Dr. Paul Thomas on the Soul of Enterprise Podcast

Dr. Paul Thomas on the Soul of Enterprise

In February 2022, Dr. Paul Thomas was featured in an episode of The Soul of Enterprise with Ron Baker and Ed Kless. In the episode we discuss all things Direct Primary Care! and they plug my book, Startup DPC:

Dr. Paul WROTE THE BOOK on Direct Primary Care. It’s called Startup DPC. Ron recommends this book because you can learn a lot from Dr. Paul’s experience. Here’s the Amazon link.

Here’s the full interview.

Dr. Paul Thomas is a family medicine physician who started Plum Health DPC in 2016, right out of residency. He is a board-certified Family Medicine Physician.

Direct Primary Care (DPC) is a model of primary care that is growing in popularity as an alternative to the traditional fee-for-service model. In a DPC practice, patients pay a monthly or annual membership fee for access to comprehensive primary care services. This fee typically covers all office visits and DPC practices offer at-cost medications, lab work, and imaging services to lower the cost of care for patients.

One of the benefits of DPC is that it allows for more time for the physician to spend with each patient. This is because DPC practices typically have fewer patients than traditional practices, which allows for more personalized care. Additionally, DPC patients often have direct access to their physician through phone or email, which can lead to quicker resolution of health concerns.

Another benefit of DPC is that it can help to lower healthcare costs for patients. By eliminating the need for insurance and reducing the number of unnecessary tests and procedures, DPC can save patients money in the long run.

Dr. Paul Thomas has been offering DPC services for the last 6 years and has seen positive results in the health of his patients. He believes that the DPC model allows for better continuity of care and a stronger physician-patient relationship, which leads to better health outcomes.

A big thanks to Ed Kless and Ron Baker for highlighting the work of Dr. Thomas and Plum Health DPC on The Soul of Enterprise!

-Paul Thomas MD with Startup DPC

How to get Media Coverage for your Direct Primary Care Practice

How to get Media Coverage for your Direct Primary Care Practice

Getting media coverage for your direct primary care practice is a challenge and an opportunity. You probably did NOT go to journalism school, and you probable have NOT worked at a public relations firm, so you probably don’t have an extensive list of media contacts.

That’s okay! We’re going to start building a list for you.

First thing, read your local publications and listen to your local public radio and watch your local television stations. Who is reporting on health care issues in your community? Can you reach out to them on Twitter or send them an email? If so, you can start to build a relationship with this journalist and become a trusted source for them.

Journalists need to quote experts when they write a news article, and you could be that go-to expert for their next piece on health care.

Reach Out to Journalists When You Have a Newsworthy Event

You might be launching your practice, or hosting a ribbon cutting ceremony at your office, or celebrating 5 years in business. If so, you should send an email or a text with a press release to all of the journalists on your media list. If they’ve worked with you in the past and you’ve helped them on a story in the past, they are more likely to help you with your news-worthy story.

This is where building relationships is helpful! The more relationships and the stronger relationships you have with folks in the media, the easier it will be for you to tell your stories about your practice.

An Example of Getting Media for our Direct Primary Care Practice

Last month, I was gearing up to speak at the Michigan Academy of Family Physicians annual conference on Mackinac Island. I looked through the speaker list and I reached out to everyone I wasn’t connected with. I wrote a quick “my name is Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health DPC in Detroit, and I’m looking forward to seeing you and meeting you on the Island.”

The moderator for the first session for the day was Robin Erb, a local journalist with Bridge Magazine in Detroit. She responded to my message on LinkedIn and she expressed interest in writing about our practice. I shared my schedule with her, and we had lunch together and talked about Plum Health. We also met up on Mackinac, I attended her session, she attended my presentation, and a few days later, she published the article about Direct Primary Care and our practice, as well as the broader DPC movement.

In short, if you want media coverage for your DPC practice, you have to connect with journalists via email or on social media, and give them something newsworthy to discuss in their article about you.

@plumhealthdpc Direct primary care is a relatively new practice model for health care delivery - we had a great write up in Bridge Michigan that goes deep on the topic and gets into the nuance and details #DirectPrimaryCare #PlumHealth #BridgeMichigan #RobinErb #HealthCare #HealthCareJournalism #DPCMovement #PrimaryCare #Michigan #Detroit ♬ original sound - plumhealthdpc

Best of luck! Here’s a little inspirational video on how you can get media coverage for your DPC practice:

@plumhealthdpc Getting media coverage for your direct primary care practice can be difficult, and in this short video I breakdown how we reached out to a local journalist to help them tell our story at Plum Health DPC! #directprimarycare #plumhealth #familymedicine #bridgemichigan #detroit #healthcare ♬ Music Instrument - Gerhard Siagian

-Paul Thomas, MD with Startup DPC

Startup DPC Book Reaches 82 ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Reviews

Startup DPC Book Reaches 82 ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Reviews

Today, the Startup DPC Book reached 82 five star reviews! I’m really excited about this because it has helped so many doctors start and grow their own direct primary care practices. I really love seeing doctors pick up this book and use it to build their own practices and take care of patients on their own terms. I’m especially excited that more and more doctors are making health care more affordable and more accessible for people in their communities.

Here’s what some of our most recent reviewers had to say:

5.0 out of 5 stars DPC for the win

Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2021

Verified Purchase

This is the third book I have read to help me get started on my DPC journey and it’s by far the most complete. Thank you so much for putting pen to paper and really getting the most information into one book. Learned quite a few things I did not know. Definitely a great book for anyone considering DPC

Only Book Necessary to Start a DPC

Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2021

Verified Purchase

Fantastic and comprehensive guide to starting your own DPC. Whether you are coming out of the gate from residency or converting your current practice, Dr. Paul Thomas has written an easy to follow strategy to set you up for success. My copy has so many sticky notes of great advice and further resources to dive into also. This is the one book you need to help you begin a thriving DPC practice and see it grow. Highly recommend this and will be referencing back to it often!

Thank you for reading, and thank you for helping us get to this milestone!

The Startup DPC Book Reaches 82 ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Reviews - thank you for helping us reach this milestone!

Here’s what I wrote about the book when I first published it on May 5th, 2020. I believe that it still holds true today:

We all know that our current healthcare system is broken, especially for primary care doctors and their patients. Primary care physicians have to see more and more patients in less and less time in order to keep up with declining reimbursement from insurance companies. This leads to rushed office visits, missed opportunities for genuine connections between doctors and their patients, frustrated patients, and burned out doctors. But it doesn't have to be this way.

Direct primary care offers a real opportunity at a fulfilling practice of medicine. It’s a golden opportunity to restructure your time, build the practice of your dreams, and spend your best hours taking care of patients and prioritizing your family life, rather than wasting time as a data entry clerk for an insurance company. In short, direct primary care gives you the opportunity to become the doctor that you're meant to be.

But how do you get this done? How do you go from a less-than-fulfilled doctor in the dysfunctional fee-for-service system to an empowered, entrepreneurial direct primary care physician capable of starting their own successful DPC practice?

The answers you're seeking are in this book!

My name is Dr. Paul Thomas, and I'm a Board Certified Family Medicine Doctor - I launched my own direct primary care practice straight out of residency in Southwest Detroit with over $100,000 in student loan debt. In my first month of practice, I had 7 patients. A few years later, we have over 700 patients, and I've hired a medical assistant and a second family doctor to help me manage the growing demand for our services.

I was named the entrepreneur of the year in 2018 by the Detroit Vanguard Awards, I gave a TEDxDetroit talk on direct primary care, and I've been featured in the Detroit Free Press, Reason Magazine, CBS Radio, Detroit's ABC affiliate WXYZ, Detroit's NBC affiliate WDIV, and Crain's Detroit Business. I've also been a speaker multiple times at the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) DPC Summit, the Direct Primary Care Nuts and Bolts Conference, and the Hint Health DPC Summit.

In this book, I'm going to teach you everything I know about direct primary care and about starting a successful direct primary care practice. Here's a smattering of the topics that we'll cover:

- How to have the right mindset to be successful in your direct primary care journey
- How to become the doctor you're meant to be
- What a typical day looks like for a direct primary care doctor
- How to finance your direct primary care startup
- How to raise money for your DPC practice
- How to overcome a lack of business training in medical school and residency
- How to construct the perfect timeline for starting your DPC practice
- How to write a business plan for your direct primary care clinic
- How to start a direct primary care practice straight out of residency
- How to convert an existing fee-for-service clinic to a direct primary care practice while remaining profitable
- What's the difference between direct primary care and concierge medicine
- How to hire a second doctor for your DPC practice
- How to find a profitable location for your DPC practice
- How to negotiate a lease deal for your medical practice
- How to build out the medical office of your dreams
- How to attract patients to your direct primary care practice
- How to brand your practice so you stand out in your marketplace
- How to build your personal brand to grow your direct primary care practice

And so much more!

By picking up this book, you may be taking your first step in starting your direct primary care practice, or you may be taking the next big leap in growing your direct primary care practice. I know that whoever you are, and whichever stage you're at in your DPC journey, this book will inspire you and demonstrate in concrete methods how you can be even more successful.

Here's to your success in the growing DPC movement! - Dr. Paul Thomas

Which Medications Do I Need to Start and Grow a Direct Primary Care Practice?

Which Medications Do I Need to Start and Grow a Direct Primary Care Practice?

Family medicine doctors who are starting direct primary care practices often ask me which medication they need for their direct primary care practice. There are literally thousands of medication that you can order for your practice, and those might include:

• Amlodipine

• Amoxicillin

• Atorvastatin

• Aviane

• Bacitracin

• Benzonatate

• Boosterix (TDAP)

• Buspirone

• Bupropion

• Carvedilol

• Cephalexin

• Clobetasol

• Ciprofloxacin

• Citalopram

• Clindamycin

• Dexamethasone

• Dicyclomine

And on, and on, and on….

That being said, my best advice is to order only what you need for your patients when your patients need it. Otherwise, you could end up with a huge inventory of medication that may expire overtime, resulting in a financial loss. Most medications have a shelf life of 12 months to 18 months, so start by ordering a few medications in small quantities, especially if you’re starting from 0 patients or under 100 patients.

This may change if you have a full panel of patients. Simply look at their med lists and order the medications that these patients commonly use. Keep those medications stocked in your inventory, and dispense and re-order as needed.

Right now, our medication inventory is over $7,000, but we started with a $100 order of Lexapro, Amoxicillin, Albuterol, Lidocaine, and a box of Nitrile Gloves.

How to Order medications for your direct primary care practice

In order to get medications into your practice, you need to set up a relationship with a medication wholesaler. We have a contract with AndaMeds and Henry Schein, but you can also contract with Bonita Pharmaceuticals and others. We get free shipping when we order $100 worth of medications at a time, and we get overnight/next day delivery. Most of our meds usually arrive at 10 am the next day if we order by 9:30 pm. Isn’t that fast?

AndaMeds literally has thousands of medications to choose from. As we use up an existing supply of Omeprazole or Metformin or Sumatriptan, we go into AndaMeds and place the medication we need in the cart. Once the cart gets “full” meaning there’s over $100 worth of medications or supplies in there, we’ll order it/close out the cart and have the meds delivered next day. It’s just that easy!

See my video below for more information:

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

Direct Primary Care Master Class is on August 20th and 21st!

Get Ready - We're Hosting a DPC Master Class 💯

We're so excited to host the Direct Primary Care Master Class at our office on August 20th and 21st, 2021!

We're going to teach you everything you need to know to get up and running with your DPC practice 🚀🚀🚀 from writing a business plan, to attracting patients, to SEO, to leasing and building out a new office. 

We're STOKED and hope you can join us for this one-of-a-kind event 🙌🙌

- Drs. Paul Thomas MD and Raquel Orlich DO 

The Direct Primary Care Master Class 2021 is happening on August 20th and 21st, 2021 in Detroit Michigan.

Which Domain Name is Best for My Direct Primary Care Practice?

Which Domain name is Best for my Direct Primary Care Practice?

I just presented at the DPC Summit and I got a great question!

My name is ______, and I just graduated from my residency program in [the wester United States]. I attended the DPC Summit this weekend to gather information in prep to open my own clinic (from scratch) end of this year.

Thank you so much for your great tips and general advice on marketing/branding. I am in the process of finalizing my clinic name and was planning on using Direct Primary Care with a shortened URL using DPC (vs Family Med or Family Practice).

However, several attendees advised (in the comments section) being careful about using DPC in the URL, something about having to say "delta papa charlie" when they spell out the name?

I see that you use DPC in your URL and social media handles, so could you provide any quick advice about this?

Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

Here’s my response:

_____, Great question! I would prefer to NOT have “DPC” in my domain name as it can be difficult to say over the phone and confusing for prospective patients. Ultimately, people want a great doctor and an understandable service, and the “DPC” part can be confusing initially.

If you can pick a name and get a domain without the “DPC”, that would be ideal. BUT sometimes all the good domains are taken, as in our case.

Plum Health dot com was taken, but Plum Health DPC dot com was available, so I bought that domain.

One day I'll work up the chutzpah to buy the domain "PlumHealth.com" as that would be the ideal domain name for our business - it is simple and easy to relate over the phone to a prospective patient. It’s also easier to type as fewer characters lead to fewer mistakes.

If you can buy the domain name related to the name you want, WITHOUT the DPC, that's the best case scenario. Sometimes, people buy domains and just sit on them, waiting to make a buck, and that’s frustrating.

You can peruse what’s available by searching on SquareSpace.com or Wix.com or by searching Go Daddy dot com. Here’s the search result for Plum Health on Go Daddy currently.

I hope this helps!

- Paul

Another Amazing Review for the Startup DPC Book

Another Five Star Review for the Startup DPC Book

We love our readers! Thank you to Akilah De Aza for your recent review of our Startup DPC book! We appreciate you!!!

Akilah De Aza

5.0 out of 5 stars Must read if considering opening your own DPC practice.

Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2021

Verified Purchase

I have not yet started my DPC practice, so I do not know what, if anything, this book might be missing. That said, I feel extremely comfortable following the directions in this book to maximize my chances of having a successful practice. Dr. Thomas wrote this book in a very approachable, easy to read manner that allows the reader to feel comfortable with what they don’t know. He has made sure to be respectful to everyone in all respects in this book. He has referenced other books for additional information. He has outlined exact dollar amount for expected costs. He has shared specific details about how he obtained money to start his own practice, some thing that was very helpful to me, and quite generous and forthcoming of him. 6 stars for this book! I could not be more grateful. I’m not even done reading it yet.
This is a must read for anyone considering starting a DPC practice and I even want for my family members to read the book so that they understand why I feel so confidently about something so brand new to me. Dr. Thomas and this book are Godsends.

Best Blood Pressure Cuff for my Direct Primary Care Practice

The best blood pressure cuff for your direct primary care practice

I get a lot of requests for the best blood pressure cuff for a direct primary care practice, so here it is! I love using the OMRON 907XL. It’s the best option out there. You can wall mount it. You can plug it in or use battery power. It comes with at least 4 different cuff sizes, and most importantly, it is extremely reliable and accurate.

As a family physician, I’m taking blood pressure readings every single appointment slot, so I’m using my Omron 907XL at least 5 to 10 times each day. The model that I have, I have been using for the last 4 years without an issue. I do have a manual cuff on hand just in case the Omron can’t get the job done, but I haven’t used it in years.

If you’re looking for a less expensive option for your patients to take home, consider the OMRON Silver BP Cuff. This one costs about $60 and is a good loaner to your patients who may want or need to get at-home blood pressure readings.