solution to the challenges faced in these regions?
The Healthcare Challenges of Rural America
The traditional healthcare model has long struggled to meet the needs of rural communities. With fewer physicians and long distances between patients and care providers, access to healthcare in these areas is often limited. In fact, due to a critical shortage of primary care physicians, one in five rural areas is considered a primary care desert. This shortage has led to delayed care, preventable conditions, and higher costs.
One solution to these challenges is the DPC model, which has already shown benefits in urban environments. This patient-centric approach is now being adapted for rural settings, where healthcare access has traditionally been restricted.
However, implementing DPC in rural areas doesn’t come without challenges. These regions face unique obstacles, such as fewer doctors, limited infrastructure, and geographic isolation.
But DPC is perfectly poised to meet these challenges head-on. One permanent DPC clinic could be enough to serve a community facing physician shortages and limited healthcare facilities. Telehealth, a core functionality built into the DPC model from the start, can also offer enormous benefits to rural communities located hours from the nearest clinic.
Attracting Physicians to Rural Areas
One major benefit of DPC in rural areas is that it attracts physicians who may otherwise be hesitant to practice there. The typical fee-for-service model can be less appealing due to unpredictable income and high administrative burdens. In contrast, DPC offers a steady income and reduced paperwork, making it an attractive option for both experienced doctors and new graduates seeking a better work-life balance.
Studies show that physicians in rural areas value improved working conditions, professional development opportunities, and access to resources. Additionally, doctors who feel integrated into the community and enjoy a good quality of life are likelier to remain in rural areas.
DPC naturally supports both factors by fostering stronger bonds between doctors and patients and reducing stress, allowing physicians to work more effectively.
Reducing Healthcare Costs for Rural Communities
DPC also helps mitigate the higher healthcare costs often associated with rural areas.
Patients in remote locations are often forced to travel long distances for specialty care, leading to higher healthcare expenditures. However, with robust telemedicine services, DPC practices make specialty consultations no further away than a few clicks. By taking advantage of these technologies, rural physicians gain faster, easier, and more cost-effective access to specialists than many of their urban counterparts.
DPC’s emphasis on preventive care also leads to fewer hospital admissions, further lowering costs and improving overall health outcomes.
Rural communities can also benefit from DPC’s adaptability. In a traditional healthcare system, rural areas often receive limited or delayed resources, but DPC’s flexibility enables it to respond more quickly to a community’s specific needs.
This can range from tailoring health programs to the region’s predominant health concerns to ensuring that healthcare is available during off-hours or weekends.
A Bright Future for Rural Healthcare
The success of DPC in urban settings is no longer just a tale of metropolitan prosperity; it is now making its way to the rural heartland. By reducing barriers, attracting providers, and offering an efficient, preventative approach to care, DPC can be a game-changer for those living away from cities.
As this model continues to grow, it’s clear that DPC holds the potential to reshape rural healthcare in a way that’s sustainable, efficient, and patient-focused, all while fostering healthier communities.If you’d like to see the power of DPC in action, check out this interview and case study of Beth Renzulli, MD, in Middletown, Delaware.
It’s no secret that prices for hospital services have been steadily rising, but what might surprise you is how these increases are gutting local economies.
Hospital mergers, touted as a way to improve services, are instead leading to higher prices, layoffs, and financial strain on businesses and communities alike.
But there is a solution. Direct primary care not only improves healthcare for more people but could also help buffer local economies from the damaging effects of skyrocketing hospital costs.
When Hospital Prices Rise, Layoffs Follow
Here’s the harsh reality: When hospitals raise their prices, it’s not just someone’s healthcare bill that gets more expensive—their job could be at risk.
A recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that companies react to higher healthcare premiums (brought on by increased hospital prices) by cutting jobs. This makes sense since when healthcare insurance premiums skyrocket, businesses can’t just print more money.
They make cuts. And the first thing to go? Payroll.
For every 1% increase in hospital prices, the percentage of people losing their jobs also goes up. That’s not just an inconvenience—it’s a crisis for local economies.
Tax revenues drop, unemployment payouts increase and communities suffer. The most vulnerable economies are those where hospitals have consolidated, merging into ever-larger behemoths with enough market power to jack up prices unchecked.
If that sounds sinister it’s because it is. The study found that these hospital mergers—which were supposed to bring efficiencies and better care—did neither. Instead, they’ve padded the pockets of big healthcare while eroding the job market and driving up healthcare costs for everyone.
This impact hits hardest on workers earning $20,000 to $100,000 a year (the ones struggling to make ends meet) as employers look to shed jobs to make up for the rising premiums.
The False Promise of Hospital Mergers
Let’s talk about hospital mergers for a second. The argument goes that when hospitals merge, they gain efficiencies, share talent, and improve operations. You know, typical corporate jargon.
Between 2010 and 2015, nearly 300 hospital mergers took place, with the same story repeating over and over: higher prices, more layoffs, and no tangible benefits to patients or the community.
DCP Keeps Costs Down and Communities Thriving
Direct Primary Care is a game-changer not just for healthcare but for local economies.
DPC clinics avoid the expensive, bureaucracy-laden systems that dominate big hospital networks. By charging patients a flat monthly fee and eliminating the middleman, they can offer high-quality, transparent care at a fraction of the cost.
For local businesses, this could be a lifeline. Instead of hemorrhaging money on inflated premiums that fund bloated hospital networks, employers can partner with DPC clinics to provide their employees with affordable, effective care.
Fewer businesses would need to cut jobs just to keep up with rising healthcare costs. Employees would have predictable, transparent healthcare costs, and they’d actually be able to use their healthcare without the fear of surprise bills. Imagine.
Not only does DPC deliver better care, but it also creates more resilient local economies. By keeping healthcare affordable and simple, businesses can keep workers employed and communities financially stable. It’s healthcare as it should be: focused on the patient, not the profits.
How DPC Counters Hospital Price Gouging
The beauty of DPC is that it completely sidesteps the price gouging so common in hospital systems. In the traditional model, hospital mergers mean inflated prices for basic care.
But since DPC clinics aren’t tied to these big networks, they offer transparent pricing, often at wholesale rates.
Medications and lab tests? Marked up only minimally, sometimes around 10%, compared to the huge markups at large hospitals. And with no insurance to deal with, patients avoid hidden fees and surprise bills.
By offering a simple monthly membership fee, DPC not only makes healthcare more predictable but also eliminates the administrative costs that make hospital visits so expensive in the first place.
This kind of model could directly help employers who are struggling to keep up with escalating insurance costs, allowing them to offer competitive healthcare without laying off workers.
As hospital systems grow larger, communities face more layoffs, higher taxes, and a crumbling local economy.
But with a model like DPC, where care is patient-focused, affordable, and transparent, the tide can be changed. DPC clinics are nimble, focused on preventing illness rather than treating symptoms, and, critically, they build trust. That’s something big hospitals, with their endless billing cycles and hidden fees, can’t offer.
Let’s Build Healthcare That Supports, Not Destroys, Jobs
In a landscape where hospital price hikes mean fewer jobs and weaker local economies, Direct Primary Care offers a solution.
By keeping costs low, DPC clinics allow businesses to offer great healthcare without cutting into payroll. Workers get the care they need without fear of financial ruin. Local economies remain resilient, and instead of job cuts, maintain stability.
So, while big hospital systems are focused on mergers and profit margins, DPC clinics are doing something radical—putting patients and communities first. And in the end, that’s not just good healthcare; it’s good economics.
Big healthcare is big business. And with a market cap topping $4.5 trillion, everyone wants a share of the profits. This is why the recent forays of retail giants like Amazon, CVS, and Walgreens in the healthcare sector aren’t surprising in the least.
While this might seem like a logical transition as big corporations find ways to expand, what’s not logical (at least at first glance) is that they… kind of suck at the whole healthcare thing.
To date, these retail giants have spent billions buying up primary care chains hoping to tap into the massive healthcare pie. But despite their colossal investments, each company has ended up with the same results — disappointment, unstaunched money hemorrhaging, and tsunamis of retrenchments.
With seemingly endless resources to tap into, why can’t these giants cut it when it comes to healthcare, especially when DPC clinics nationwide are continually lowering costs, increasing quality of care, and providing more access to patients everywhere?
Let’s find out.
The Big Business Approach
The clue to pinning down exactly why big businesses can’t hack healthcare lies in their approach.
Instead of starting from the ground up, connecting with communities, and building trust along the way, the corporate method is to acquire as many primary-care chains as possible and gain direct access to millions of patients.
These have been anything but smooth, and the plug-and-play approach proved that trying to enter the healthcare market without patient consideration is complex and costly.
The results speak for themselves:
In an attempt to reduce costs by around $100 million, Amazon laid off “a few hundred” One Medical staff, shutting corporate offices, and dramatically reducing marketing budgets.
So if the big business approach of “buy now and integrate later” doesn’t work, what makes DPC so successful, especially with fewer resources, staff, and patients?
There are a few different things to consider:
Lower overheads. Without the need to process insurance claims, DPC clinics can operate with lower overhead costs. This allows them to invest more in patient care and pass savings on to their patients.
Focus on prevention. Because DPC physicians focus on preventive care, they reduce the need for specialist and hospital care, which leads to healthier patients and lower overall healthcare costs.
Simplicity. DPC eliminates the complexity of insurance billing by charging patients a flat monthly fee. This can significantly reduce overhead costs and the hassle for both providers and patients. It also makes healthcare costs predictable, which patients really value.
Flexibility. DPC clinics are smaller and more nimble than large corporations. This means they can quickly adopt new technologies and practices that improve care and efficiency way faster. This flexibility is a significant advantage over lumbering big business healthcare models.
Patient first. The DPC model emphasizes the patient-doctor relationship, one built on care, community, and trust, rather than just the bottom line.
Simply put, DPC offers a simpler, more patient-centric approach, designed to reduce costs at every step of the healthcare journey.
Big Healthcare Is Struggling. DPC Has Never Been Healthier.
The above stories highlight how the attempt to graft complex healthcare services onto existing commercial infrastructures misses a crucial piece of the puzzle — patient care.
While scale and profitability are necessary from a business perspective, they clash with the personalized nature of effective healthcare delivery.
On the other hand, Direct Primary Care exemplifies how healthcare can thrive when it is built from the ground up, focusing primarily on patient care rather than profit margins.
By eliminating the middlemen and nurturing a relationship between patients and physicians, DPC shows what’s possible when healthcare sticks to its roots — providing quality, accessible, and affordable care with an uncomplicated, patient-focused approach.
There’s no question that the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) is in the process of revolutionizing healthcare. Whether it’s reading medical images, X-rays, and scans, making sense of huge amounts of data to help diagnoses, or creating treatment plans, the scope of what AI can do in a medical context is staggering.
While this pace of change can seem intimidating, it’s actually a game-changer for doctors seeking to focus on their true passion – delivering quality patient care.
This is the whole reason we built Atlas.md – to reduce tedious administrative tasks and free up more time for you to do what you love.
AI is just another tool allowing us to do this. Whether it’s summarizing transcripts, creating SOAP notes, or using AI macros, our goal is to have you doing as little “work about work” so that you can spend as much time being a doctor as possible.
In the day-to-day of running a medical practice, this means getting rid of tedious administrative tasks that would otherwise take hours to churn through.
The reverberation of this trend has been felt across all industries burdened by excessive administrative work – status updates, cross-departmental communication, and everything else that isn’t part of the core, professional raison d’etre.
It makes sense that the deployment of AI would mean fewer humans doing this type of work – and it’s already taking place.
Recently, ResumeBuilder surveyed 750 business leaders using AI and found that 37% of them said the technology had replaced at least some workers in 2023. 44% of them said that AI would be the cause of layoffs in 2024.
For some, this might be a cause for alarm, but for others, it’s the necessary and inevitable streamlining of tasks that exist around actual work.
How does this relate to your own work as a doctor?
Think about how your day-to-day used to look when you worked at a hospital. Endless forms, red tape, suffocating paperwork – the opportunity cost of this work (as opposed to seeing patients) is enormous.
Traditional healthcare has turned doctors from complex clinical thinkers into clerks and typists. Not that there’s anything wrong with those professions – it’s just not the reason you went to a decade of medical school.
At face value, AI tools mean liberation from the mundane tasks that accompany every patient visit.
It means you’ll spend more time with a stethoscope in your hand than a pen and paper.
It means less time doing clerical admin, and more time helping the world.
In March, the US administration released its National Cybersecurity Strategy to expand health IT spending and defend critical health infrastructure from cyberattacks.
The reason?
Because countless hospitals, both large and small, and other healthcare facilities, were the victims of increasingly large-scale data breaches.
According to the 2023 Mid-Year Horizon Report, there were 327 data breaches reported to the US Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights in the first half of 2023 alone.
This trend shows no sign of slowing as we move into 2024; there’s been a substantial surge in digital health and information technology investments, with more than 85% of health systems increasing their budgets in response to cyber threats.
One study based on a survey of 144 provider executives by the Healthcare Financial Management Association, found an average increase of 18.3% in digital and IT budgets from 2019 to 2023.
This heightened focus on cybersecurity and technology demonstrates the pivotal role that technology plays when providing effective healthcare, but it’s not ubiquitous among all healthcare players.
There’s a noteworthy exception in the industry:
DPC Clinics: A Different Approach
Unlike traditional healthcare providers who need to constantly invest more in cybersecurity to keep their data safe, most DPC clinics don’t have this concern.
Doctors launching DPC clinics enjoy a distinct advantage – a model where security, digital EMRs, and other digitalization aspects are not just addressed but continually maintained and upgraded.
This contrasts sharply with the scenario painted by the figures quoted above, where the majority of healthcare providers are grappling with budget constraints and cybersecurity threats.
The membership fees paid by doctors to DPC platforms contribute not only to the security of their systems but also to ensuring that their EMRs are as modern as possible.
By entrusting the responsibility of maintaining cybersecurity and digitizing EMRs to a specialized platform, DPC clinics can direct their focus and resources toward the thing that matters most – providing quality patient care.
This model not only ensures a secure and digitized foundation from the beginning but also provides ongoing value through continuous maintenance and improvement.
In a rapidly changing healthcare landscape, DPC clinics leveraging innovative solutions blaze a path forward – one where security and digitization are not burdens but integral components of a seamless healthcare experience.
