Lite Weight Direct Care

​My husband, and fellow doc, wowed me with his dedication to lightweight backpacking when I met him almost 15 years ago during anatomy lab. He had recently hiked a large portion of the Appalachian trail (A.T.), a hike that runs from GA to ME, coursing over 2000 miles of terrain.  He started his hike with a 60 lb pack full of all the gear he believed he required and reduced it to 8 lbs as he realized that everything he carried with him was a burden his shoulders alone could bare.

In 2014, I started my Direct Care journey with the model of lightweight backpacking and The Ideal Medical Practice as my guiding principal.  Picture one guy hiking the A.T. carrying his 60 lb pack on his shoulders.  He is slower, more burdened and less likely to succeed than his counterpart, skipping along with an 8 lb pack.  He can switch to a side trail or move around an obstacle blocking his path with ease.  He's flexible and nimble.

Direct Care, mostly in the form of Direct Primary Care, is taking the medical world by storm.  More and more physicians burn out of being managed and manhandled by corporate-non-medical bosses and insurance-dictated standards.  Direct Care is doctors' medicine for what ails us.  A way to regain passion for medicine, connection with patients, and the satisfaction of controlling your own destiny makes this model a winning career change for many.

But, you worry about personal costs, a lack of protection, issues of loan forgiveness and a lack of support - all thanks to the golden handcuffs you've become used to wearing.  Break away with your 8 lb pack. Start your Direct Care practice without these fears.

Remove the assumption that you need to spend a lot to start your practice; that you need to hire staff; that you need to take out loans; that you need to build out your office space; and that you can't work without the support of others.  The smaller the burden of overhead and startup costs that you carry on your back, the less of a heavy leap it will take to make your first footsteps. 

The Direct Care (lite) model - aka micropractice, aka Ideal Medical Practice, aka low overhead, aka low or no staff model of care - is simple, intentionally.  The less your overhead, the quicker to pay yourself, the more pay per hour worked, and the larger the percentage of every new patient membership stays in your pocket.

The sooner you learn that patients aren't buying your expensive marketing, your fancy build out, your high-end table, or your personalized pharmacy, the sooner you realize they are paying for YOU.  Access to Direct Care docs is unprecedented and unmatched in the Fee For Service world.  You are valuable and you are the value proposition.  All you NEED is who you are - you've already invested so much time and money into becoming Dr. YOU - now you owe it to yourself to value that as your patients already do.  

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