The Easiest Way to Start a Business.

There’s no shortage of information. Let’s be honest; there are a million self help books, articles, blogs, tweets in the world that tell you how to be amazing. How to jump straight to the top, fix that problem, get those unattainable customers. There’s some really good advice mixed in there, but there’s also A LOT of fluff. The best way to get good at something new – fast – can be digested in three easy concepts. (A happy shout out to The Cauldron for these nuggets of inspiration.) It all boils down to preparedness.

Mistakes, Mistakes, Mistakes.

No, not making them (although that does come with the territory), but rather learning from the mishaps already committed by others. That means you watch. You evaluate what’s been done, how it’s been done, what went wrong, and how you can do it differently to avoid those same pitfalls. If you’re just starting out in Direct Care, you’re in luck. There are plenty who have gone before you to pave the road. And while most of them have succeeded, there have been a few failures to note. So get all the information you can. How, you’re wondering? So glad you asked.

Talk the Talk!

You don’t have to sit on the sidelines while you figure out your next moves. Ask questions, apply the answers in your head, and visualize the result. The answers you’re looking for aren’t hidden like buried treasure. You know those docs with clinics successfully off the ground? They want to see DPC grow, too. Take Atlas for example. We offer free training, consulting, and support to anyone who asks. While others charge a mountain of money for those same things, we don’t think you should be charged for not cutting corners on your homework. So go ahead, ask all the questions you want.

Jump All The Way In!

You’re ready now. You know what to do, you’ve done the research, you’ve thought about it all ad nauseam. So go do it. All of it.

What we’re trying to say is going all the way in with a proven DPC business model is much more effective than a hybrid model that say, for example, offers 1/2 insurance, 1/2 DPC. A hybrid clinic will probably struggle more because it’s not 100% of either model – kind of like always having one foot out the door in case it doesn’t work out. What’s more, starting with just a few services with a plan to add more (wholesale meds, labs, texting, email, etc.) later could actually hinder growth. Think of it this way. How do you expect to grow if you’re not putting 100% of the value you can offer your patients out there immediately? So wear your heart (and your services) on your sleeve, and don’t look back.

Time is of the essence when you’re making a life change such as starting or transitioning to DPC. But by wrapping your head around the ideas above, you’ll learn the ropes quicker than just dipping one toe in at a time. Much more refreshing that way, too – just ask those who have already jumped in!

Posted by: AtlasMD

June 19, 2015

Recommended Reading: Good Boss, Bad Boss

RecommendedPost02We often get asked for recommended reading lists. We’re delivering! These semi-weekly posts feature a book we highly recommend to learn more about business, philosophy, and different perspectives to help you run your business. Do you have a recommendation that’s not on the list yet? Mention it in the comments!

This Week’s Recommendation: Good Boss, Bad Boss. How to Be The Best and Learn from the Worst. 

Now with a new chapter that focuses on what great bosses really do. Dr. Sutton reveals new insights that he’s learned since the writing of Good Boss, Bad Boss. Sutton adds revelatory thoughts about such legendary bosses as Ed Catmull, Steve Jobs, A.G. Lafley, and many more, and how you can implement their techniques.

If you are a boss who wants to do great work, what can you do about it? Good Boss, Bad Boss is devoted to answering that question. Stanford Professor Robert Sutton weaves together the best psychological and management research with compelling stories and cases to reveal the mindset and moves of the best (and worst) bosses. This book was inspired by the deluge of emails, research, phone calls, and conversations that Dr. Sutton experienced after publishing his blockbuster bestseller The No Asshole Rule. He realized that most of these stories and studies swirled around a central figure in every workplace: THE BOSS. These heart-breaking, inspiring, and sometimes funny stories taught Sutton that most bosses – and their followers – wanted a lot more than just a jerk-free workplace. They aspired to become (or work for) an all-around great boss, somebody with the skill and grit to inspire superior work, commitment, and dignity among their charges.

As Dr. Sutton digs into the nitty-gritty of what the best (and worst) bosses do, a theme runs throughoutGood Boss, Bad Boss – which brings together the diverse lessons and is a hallmark of great bosses:They work doggedly to “stay in tune” with how their followers (and superiors, peers, and customers too) react to what they say and do. The best bosses are acutely aware that their success depends on having the self-awareness to control their moods and moves, to accurately interpret their impact on others, and to make adjustments on the fly that continuously spark effort, dignity, and pride among their people.

Put Good Boss, Bad Boss on your bookshelf. >

Posted by: Atlas MD

June 12, 2015

Are You Caught Up On the Atlas.md Podcasts?

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Need some summer listening material? The Atlas MD docs are easy on the ears, not to mention chalk full of brain food on starting, running and maintaining a DPC clinic. In the latest podcast, Dr. Josh and Dr. Doug catch everyone up on their recent speaking engagements and upcoming events as they continue to spread the word and promote DPC around the country.

Then they give us some really sought after answers to questions everyone’s asking… just maybe not out loud. They provide a full breakdown of not only DPC billing practices, but how billing is handled within the Atlas.md EMR. In addition, the doctors address some of the struggles DPC docs experience with pharmacies – and how we can continue to improve our relationship with pharmacists everywhere.

LISTEN TO PODCAST 22 NOW!

Posted by: AtlasMD

June 10, 2015

Announcing a Status Page for the Atlas.md EMR!

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Many of you are accustomed to reaching out to support when you have questions or concerns with your Atlas.md EMR account. And that’s great! But we also understand that if you had the option, you might choose to investigate things on your own first. Giving you the tools to do what you need to do and do it well is one of the driving forces behind the EMR, which is why we’re launching the Atlas.md EMR Status Page.

You’re always welcome to reach out to support if you think something’s not working right. But now all you advanced users can check the Status Page to see whether there are issues with things like:

  • Main Application
  • System Storage
  • Phone Services
  • Quest
  • Outgoing Emails
  • Outgoing Faxes
  • Payment Services
  • Email Inbox and Files Inbox
  • Shipping Labels

The status will tell you whether the feature is working operationally, is experiencing degraded performance, or even a partial or major outage. We’ll post as many details about the issue as we can, as well as let you know when you can expect to be up and running again. So what are you waiting for? Check out the Status Page over here! >

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 5, 2015

Recommended Reading: 9 ½ Things You’d Do Differently if Disney Ran Your Hospital

RecommendedPost02We often get asked for recommended reading lists. We’re delivering! These semi-weekly posts feature a book we highly recommend to learn more about business, philosophy, and different perspectives to help you run your business. Do you have a recommendation that’s not on the list yet? Mention it in the comments!

This Week’s Recommendation: If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9 1/2 Things You Would Do Differently

Using examples from his work with Disney and as a senior-level hospital executive, author Fred Lee challenges the assumptions that have defined customer service in healthcare. In this unique book, he focuses on the similarities between Disney and hospitals – both provide an “experience,” not just a service. It shows how hospitals can emulate the strategies that earn Disney the trust and loyalty of their guests and employees.

The book explains why standard service excellence initiatives in healthcare have not led to high patient satisfaction and loyalty, and it provides 9 1/2 principles that will help hospitals gain the competitive advantage that comes from being seen as “the best” by their own employees, consumers, and community.

Put If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9 1/2 Things You Would Do Differently on your bookshelf. >

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.

Posted by: AtlasMD

May 6, 2015

Academic DPC: Where Direct Primary Care and Academics Meet.

As physicians and healthcare providers around the country continue to see success with their Direct Primary Care endeavors, they’re spreading the word. Sometimes it’s through social media. Other times it’s through speaking engagements. And yet other times, as is the case with Dr. James Breen, it’s digging deeper into areas previously untapped by DPC. His new blog explores something called Academic DPC:

Academic DPC is the brainchild of Dr. James Breen, an academic family physician with a clinical background in both rural and urban Federally-Qualified Health Center (FQHC), multi-specialty and academic practices.  This site is an attempt to address the ‘blind spot’ that DPC currently holds in the world of academic medicine, offering a host of information, links and resources to help academic physicians and trainees grow in their knowledge of Direct Primary Care.

Thus, the mission of Academic DPC is twofold:

1. To foster awareness of Direct Primary Care in medical education and to support DPC curricular development among academic physicians and learners; and

2. To assemble a community of academic and community physicians and other educators, as well as residents and medical students, who share a common interest in Direct Primary Care.

So let’s cheer Dr. Breen on as he continues to enlighten people in academia about the immense benefits of Direct care!

Posted by: AtlasMD

May 6, 2015

What’s New in the Atlas.md EMR?

This month we’re excited to announce fewer feature updates, but bigger updates. The features below enable you to communicate more easily with your patients, further building your relationship from the ground up.

***NEW!!***
RubiconMD Integration

Request feedback from a specialist right from the app using the RubiconMD. When you enable RubiconMD integration to your Atlas.md account, you’ll be able to request direct (and remote!) feedback from a specialist about a particular client case. Read more about how RubiconMD works.

Introducing Growth Charts
Now you can track your patients’ growth from right inside the vitals and stats section. Find out more about how growth charts use height, weight and BMI information to plot the charts over here.

Newly Redesigned Patient Invoice
Introducing a completely redesigned invoice! Its new features improve clarity and aim to make everyone’s lives easier by helping patients understanding their invoices in a more timely fashion. Oh, and Atlas.md now uses a new PDF rendering engine that will result in much sharper invoices with improved typography. See the breakdown of all your patient’s invoice features here.

Non-NDC Inventory Tracking
This feature has been requested by many of you, and we’re thrilled to announce its launch! Now you’ll have a handle on your non-NDC inventory inside your account. You can track and sell supplements, vitamins or even fitness tracking devices right from your clinic inventory. Read on here about how you have more control over those non-FDA-controlled meds.

Easier Credit Card Updating Process
Now you can easily ask your patients for updated credit card information with just one click. When a patient’s card expires, or doesn’t work properly, you can send them an email which allows them to handle the information update on their own.

Appointment Change Notifications
In addition to appointment confirmation notifications, your patients will also receive a notification if their appointment has been updated. Everyone’s on the same page!

New Date and Time Macro!
Introducing simpler date and time entry for you busy docs. Enter #time for mm:hh, enter #date for mm/dd/yyyy, or simply use #now for a combination of both formats. View all available macros here.

Smarter Family Details Editing
Keep family information synced and as up-to-date as possible. Now if you edit an address or a phone number for a patient who’s part of a family, you’ll have the option to update that data for the other family members as well.

We can’t wait to hear what you think of these new features, and hope they do indeed make your life, and your patient relationships better. Send us a note over at support@atlas.md, or just reply to this email!

Posted by: AtlasMD

May 4, 2015

What if Restaurants, like Hospitals, Refused to Share Their Prices?

Remember that post about what would happen if restaurants billed like hospitals? Well, in another similar yet oh-so-different comparison, we see what happens when the billing process is stuck under the table like gum. In “What if Restaurants, like Hospitals, Refused to Share Their Prices?” by KQED, we learn that Americans hold a serious grudge against the hospital billing process. There’s seemingly no better way to express our frustration than putting our angst side by side with something we love – food.

It all started with this analogy shared on Twitter:

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Christina Farr, the author of the post (and this article) said she was “floored by the volume and breadth of responses, which ranged from laugh-out-loud funny to downright depressing.” At the end of the day, though, it lights a fire under our… well, you know, to tell more people about DPC. Because as incredible as it sounds, DPC docs (and patients!) don’t have to worry about wonky billing practices, misleading costs, networks, or any other billing shenanigans for that matter. 

Billing with DPC is structured just like the rest of of the model – it’s based on an open patient-doctor relationship built on trust. Patients know what they’re being charged before they’re charged. Not only is it a totally transparent process, but it’s reliable and consistent.

We’re not ones to walk away from a problem, but this is one issue we’re thrilled to sidestep in lieu of something better.