Posted by: AtlasMD

April 15, 2015

What Matters More Than Features?

You can boast about features till you turn blue in the face. And you’ll probably get conversions from it. It’s important to tell your patients what you offer, but that’s not what they really want.

Truth be told, they want the same thing you do. They want the Direct Care lifestyle.

Sure, they like that you’re available 24/7, but what they really care about is that you’ll answer their text at 2 a.m. when their baby spikes a high fever. They like extended appointments, but they truly value being heard. They appreciate wholesale medication prices, but they tell their friends how their doc just keeps on trying to save them money.

So tell your patients about the features you offer. But sell them on the benefits. Luckily for Direct Care docs, backing up feature claims is built right into the business model. When you and your patient act as a team, your vision for your practice can really come to life.

Posted by: AtlasMD

February 3, 2015

An Open Invitation to Be Brilliant.

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To all the docs in a traditional practice who feel trapped. To all the physicians who wrap up each day feeling exhausted, buried behind mountains of paperwork. To all those former med students who thought there would be more patient in patient care.

It’s your turn. 

Your turn to be who you always wanted to be. Provide the kind of patient care you always imagined. Run the practice you always dreamed of. Your turn to be brilliant.

Direct Care is waiting for you, and making the transition isn’t all that difficult. Truth be told, neither is starting your own practice. There are lots of people who want direct care. And lots of people who support it, too.

So before you succumb to the desire to sell tupperware, there are a few things you should know. The way it’s been doesn’t have to be the way it is. Patients want personalized medicine as much as you want to provide it. And finally, change is not only possible, but happening around the country this very minute.

Posted by: AtlasMD

January 28, 2015

Yahoo! Finance: Concierge Model is Good Medicine for Subspecialists and Their Patients

The Direct Care business model is for more than family practice. According to Yahoo! Finance, it’s perfect for subspecialists, too, including cardiology, endocrinology, pulmonology, pediatrics and OB GYN practices.

Leading cardiologist John R. Levinson, MD, PhD, founder of the country’s first concierge subspecialty practice, AllCare Medical, LLC, in Boston, says: “Those specialties where patients have a longitudinal relationship with their doctor to work on chronic problems are an ideal fit for the concierge model.  If you’re the kind of cardiologist who helps patients work on chronic valve disease, coronary disease, or other areas of preventive cardiology, a concierge practice vastly improves your ability to provide the very best care for each and every patient.”

But it’s more than just a good business plan. It’s a good choice for a better quality of life from a provider’s point of view. Michael Friedlander, Principal at national healthcare consulting firm Specialdocs, even went so far as to say that physicians who have adopted the model have “taken their professional lives back.” Dr. Levinson knows firsthand just how good life can be inside the proverbial walls of Direct Care.

“It’s staggering what a change it has made,” asserts Dr. Levinson. “I’m unbelievably happy doing what I’m doing.”

Read the full article over here on Yahoo! Finance. >

Posted by: AtlasMD

November 25, 2014

Disillusioned Physicians Learn about DPC.

It doesn’t take long for the true colors of healthcare’s current condition to shine through.

“I’ve only been in practice for a year and I’m already disillusioned,” said Levis. “I think we spend more of our time doing paperwork than we spend taking care of people. I’m here to explore this concept of direct primary care and learn about its viability.” – Erika Levis, M.D., of Pleasant Hill, Iowa

Levis, along with nearly 40 other family physicians from around the country recently gathered for a workshop to learn everything they could about Direct Primary Care. Many of them had questions about how they could make the model work for them. They quickly learned they had options – that the model is flexible and with some hard work and research, they could make their practice exactly what they’d always dreamed of. Angela Kerschner, MD is already taking advantage of this versatility. Read more

Posted by: AtlasMD

May 18, 2014

When Direct Care Works It WORKS.

Transitioning from insurance-based care into Direct Care isn’t a walk in the park. Cutting the red tape is not necessarily about EASE.

It’s about AFFECT. Affecting patients lives, affecting our own lives as doctors and business owners. It’s about having a stake in the work we do, and being rewarded for doing it well.

Here’s an earnest email from Mary Wulfers. She’s helping her husband run his newly opened Direct Care practice.

We’re really busy. Mike has about 130 new patients and they all seem to want a physical right away, so he’s really really busy. Around 170-180 patients transferred from his old practice, and we’ve obtained and built all those charts as well. I continue to work full time at the office and then some out of necessity, which is just fine. Younger families are really starting to sign up; it’s almost like the word has just gotten out. Last Monday was quite a day, had 17 new patients sign up and our nurse was out sick that day, too.This has been a very rewarding experience in so many ways but a lot of work, too. Out [sic] new website should be online soon, can’t wait to see it. Mike is really happy about some of the new patients he’s getting, some with poor insurance who are so excited to have a good doctor for the first time. How can you beat that?

Seriously, how CAN you beat that?

Posted by: AtlasMD

April 19, 2013

Improve Patient-Doctor Relationships With Shorter Emails

Improve Patient-Doctor Relationships With Shorter Emails

Life Hacker offers help for abbreviating those long emails that no one’s reading. You might be a master of the inbox, but if you’re finding yourself writing novels, take a look at the pointers below.

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