What first appealed to you about the DPC model?
I'll never forget the first time I saw a DPC practice in person. It was with Dr. Josh Umbehr in Wichita. Just seeing the freedom he was experiencing with the highest touch with his patients and his own satisfaction of doing what was best for them was refreshing. In one simple morning, the only question I had leaving his office was when I would start DPC.
You are a DPC doctor who also decided to become a health plan advisor. Why?
I've had an extensive background and interest in the rising costs of healthcare for the last twenty years. As a political science major in college, I wrote my capstone paper on it. Also, for four years of college, part of my job with a local neurosurgical group was filing HCFA 1500 forms on paper, mailing them, auditing payments, and EOBs. It was bewildering then, and it sparked an interest in the "backside" of medicine for me.
Fast forward as I got into my DPC practice, I struggled to get brokers to work with me. Whether it was their lack of understanding, more work, or potential commission decreases, one way or the other my top prospective businesses for DPC would end the conversation after talking to their broker. I attended the Health Rosetta summit in Denver looking for partners to work with and was immediately inspired by those around me to pursue it myself.
Primary care and benefits advising have an incredibly similar approach. We address the chief complaints of employers and their health plan and costs and provide prescriptions/solutions to help them. The approach and conversations feel much like taking care of patients but with the impact of whole groups of people.
What are the best and worst things about practicing DPC?
The best thing about DPC is the elimination of misaligned incentives. That alone provides the freedom necessary to deepen the relationships we have with patients and the inherent trust it builds in our treatment approaches. The worst thing about DPC is that health plans/insurances/government haven't fully adopted it for all Americans. Hang tight, we're working on that...
What would you say to people who worry that DPC makes the primary care shortage worse?
I don't believe so. In fact, I believe when we invest in primary care and structure the payment system around it in a fashion that aligns incentives and meets the quadruple aim, primary care becomes a more alluring specialty for students and residents to pursue. It may actually be the saving grace of primary care and the health system as a whole.
Who else in healthcare inspires you, and why?
All the surrounding business leaders within healthcare that do not have face-to-face interactions with patients yet share a primary goal of eliminating value-extracting parties and adding value to the healthcare experience inspire me.
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