Startup DPC Courses

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Startup DPC Testimonial

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Startup DPC Testimonial

This week, we got a really nice testimonial from Alexandra A. about our Startup DPC book and Sales Funnel Course:

Thank you so much Dr. Thomas!

I read your Startup DPC book at the end of my first year of residency, and it has been such a help as I've started my journey.

Thank you for everything you have done for the burgeoning DPC community.

Thank you to everyone who has picked up a copy of the book or one of the courses - I appreciate all of you!

-Paul Thomas, MD

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Dr. Paul Thomas MD Discusses Personal Branding for Growing Your Medical Practice

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Personal Branding for Direct Primary Care and Direct Speciality Care Doctors

Personal branding is such a huge topic for direct primary care doctors and perhaps even more important for direct specialty care doctors. With personal branding, a physician is demonstrating their value to the community by consistently communicating their character to their audience. There are several mediums to communicate your value and leveraging social media platforms or interacting with the media can be powerful ways to build your personal brand.

In this video, I give doctors 8 simple steps to start building their personal brand. If you love this content, you can read more in our book or take our course on personal branding, found here.

Eight Simple steps to build your personal Brand

  1. Understand that you are your personal brand - you can demonstrate that you’re there to help people in your community.

  2. Get professional head shots - these can make a huge difference in attracting new patients to your practice. Get photos in your office and in your community.

  3. Take any speaking engagement you can get - speak to school students, adults in the community, at libraries, at pitch competitions and beyond.

  4. Share about these speaking engagements on your social media channels.

  5. Share about these speaking engagements on your blog - this will help you reach a broader audience and improve your search engine optimization.

  6. Demonstrate that you’re an expert in your field - show people how you’re making people’s lives better by sewing up a laceration or improving their health in a tangible way.

  7. Reach out to the media and tell them what you do - you should send out a press release to the media each time you take the next step with your business. Most time, you will not hear anything, but when a producer features you, it will be a home run.

  8. Repeat - once you do all of the above, you have to do it again. You have to come up with creative ways to engage with your audience. If you do this consistently, you’ll be able to attract more patients to your practice.

HOW CAN I LEARN MORE ABOUT STARTING A DIRECT PRIMARY CARE PRACTICE?

If you enjoyed reading this blog post and if you want to learn more about starting and growing your direct primary care practice, look no further than our book and our courses on how to start and grow your direct primary care practice. We at Startup DPC have begun compiling some of the best content available on this blog, in our book, and in our courses.

The best place to start is to take our Direct Primary Care Business Plan course, available here. From there, you can learn how to attract new patients to your direct primary care practice and how to find the perfect location or build out the practice of your dreams.

Thanks for reading and watching, and best of luck in your direct primary care journey!

-Dr. Paul Thomas with Startup DPC

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How do you grow your Direct Primary Care Practice in the First Year?

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How do you Grow your Direct Primary Care Practice in the First Year?

This week I got a nice email from someone who purchased our Startup DPC book. Here’s what they had to say:

When you first started out, aside from social media, what do you think is the best way to market to people to gain patients? Which population of patients were you most successful with?

There are so many things that you can do to grow your direct primary care practice in the first year. When it comes to marketing, it’s all about delivering a consistent message through the most powerful channels at your disposal.

For me, I started by leveraging my social media channels, engaging in activities that strengthened my personal and business brand, and leveraged that success and momentum to reach out to journalists and media outlets in my community.

Once the word got out about our affordable and accessible healthcare service in Detroit, the patients followed. Social media channels typically reach a smaller audience, but they can reach a larger audience with a viral post or a post that gets shared several times in the community.

Traditional media outlets can amplify your voice and allow you to reach more people in your community. My strategy is to leverage the small wins, which can build toward bigger wins and bigger media coverage opportunities.

Steps We Took to Grow Our Direct Primary Care Practice in the First Year

Here’s what we did when we first started out to grow our direct primary care practice:

Frankly, you need to hustle. One of the things I write in my book is “If you’re bored, you’re doing it wrong.”

You need to take advantage of the time that you have to get the word out about your practice. You need to fill your calendar with meetings - meet with business owners, political leaders, teachers, librarians, human resource directors, and others - to teach people about your new and different business.

I teach people how to do this in my book and in my courses, so if you want to take a deeper dive and start using these powerful tools, I show you exactly how to do it in my courses.

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day,

-Dr. Paul Thomas with Startup DPC and Plum Health DPC

HOW CAN I LEARN MORE ABOUT STARTING AN DIRECT PRIMARY CARE PRACTICE?

If you enjoyed reading this blog post and if you want to learn more about starting and growing your direct primary care practice, look no further than our book and our courses on how to start and grow your direct primary care practice. We at Startup DPC have begun compiling some of the best content available on this blog, in our book, and in our courses.

The best place to start is to take our Direct Primary Care Business Plan course, available here. From there, you can learn how to attract new patients to your direct primary care practice and how to find the perfect location or build out the practice of your dreams.

Thanks for reading and watching, and best of luck in your direct primary care journey!

-Dr. Paul Thomas with Startup DPC

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Can You Have a Successful Practice and See Five Patients Each Day?

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Every day, primary care doctors are running from room to room, having less and less time to spend with their patients. That’s because our current system incentivizes doctors to see more and more patients in less and less time. Doctors lose out because they don’t have enough time to invest in the relationship with patients, and patients lose out because they don’t have enough time to get the excellent medical care that they deserve.

But what if there was a better way?

In this podcast episode hosted by Brent Lacey MD and the Scope of Practice, we explore what it looks like to start and grow a direct primary care practice. In this model, the relationship between doctor and patient is paramount. Therefore, there is a huge emphasis on creating enough time for doctor and patient to spend together, creating enough time and space for the delivery of excellent medical care.

Here’s what the Scope of Practice had to say about it:

Episode 20 – The Direct Primary Care (DPC) model is disrupting the marketplace of the modern healthcare industry.  It’s a good thing too, since the U.S. is projecting a massive shortage of physicians over the next 20 years.  Dr. Paul Thomas has become a national expert in the DPC model, having successfully built his own direct primary care practice over the last few years.

In this model, he sees 5-6 patients a day, makes a middle six-figure salary, and has tremendous patient satisfaction scores.  If that sounds too good to be true, it almost is.  Work less and make good money?  And it’s better for your patients?  And it saves them money too?  No, this is not a scam, this is a phenomenal business model!

Whether you’re interested in direct primary care or not, this episode has got some great information for you!  Dr. Thomas shares his incredible business savvy to help us learn how we can modify our own practice to make more money, have a better lifestyle, and yet still help our patients more!

“Direct primary care is ‘concierge medicine for everyone else.’  It’s a membership model for primary care that makes health care affordable for the average person.”

 – Dr. Paul Thomas

Contact Dr. Thomas:

HOW CAN I LEARN MORE ABOUT STARTING A DIRECT PRIMARY CARE PRACTICE?

If you enjoyed reading this blog post and if you want to learn more about starting and growing your direct primary care practice, look no further than our book and our courses on how to start and grow your direct primary care practice. We at Startup DPC have begun compiling some of the best content available on this blog, in our book, and in our courses.

The best place to start is to take our Direct Primary Care Business Plan course, available here. From there, you can learn how to attract new patients to your direct primary care practice and how to find the perfect location or build out the practice of your dreams.

Thanks for reading and watching, and best of luck in your direct primary care journey!

-Dr. Paul Thomas with Startup DPC

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Leveraging Your Personal Brand to Grow Your Direct Primary Care Practice

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This week was amazing in that I had a post go viral on LinkedIn. I’ve been posting weekly on my social media accounts for the last 3 to 4 years about my work with Direct Primary Care and our practice Plum Health DPC and this is the first time that I’ve had a post go viral.

Here’s the post in full from LinkedIn. If we’re not connected on LinkedIn, please feel free to reach out:

This focus on virality may seem like vanity, but it has important implications for our business at Plum Health and for the broader direct primary care movement. Here’s why going viral is important:

  • builds awareness for my personal and professional brands

  • gives me credibility as an authority on direct primary care, house calls, and health care in Detroit and beyond

  • increases traffic to our website, Plum Health DPC, as that link is at the bottom of the post

  • I can now use this post as a peg to engage with journalists, generating more news, more engagement, and getting more attention for my business

  • this post has increased new membership/sales for our direct primary care practice, Plum Health DPC

Our viral post about making house calls in Detroit has now reached 1.5 million people via LinkedIn

Our viral post about making house calls in Detroit has now reached 1.5 million people via LinkedIn

With that being said, I’m so excited to launch our newest course, Leveraging Your Personal Brand to Grow Your Direct Primary Care Practice. I want to teach you everything I know about starting and growing a Direct Primary Care practice, and one of the most important lessons that I can teach you is how to use your personal brand to grow your practice. You can take the course, here.

HOW CAN I LEARN MORE ABOUT STARTING A DIRECT PRIMARY CARE PRACTICE?

If you enjoyed reading this blog post and if you want to learn more about starting and growing your direct primary care practice, look no further than our book and our courses on how to start and grow your direct primary care practice. We at Startup DPC have begun compiling some of the best content available on this blog, in our book, and in our courses.

The best place to start is to take our Direct Primary Care Business Plan course, available here. From there, you can learn how to attract new patients to your direct primary care practice and how to find the perfect location or build out the practice of your dreams.

Thanks for reading and watching, and best of luck in your direct primary care journey!

-Dr. Paul Thomas with Startup DPC

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Freeing Doctors from the Fee-for-Service Rat Race

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Doctors Are Stuck in the Fee-for-Service Rat Race

So many doctors are stuck in the unsatisfying fee-for-service rat race and they need a hand getting out of that cycle. However, they don’t know which resources to use and they don’t know the best tools to help them make the transition from fee-for-service to Direct Primary Care.

I’m really proud of the Startup DPC book and the Startup DPC courses that we’ve put together on this site, and how they’ve helped so many doctors take the leap from an unfulfilling fee-for-service practice to an amazing direct primary care experience.

One such doctor just sent me a very kind email and it made my day:

HOW CAN I LEARN MORE ABOUT STARTING A DIRECT PRIMARY CARE PRACTICE?

If you enjoyed reading this blog post and if you want to learn more about starting and growing your direct primary care practice, look no further than our book and our courses on how to start and grow your direct primary care practice. We at Startup DPC have begun compiling some of the best content available on this blog, in our book, and in our courses.

The best place to start is to take our Direct Primary Care Business Plan course, available here. From there, you can learn how to attract new patients to your direct primary care practice and how to find the perfect location or build out the practice of your dreams.

Thanks for reading and watching, and best of luck in your direct primary care journey!

-Dr. Paul Thomas with Startup DPC

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The Five Criteria You Need to Meet to Start a Successful Direct Primary Care Practice

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The Five Criteria You Must Meet to Start a Successful Direct Primary Care Practice

In order to build a successful direct primary care practice, you must meet the following 5 criteria:

  1. Solves a customer pain or addresses a need

    You have to ask yourself if you’re creating something valuable for your community

  2. Provides a new service or reaches a new market

    Are you bringing something to your community that hasn’t existed before? Are you reaching an until-now underserved segment of the population? If yes to either (or both) of these questions, you’re off to a good start

  3. Builds on an existing competitive advantage

    Are you a kind, caring, responsive, personable, and trustworthy doctor? If so, you’re going to do very well in the Direct Primary Care model.

  4. Fits you!

    Are you passionate about this work? Can you work every day on this challenge of starting a direct primary care practice with enthusiasm and gusto? If so, you’ll be miles ahead of your competition.

  5. Has potential to be profitable

    Have you considered the price points at which you’ll be profitable with 300 patients, 400 patients, or 500 patients? Have you crafted your business plan to help you succeed in this model? If so, you will be a great success in the DPC model.

These are crucial points for the direct primary care doctor who is starting a DPC practice.

These are crucial points for the direct primary care doctor who is starting a DPC practice.

HOW CAN I LEARN MORE ABOUT STARTING A DIRECT PRIMARY CARE PRACTICE?

If you enjoyed reading this blog post and if you want to learn more about starting and growing your direct primary care practice, look no further than our book and our courses on how to start and grow your direct primary care practice. We at Startup DPC have begun compiling some of the best content available on this blog, in our book, and in our courses.

The best place to start is to take our Direct Primary Care Business Plan course, available here. From there, you can learn how to attract new patients to your direct primary care practice and how to find the perfect location or build out the practice of your dreams.

Thanks for reading and watching, and best of luck in your direct primary care journey!

-Dr. Paul Thomas with Startup DPC

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Direct Primary Care Doctors Embrace the Startup DPC Book and Courses

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Where to find the best information for starting a direct primary care practice

Direct primary care doctors are trying to get the best information on how to start and grow their direct primary care practices. There’s a lot of good resources in the DPC ecosystem, but we want to deliver the best content that helps doctors transform the way they approach starting and growing their DPC practices.

Dr. Prisiliano Salas recently took our Sales Funnel course, and he had great things to say about the process. Check out his LinkedIn Post, here:

Testimonial for Startup DPC book and Courses

Post from Dr. Prisiliano Salas about the Startup DPC Book and Startup DPC Courses:

Just finished a course by Paul Thomas, M.D. from Plum Health DPC and #startupdpc. Let me just say that Paul knows his stuff. I met him in 2018 at the Family Medicine DPC Summit. He gave a lecture about his experience starting a #DirectPrimaryCare practice and using social media marketing strategies. I've been following him on/off during this time but had not fully made the jump onto social platforms the way he describes it. Now two years later his practice growth is testament to this method. He's full and added a new doc! On top of that he remains faithful to his mission, to empower the #DPC community with his knowledge and reproducible success. I'm now ready to embrace social media to share my knowledge and experience with my patients (though still working up to youtube to get more camera ready 😎 ). Take one of his courses or read one of his 2 books, he won't disappoint. Keep the momentum going!

Thank you so much for the shout out Dr. Salas! and best of luck with your direct primary care practice. I know that you’ll have every advantage on attracting new patients after taking our Sales Funnel course.

-Dr. Paul Thomas with Startup DPC

Thank you so much for the shout out Dr. Salas! and best of luck with your direct primary care practice. I know that you’ll have every advantage on attracting new patients after taking our Sales Funnel course.

Thank you so much for the shout out Dr. Salas! and best of luck with your direct primary care practice. I know that you’ll have every advantage on attracting new patients after taking our Sales Funnel course.

More about Prisiliano Salas, MD

To learn more about Dr. Prisiliano Salas, MD, check out his practice, Salveo Direct Care, or read his bio, here:

Dr. Prisiliano Salas is a Board Certified Family Medicine physician practicing in the Medical Center in San Antonio. His practice is Salveo Direct Care, one of the first Direct Primary Care clinics in San Antonio and Bexar County TX. In this new model of practice, Dr. Salas offers membership-based care without the limitations that health insurance can have on primary care visits. His mission is to deliver convenient and accessible health care services in San Antonio and across the state of Texas. He is a graduate of The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX and holds a Plant-based nutrition certification from Cornell University - T. Collin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies.

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"Great Sales Funnel Course!" and HIPAA Protected Communications

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Direct Primary Care Sales Funnel Course Receives Praise

One of Startup DPC docs recently completed the Sales Funnel Course and had this to say about the experience:

Hi Paul, great sales funnel course! I will start implementing what I learned immediately.  When you set up MailChimp for newsletters, how do you share your subscriber’s data and be HIPAA compliant with your patients? MailChimp doesn’t have a BAA for PHI. Any other recommendations?

Thanks for your insight.

First of all, I’m glad people are enjoying and getting a ton of value out of the Sales Funnel Course. I’ve had several docs talk about how helpful it has been in helping them attract new patients for their direct primary care practices.

Using Email Marketing Platforms to Grow Your Direct Primary Care Practice

Second, I don't put my patients info into MailChimp unless they enroll themselves. If someone goes to my site, they can sign up for my email blasts by putting in their email address online, via a form submission on our website. I’ve synced my MailChimp account with my Plum Health SquareSpace account. Therefore, if anyone submits their email address on my website, they automatically are asked if they’d like to join the email list. If they agree to MailChimp’s terms and conditions, they are then made a part of my email list.

If set up correctly, this is more or less an automated process. I then send out monthly email blasts to those folks. Here’s the form as it appears on our Plum Health DPC website.

This is the site on my Plum Health DPC website where folks can submit their contact information. If they complete this form and agree to MailChimp’s terms of service, we can send them emails whenever we like. We usually send monthly updates.

This is the site on my Plum Health DPC website where folks can submit their contact information. If they complete this form and agree to MailChimp’s terms of service, we can send them emails whenever we like. We usually send monthly updates.

For my patients, I send them notes via my EMR. There's a function in ATLAS that allows me to send a group email to all of my patients. 

As a side note, I have all of my patients waive my obligation to their HIPAA rights in the contract, which is roughly 7 pages long. That way, I have some protection for any emails, phone calls, or text messages. 

- Dr. Paul Thomas with Startup DPC