Posted by: AtlasMD

August 15, 2018

The Smallest Improvement Will Make the Biggest Difference in Your DPC Practice.

Doctor in white coat and stethescope around neck waving with one handImprovements don’t have to be big to be earth shattering.

Your value proposition as a DPC provider is the equivalent of a very long list by this point. There is no shortage of options to pick from when it comes to improving on a traditional healthcare environment. But for the sake of argument, let’s pick the moment your patients sashay through your door. What happens then?

Your waiting room doesn’t even resemble that of a traditional setting, true. But your patients’ experience isn’t determined purely by aesthetics. It’s in the personality. That’s right. Human contact.

And here’s the thing. A little goes a long way. A very, very long way. Eye contact. A simple greeting. A how’s your day going (don’t forget to listen to the answer). A little guidance on what’s going to happen next. They may seem like obvious things to you, but when a patient comes into your clinic they probably don’t know what to expect. Comfort, yes, but kindness and attentiveness, too? Whoa. Empathy is the name of the game.

Even though you’ve lived and breathed DPC for a while now, your new patients might take a little convincing that things really are as good as they seem. So while your waiting room may have all the amenities like iPads, k-cup coffee makers, a fresh scent and the absence of another human soul with whom to make awkward eye contact, don’t forget that they’re not used to this. The first impression you make goes beyond the comfort of your waiting room and straight into human interaction.

So pay attention to the small things, like a friendly smile. We bet you’ll get one in return. And then? Let the patient-doctor relationship really commence.

Posted by: AtlasMD

August 1, 2018

Four Ways Atlas Grows With Your DPC Practice.

New rule: Growth of any size is to be emphatically celebrated.

Did your patient panel hit a goal #? Did you get new brochures printed for companies in your area? Did you make a new contact at your local chamber? You know just as well as anyone that the little wins can be worthy of a full-blown dance party. Or meme party, depending on your mood.

You also know that Atlas is poised to grow right along with you in the nooks and crannies of day-to-day detail, and in the foundation that helps you expand to multiple locations while maintaining unity throughout your practice. So you can rock growth your way, at your own pace.

Today we want to remind you of a few more ways your Atlas.md EMR helps out with all this.

1. Labs

Atlas allows multiple lab integrations per account for all the providers it supports. This means each account can not only be integrated to different lab providers (Quest,  LabCorp and Mercy Diagnostics to name a few) but you can also have multiple accounts with each of those providers. Let’s break it down further: if your practice has multiple locations, each location can have its own Quest account. Keeps things simple and straightforward… and who doesn’t love straightforward?

One more note on the labs front – don’t forget that with the ELLKAY support we launched earlier this year there are literally very few limits to how many lab integrations can be connected to Atlas!
Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

February 27, 2018

Your Small Practice Has Everything it Needs to Succeed.

Doctor High Fiving a Young PatientYou didn’t go to medical school to fill out paperwork. You also didn’t go to medical school to learn how to run a business. Pressure’s off, though, because Atlas was built for Direct Care docs just like you. The EMR itself is intuitive about things like labs, billing, communication, note taking, practice growth and so much more. We have a pretty good idea what you need and what you don’t; we’re practicing DPC docs and need the same things!

Atlas’ goal is to give you the knowledge and tools you need to build your practice well on the Direct Care platform. Now, having said all that, you need more than an EMR to do your job well. You need counsel from those who know where the pitfalls are and can guide you around them. Someone willing to share their own experience in order to make yours better. Someone who truly supports your practice.

Atlas does that, too.

With Atlas, you don’t just get the EMR to run your day-to-day. You also get a team of conversion consultants, technical support specialists, and virtual staff to handle things like patient file imports, inventory help, and lab pricing imports. When you have help with all that, it frees you up to focus on your patients. When you focus on your patients, your practice succeeds. And when your practice succeeds, DPC makes another dent in the fight for better healthcare.

So go ahead, lean on us. We insist.

Posted by: AtlasMD

January 24, 2018

Growing Your Practice? You Set the Pace. Atlas Will Keep Step.

Growth: your reason, your rules, your pace.

You set out on the Direct Care journey for your reason. Maybe you wanted freedom from the limitations of a traditional healthcare environment. Maybe you were tired of having to fudge your billing codes to make a suit somewhere happy. Maybe the stack of paperwork waiting at home for you each night became too overwhelming. Maybe you wanted to live a little while also helping patients. (It’s called a social life!)

Bottom line? You’re in control. You know your patients, you know your community, you know your strengths. You know how fast or slow you want to grow your practice. If full speed ahead is your thing, that’s great; let’s make it happen. But if slow rolling growth is more your love language, that’s great, too. The beauty is that Atlas is perfectly poised to grow with you no matter how fast your strategic plan moves.

There’s nothing traditional about your practice’s growth.

This is where we say the thing nobody else will say. While growth is good, your happiness is better. Protect that happiness at all costs.

Let’s elaborate. Standard advice is to start your business and grow it as fast as you can for a better initial return on your investment, right? The marketing gurus will yell at you to GROW, GROW, GROW! The blogs will show you a million and one ways to do it.

But you don’t have to listen to them.

If you’re feeling pressured by how society says you should build your practice, take a deep breath and remember who’s in control. You. You chose this life because of the freedoms it offered, and if growing too fast too soon threatens to compromise your reasons – take a step back. Enjoy where you are right now, and slowly plan your next move. Read more

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