Latest / DPC Life: Direct Primary Care Podcast / How to Escape Physician Burnout by Starting a Direct Primary Care Practice

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How to Escape Physician Burnout by Starting a Direct Primary Care Practice · DPC Life: Direct Primary Care Podcast

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  If I could have, I would have started sooner.
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  This is what it's supposed to have been all along.
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  And so that's I decided to just start the process.
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  You have to thrive in environments that are harsh and
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  you have to do your job and show up for patients regardless of
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  where you're at and what's going on.
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  And so I'm here and I'm open and willing to see people everyday,
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  same day, next day. And so I just say just go for.
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  It I'm Doctor Ann Gonzalez. A lot of women are opening
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  direct primary care practices right now, and from the outside
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  it looks independent and flexible.
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  But what I. Keep hearing privately is how
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  much of it they're carrying alone.
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  Every decision, every system, every patient situation, there
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  isn't really a colleague down the hall anymore.
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  So we're doing something a little different.
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  We're hosting a small in person gathering for women in DPC.
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  It's not lectures or conference, just conversations about how
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  practices actually run, what's harder than expected, and what
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  we have experienced. And honestly, that's also why I
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  built the systems I use now. Welcome to DPC Life, the podcast
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  where independent doctors share real stories, bold ideas, and
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  the freedom of doing medicine on your own terms.
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  I'm your host, Doctor Anne Gonzalez, and together we'll
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  explore the winds, the struggles, and everything in
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  between. Let's dive in.
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  Today my guest is Doctor Lindsay Cress.
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  She is a family medicine physician, W Virginian turned S
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  Carolinian, now in North Myrtle. What is it?
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  Little River, right? Technically.
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  Little River, That's right. OK.
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  Yes. And we met a couple years.
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  It was almost two years ago now, I think.
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  Yeah. Yeah, September it.
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  Was and we met at the mastermind in Greenville and I don't know,
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  let me see if I was trying to show.
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  I have a picture from from the mastermind and I was cleaning
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  out pictures off my phone because my phone is completely
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  full and I can't do anything. Right.
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  And I'm just like going back and looking and racing.
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  And I was like, oh, look, there's the mastermind.
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  And I was looking closer and I thought, oh look.
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  Is it the one of all of us? The big group.
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  Yes, yeah, that was. Such a good picture.
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  That was great. And I was like, oh, there's for
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  Lindsay and Angela. There are a bunch of people
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  that, yeah, are now in practice. So, well, you opened in March,
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  correct? I did, yeah.
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  Yeah. All right.
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  Well, tell us a little bit about the back story, how you got into
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  DPC and you know how it's going. Yeah, so it was a long journey
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  when I entered medicine in well, what I want to say, but a while
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  ago I was always in these employed hospital systems,
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  right. So I was an employed physician
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  since day one, since right into residency.
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  So it was constantly go see more patients every 15 minutes.
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  And when I first got into residency, I was like, I didn't
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  think this is what it's supposed to be like, but OK, I guess it's
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  just being a resident. You just truck, truck along and
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  get it done. So I was like, oh, it'll
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  probably be better once I get one of someone attending an, an
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  employed position and out of residency.
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  So left residency, went into my first job and I worked for an
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  FQHC and it was OK. It was, but it was more the
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  same. See more patients, meet your
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  quality measures, click those boxes.
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  And so I was like, well, OK, maybe it's just this job, maybe
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  it's not right for me. And so that was, I was still
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  living in West Virginia at the time.
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  And so we weren't really happy with our location.
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  So we decided to pick up and move to the beach in north.
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  We ended up in North Myrtle Beach and I worked for a large
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  healthcare system in in this area and it was good.
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  They were very good to me as far as in care of their physicians.
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  It was a good company to work for.
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  But again, it was more, see, every 15 minutes I was up to 20
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  to 25 people a day. And I did that for the last five
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  years. And it was just, over time, I
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  was just getting more and more burned out, which I thought I
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  kind of struggle with that from the beginning because I just
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  didn't realize that that's what medicine was supposed to be like
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  or what was like. Whenever I entered medical
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  school, my thought was that I would get to spend more time
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  with patients, get that relationship built up, and it
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  just wasn't like that. So I decided that whenever I
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  went home every night and I was exhausted at 6:00 in the evening
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  and I had two hours left with my kids and in those two hours I
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  was not my best self because I was so emotionally and mentally
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  drained. I decided that I had to do
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  something. And so I was at the .2 years ago
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  when I met you, I was just looking for something, anything
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  that I didn't have to, to do that to, to be in patient care
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  even I was looking at, I was looking at insurance company
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  jobs like working for the enemy. I know.
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  That bad? But just anything to get out of
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  that scene because it was just I was just so burnt out and
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  exhausted. But I still wanted to use my
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  medical degree obviously. And so I deep dived into the
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  Internet and stumbled upon some, I think it was a podcast
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  actually of ADPC doc and talking about how he how it changed his
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  life and how he was able to see patients and still have time for
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  his family. And I said, this cannot be real.
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  There's no way this is real. So again, did another deep dive
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  into the abyss of the Internet. And yeah, lo and behold, I just,
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  I said, this is it. This is what I've been looking
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  for since I was a resident. This is what it's supposed to
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  have been all along. And so that's I decided to just
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  start the process and that's I did a few conferences, the DPC
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  summit, I did the masterminds group.
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  And after that I was, I drank the kool-aid.
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  It was like, all right, ready to go, let's do it going.
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  Back, Yes. OK.
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  And so you went to the mastermind with your husband.
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  Who is yes? He's a stay at home dad,
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  correct? He is, however, he just got got
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  a job and so actually starts Monday at his new position.
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  He's yeah, he's going to be the director of operations at a
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  local, our local fitness center. And so again, his background's
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  in fitness. So yay.
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  Well, you takes a little pressure off of me, but that's
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  yeah. So.
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  But he's been super supportive since day one and.
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  Your kids are now in school or. So I have an 8 year old and a
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  four year old. So yes, my 8 year old's in 3rd
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  grade and the four year old's still in preschool.
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  So yeah, yeah. So with him being at home, at
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  least when you started, I'm sure that was nice not to have to
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  worry about the kids and having to go pick them up or.
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  Yes, absolutely. That was all him.
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  Bless his heart. He he did the laundry.
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  He cooks dinner every night, picks the kids up from school.
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  So as an employed physician, I got home and everything was
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  already done. It was so nice.
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  But yeah, so. But now since I've had more
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  time, I've been able to pick the kids up and I even started
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  cooking a little bit when he needs me to so.
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  Yeah. I know it's not like I didn't
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  know how, I just. Don't like it?
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  I'm with you. I'm with you.
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  Yeah, that's, well, that's awesome.
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  So he also was on board like from the very beginning or did
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  you have to convince him? There was very little
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  convincing. He's his background.
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  He owned his own fitness centers and gyms.
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  So he's always been a business owner.
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  And so he saw the potential when he learned about DPC two, he
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  said you, I mean, this is a no brainer.
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  You have to do this. And I think he was a little
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  hesitant or not doubtful, but of my ability to be an entrepreneur
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  just because I'm so scientific minded and we don't get any
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  business training and he does all of our taxes.
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  And so that was kind of his role.
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  But I think he was pleasantly surprised by my ability to pick
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  up the entrepreneur role. Yeah.
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  So Speaking of entrepreneur and business, what do you think
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  about the business part? Hate it, love it.
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  I don't mind it. I actually think it's kind of a
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  new challenge. That's kind of how I've
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  approached it. And once I've gotten everything
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  down, it's not really been that hard.
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  I mean everything bill wise is automated and pays itself and
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  then I just have to do my thing on the back end with patient
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  stuff as far as billing and that sort of thing.
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  But I mean, technology makes things very easy make.
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  It work for you? So you and I told you earlier
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  that I forget to add things in. So you're the owner and founder
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  of Coral DPC? How did you come up with your
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  name? So I wanted something that kind
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  of went with the beach theme being local and I wanted it to
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  be a part of the community. There's a lot of in this area
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  where the Grand Strand. So there's a lot of Grand Strand
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  this or that, there's Palmetto this or that, and there's a lot
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  of the same kind of things. The themes was with the beach,
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  but no, not a lot of coral things.
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  And so as you do, you start looking at ChatGPT and asking
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  questions and find me what's my business name or the ideas for
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  my business name. And so plugging all that kind of
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  stuff in, coral came up and I thought, well, coral, OK, and
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  started looking into coral and how it is, how resilient it is
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  of a structure and it can thrive in harsh environments in the
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  ocean. And so that kind of resonated
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  with me as a physician in the employed fee for service world,
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  you have to thrive in environments that are harsh and
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  you have to do your job and show up for patients regardless of
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  where you're at and what's going on.
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  So I, that's kind of how I went with Coral direct primary Care.
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  And I want, I really wanted direct primary care in the name
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  because I wanted, because I know this movement is just growing
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  and taking off. And I wanted people to be able
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  to know that I am a DPC office. And because there's a lot of
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  concierge clinics in this area. So people kind of know the
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  concierge model and concept, but there are not many DPCS.
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  And so I really wanted to be able to differentiate myself.
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  Yeah. With the DPC name, yeah.
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  So did you find it was hard to educate people about DPC in the
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  area because there are so many concierge practices?
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  Like how did you go about spreading the word about DPC?
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  Honestly it helped I think because they already had the
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  concept in their mind of paying out of pocket for their health
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  care. The only thing I really had to
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  do once they if they said, oh, your concierge said well not
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  really. And so you just have to kind of
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  differentiate then. We don't accept any insurance.
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  There's no co-pays. It's just a flat monthly fee.
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  And so they're like, oh, OK, So it actually kind of helped a
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  little bit because I was able to kind of run with it and just
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  really differentiate between the two.
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  But it's, it has been a little bit of a challenge to educate
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  people in this area in general if they aren't familiar with
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  court concierge or DPC, just because it's an older
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  population. It's a retired retiree area, so
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  a lot of over 65 and a lot of over 65 patients really want to
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  use their Medicare. So that's been a challenge.
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  But I really tried to play to the pain points that people
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  experience because this area is growing so much and so fast.
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  The access is really an issue here.
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  So patients are waiting months to get into specialists and
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  PCPS, and so they can't get in to see somebody if they're sick.
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  And so that's something that I really try to play off of when
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  I'm talking to people about DPC and try to get them on board
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  with the idea, yeah. So you started, let's see.
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  Oh gosh, it's been like 6-7 months now and you.
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  Yeah. Enrolled How many patients?
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  So right now I'm at one O 7. That's wonderful.
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  That is fantastic. Yeah, yeah.
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  What do you think was the most successful kind of marketing or
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  draw for your patients? Yeah.
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  Well, honestly, it's been a lot of different things.
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  I had been in the area, so I worked about 30 minutes away at
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  the hospital system that I mentioned earlier.
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  And so many of those patients, a good handful of those patients
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  followed me. So then it just kind of spread
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  word of mouth. That's probably been the biggest
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  thing is my patients spreading the word for me, which has been
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  great. I do try to do a lot of social
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  media if I can try to post at least once a week.
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  It's just social media is hard for me.
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  And yeah, so but it's been that. And then when I first opened, I
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  did a lot of boots to the ground, just handing out
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  marketing material, just trying to get the word out that I had
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  opened and I was there and, and honestly that that did pretty
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  good. But now I think just the idea of
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  DPC in general is getting out into the world.
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  And so I've had probably this past week just with everything
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  going on with health insurance and the shutdown and all that, I
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  probably had more inquiries on my website in the last week than
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  I've had in the last three months.
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  And I think it just people are just seeking it out now and the
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  words out. And so they're looking for me
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  because I'm DPC. That's awesome.
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  Yeah, yeah, I think there's probably two or three, I don't
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  know, more than maybe more of docs that are on TikTok and
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  their videos have just blown up. Blown up.
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  I love to see it. I'm like, I can't do that.
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  You guys go viral for me. Yeah, I'll just repost my local.
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  People come to me. Yep.
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  You could do it for me, right? Yeah.
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  So what has been your favorite part about DPC?
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  Like something that you know that you thought maybe you never
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  knew that you could do. Or it's just an unexpected joy
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  about DPC. Oh, I think it's just the
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  freedom and just like the ability to come and go as I
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  please and make my own schedule and spend an hour and a half
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  with a patient if I have to. And I I just thrive in that
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  relationship and just getting to know people and talking to
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  people and getting to know my patients on a deeper level.
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  So I think that has been and I knew that was going to happen.
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  So I wasn't really a surprise, but I just think that is just I
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  that's what I was seeking and I got it and I'm so excited that I
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  get to do that now. It is wonderful.
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  It's great. It's so nice to have the freedom
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  and the time to do different things and things that maybe you
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  used to do when you were younger and don't have time to go back
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  to those things that make you, you, you know, because you are
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  in a more kind of retiree area. Yeah.
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  Do you have more Medicare patients or do you have a
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  spread? I mean, who do you have?
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  Who do you like to see in your practice?
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  I guess. Well, right now it's probably a
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  spread. I have uninsured, I have
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  Medicare, I have just private insurance.
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  Young. And that's the word.
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  Business folks. Yeah, entrepreneurs, young
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  professionals young. Professionals, yes.
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  But the people that I think really love it are the ones so
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  like my probably my sweet spot is that age 4045 to 64 and that
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  there's a lot of people that are retiring early.
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  So before they hit 65 in this area especially and they're
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  trying to bridge to get to their Medicare.
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  And so they've lost their employer coverage and they need
• 16:50
  that. There's that gap for several
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  years before they're going to be able to eligible for Medicare.
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  So that's a big part, a part of my panel right now.
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  And those people I enjoy because they're out of there like
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  they're post employment. So they have all this time to
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  focus on what they want to do and they a lot of times have
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  neglected their health maybe while they were working.
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  And now they are ready to take time for themselves.
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  And so they're more motivated to be healthy and to do the right
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  thing and take my recommendations and run with it.
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  And so those are the people that are that I like to see.
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  What kinds of things do you feel make your practice different
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  from other practices around? I mean, I know there's a couple
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  DPCS in the area, but not many. There's not yet there's I'm the
• 17:44
  only one in the northern end of the beach.
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  There's one about 30 minutes in South in Myrtle Beach and I
• 17:52
  think there's a couple down in further down South in that area.
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  But yeah, in this particular area, I'm one of the only.
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  But obviously the it's, I think it's just access.
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  That's the name of the game here.
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  And so I'm here and I'm open and willing to see people every day,
• 18:12
  same day, next day. And people really love that.
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  I have not had the chance to dive into a lot of procedures
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  yet just because the panel size is small and hasn't called for
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  it. But I try to make known that's
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  that's something that I also offer and that's covered under
• 18:31
  the membership and there's nothing extra with that.
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  And so, yeah, people really love that do.
• 18:37
  You have lab? Do you do labs also or medicine?
• 18:40
  I do, yeah. Yep.
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  So I'm with. I partner with LabCorp and do
• 18:45
  all my draws in house. The closest draw site is about
• 18:48
  20 minutes away, so it is a convenient thing for patients to
• 18:53
  have it drawn in the in house. And that's something I had to
• 18:56
  relearn. Obviously it's something I
• 18:59
  hadn't done since medical school.
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  So that's been a challenge and I still, I'm still trying to get
• 19:05
  my skills up the if your heart sticks, sometimes we go to this.
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  I need the dress. I patients understand that, but
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  and they're all great about it. But yeah, so it it has been nice
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  to be able to. Offer that.
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  Are you open for office hours every day or how's your
• 19:19
  schedule? What's your schedule like?
• 19:21
  I try to, I mean, technically office hours are 8:00 to 4:00
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  Monday through Thursday and then eight to noon on Friday.
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  But if I'm, if I don't have anybody scheduled, I may not be
• 19:32
  here, but I check my messages from home and check my phone
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  from home and patients know they have access to me.
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  So if I have to go. In I go in.
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  But I'm not chained to the desk 8 to 4, which is nice.
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  So nice. So nice.
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  Do you have help in the office? Did you hire anyone or are you
• 19:50
  by yourself? Nope, just me.
• 19:53
  Yeah. I'm gonna try to do that as long
• 19:55
  as possible. And so your office, what are you
• 19:59
  renting? Are you?
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  Like substancing. What is your Yep, no, I'm
• 20:04
  renting a space and it's in like a little Plaza with other
• 20:08
  businesses, but it's kind of tucked away.
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  So it's there's some privacy. It's nice, it's not a very large
• 20:14
  space, but I don't really need it.
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  I have an exam room, a little small little sitting area at the
• 20:20
  entrance that nobody ever sits in right.
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  Right. Yeah, yeah, the lab area and a
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  little kitchenette in the back and my office, that's all we
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  need and. Is it close by to your home or
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  you have to? Yep, Yep, oh Yep.
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  About 5 to 10 minutes. That's so nice.
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  Love it. Yeah, as opposed to 30 minutes
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  when I was doing my old job. Yeah, it's.
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  So much nicer to be able to just zip over and back at lunchtime
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  if I need to. What?
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  Do your kids think about the office?
• 20:48
  Love it. I have toys here that actually
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  stole from them that disappeared from the playroom.
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  Yeah. So they come in and they like to
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  pretend to be doctor and get all the toys out, make a mess.
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  Yeah, but they do. They love it.
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  They love to come here and run around.
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  And you see kids, too, yeah. I do.
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  Yeah, newborns. You don't you?
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  Yeah. Yeah.
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  All right. My 100th patient was a four day
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  old newborn. That's wonderful.
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  I know, I know. They're so great.
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  I think I. Did see your picture that you
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  did post a picture of that one and that was yeah.
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  That was so cool that. Was great.
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  You're at 100 something now. What do you feel like?
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  Is it comfortable? Are you feeling like I
• 21:34
  definitely can see more people, or is this where do you want to
• 21:38
  end up, you think? Number wise, I definitely want
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  to see more. I want to, I think I want to hit
• 21:43
  303. Fifty I think is going to be my
• 21:47
  cap. Obviously that might change,
• 21:50
  might decide I don't want to see more than that or less.
• 21:53
  So it's going to take it 100 at a time and reassess, yeah.
• 22:00
  Yeah, because right now, I mean, it sounds like you're coming
• 22:02
  along at a pretty good clip. I mean, that's really amazing.
• 22:04
  100 and something after six months, it's great.
• 22:07
  That's wonderful, yeah. So what do you see?
• 22:10
  What do you see in the future for your practice?
• 22:12
  Are you going to want to kind of hone in on a special kind of
• 22:17
  population or special kind of passion of yours or you think
• 22:24
  you want to keep continuing with what you're doing?
• 22:26
  That's great. For now, I just really want to
• 22:30
  focus on the primary care aspect and just building the practice,
• 22:34
  getting it a good solid foundation with a good patient
• 22:37
  base. And then maybe think about other
• 22:40
  things, because I'm in this retiree area, there's a lot of
• 22:46
  aesthetics and a lot of rejuvenation clinics and HRT and
• 22:52
  integrative medicine, and those seem to be popping up kind of on
• 22:56
  every corner. So I don't necessarily want to
• 23:00
  go that route, but just do what I do best and really focus on
• 23:05
  family medicine, primary care, and be the best PCPI can be.
• 23:09
  Yeah. Not.
• 23:12
  Saying that. You have to just people have
• 23:15
  they have ideas about doing different.
• 23:17
  Things and I, I do want to be more, I'm thinking about going
• 23:21
  into the in loop, getting the menopause certification just
• 23:25
  because so many of my older women come to me and I want to
• 23:32
  give them the best answers possible.
• 23:33
  So that's probably the next step in training or certification
• 23:38
  that I'll go for. But as far as anything else,
• 23:43
  like like the aesthetics and the and stuff like that, I don't see
• 23:47
  myself doing that. Definitely, but the the good
• 23:50
  thing is, if you do decide that you wanted to add something
• 23:53
  else, you have the time to do it right and.
• 23:57
  You have to kind. Of research and kind of learn
• 23:59
  and that's why I asked because you are DPC and you have a
• 24:02
  little bit entrepreneur kind of mind.
• 24:04
  You're always thinking about what's the next thing.
• 24:08
  And so sometimes that's what it is and sometimes, just like you
• 24:11
  said, just focusing on the bread and butter primary care.
• 24:15
  Which is. Yeah, it's wonderful in itself.
• 24:18
  Well, what would you say to somebody who is thinking about
• 24:22
  DPC? Like do you have any advice for
• 24:24
  people who are considering it? I just do it.
• 24:30
  Just do it. It's worth it.
• 24:32
  It's so worth it. I honestly it, I don't know
• 24:38
  where I would have been if I hadn't learned about DBC.
• 24:42
  And my personality is such that once I learn some about
• 24:48
  something and once I commit and put my mind to it, it's going to
• 24:53
  happen. It's just, and so I think some
• 24:57
  people are hesitant and are scared of the business aspects
• 25:01
  or the whatever it is that's holding them back.
• 25:04
  And so I just say just go for it.
• 25:06
  Just it's, you can do it if you, we learn all the stuff in
• 25:11
  medical school, all these intricate pathologies and
• 25:14
  treatments and medications and business is easy.
• 25:18
  You just, once you dive in and you start doing it, it doesn't
• 25:22
  take much to learn. So we can do it.
• 25:24
  We can do new things. So yeah, that's what I would
• 25:27
  say. Just go for it.
• 25:29
  Absolutely. Yes, You're right.
• 25:30
  I mean, yeah, you've learned all these other things.
• 25:32
  You've learned the Krebs cycle. I mean, my gosh.
• 25:34
  Right. I've blocked it out, maybe on my
• 25:39
  mind. You knew it at one point, yeah.
• 25:43
  What would you say is has been your biggest struggle opening up
• 25:47
  the DPC? What What's given you like made
• 25:50
  you lose sleep? I.
• 25:51
  Don't know if other I feel like this might be across the board
• 25:55
  when you go from a busy fee for service practice to DPC, but I
• 26:01
  don't think a lot of people talk about it is the guilt.
• 26:06
  I feel many times that I need to be doing something like when
• 26:12
  you're in fee for service and you're seeing 20 people a day,
• 26:15
  there's always something to do. Like there's 20 things to do at
• 26:18
  any given point of the day. And so you get in this, it's
• 26:23
  like a conditioned behavior where you just feel like you
• 26:27
  have to be doing something all the time.
• 26:30
  And so that's been a little bit of an internal struggle that I
• 26:35
  don't have to do that. And I have to remind myself that
• 26:39
  you don't have to be doing something every single second
• 26:42
  like you don't, you can go home early and not feel guilty about
• 26:47
  it. So that's that has been kind of
• 26:50
  a challenge to try to get over my in my own brain.
• 26:54
  Is that now I yeah, you have the time.
• 26:58
  There's nothing wrong with that, right?
• 27:00
  I. Think you're right we're so it
• 27:03
  is ingrained in us from the very beginning of residency even
• 27:07
  though you're always doing something and.
• 27:10
  Yeah. You get used to it.
• 27:13
  So like going home on a Tuesday at 2:00 in the afternoon, I'm
• 27:17
  like, should I be doing this? Like, do I like I, I just feel
• 27:23
  really uncomfortable. But then I'm like, wait a
• 27:25
  minute, yes, you can do that. You can.
• 27:27
  You're the boss. That's right, you're the boss.
• 27:32
  Yeah, we just hired a nurse practitioner and she was telling
• 27:34
  me yesterday, she said I go home and I don't know what to do.
• 27:41
  Right. Because, she said.
• 27:43
  I used to chart, that's what I did, and now everything's done
• 27:48
  and I don't know what to do with myself.
• 27:53
  I was like. Well, you have to unlearn that
• 27:55
  response. I just yeah.
• 27:56
  And so I don't know how long that takes to unlearn that after
• 27:59
  all these years, but I'm still struggling with it and it's
• 28:03
  months in, so surely it'll happen at some point.
• 28:06
  I think it's a good, good thing, though, a good problem to have.
• 28:09
  You can get used to it. But yeah, I was like, yeah,
• 28:12
  maybe you need to learn a new hobby.
• 28:13
  I don't know. Maybe you're right.
• 28:19
  Yeah. I think a lot of, I don't know,
• 28:20
  maybe not just DPC, but I think business people, they have a lot
• 28:25
  of creativity and that's why they like business because you
• 28:30
  can create whatever you. Want.
• 28:33
  Right, it's easy to change whereas.
• 28:35
  When you're in a. Big, a big business or big
• 28:38
  system, you can't you just really can't change things or if
• 28:43
  it does, it changes very slowly Yeah, yeah.
• 28:47
  So I think the the business part, you have a lot of
• 28:50
  creativity and you can really create different things.
• 28:52
  You can create different ways of doing things and just pivot.
• 28:56
  If it's not working. For you, I'll try it a different
• 28:59
  way. I know.
• 29:01
  Yeah, I I totally agree. And again, that's a learned
• 29:06
  response too. So that's still taking some
• 29:09
  getting used to and not being so rigid and how we how I do
• 29:14
  things. So again, just years and years
• 29:17
  of conditioning, trying to reverse that condition behavior.
• 29:24
  Would you have done anything differently about the way you
• 29:26
  started? If I could have, I would have
• 29:29
  started sooner. I mean to when I went to
• 29:33
  Masterminds, I was, I told, like I said, I drank the kool-aid.
• 29:36
  I was all in like that weekend. I was ready to quit my job the
• 29:40
  next day and I just couldn't. Obviously there were things that
• 29:45
  some things that needed to fall into place first before I could
• 29:49
  open the DPC, which is why I had to wait.
• 29:52
  So that would be the only thing is I would have done it sooner
• 29:56
  if I could have. Yeah, Yeah.
• 29:59
  I think that's one thing that a lot of people, when I ask them
• 30:01
  that, that's generally the sentiment is I wish I'd done it.
• 30:06
  Sooner, I mean I and my main barrier was my student loans.
• 30:11
  So I was in the PSLF program and I had like one year to go.
• 30:17
  I was at the finish line. So I said that's when I was
• 30:21
  said, OK, I just got to make it through this year and get those
• 30:25
  loans forgiven and we're set. We can go forward full court
• 30:29
  press. And so that's what I did.
• 30:31
  I mean, I got my loans forgiven in October of last year and in
• 30:34
  November I put in my notice. Yeah.
• 30:39
  Yeah. So, yeah.
• 30:40
  So how long did the notice did you have to work?
• 30:43
  90 days, so I put it in in November and opened in March.
• 30:46
  OK. Yeah.
• 30:47
  So you really? So I had a little bit of time,
• 30:50
  but not much. My, my space had to be
• 30:52
  completely built out, which, yeah, which was done by my dad
• 30:57
  and my husband. So I got wow.
• 31:00
  Yes. Yes, so lucky that I have
• 31:03
  construction men in the family. So that would have been the cost
• 31:08
  on that would have been exorbitant in this area if I had
• 31:11
  to have hired someone. But that was great.
• 31:13
  They built the whole space out just the way that I wanted it
• 31:16
  and so and it only took them about 8 weeks.
• 31:19
  So there was a period, there was about a month where I was kind
• 31:22
  of in limbo in between opening and my fee for service.
• 31:26
  So. Was it a shell?
• 31:27
  You know your office. It was just a big rectangle and
• 31:32
  another medical facility was actually using it as storage.
• 31:37
  So there was like wall to wall, floor to ceiling, just junk.
• 31:42
  It was like medical records, office equipment, old furniture.
• 31:48
  And when I looked at the space, you couldn't even walk through
• 31:50
  it because there was so much stuff.
• 31:53
  So they cleaned it all out, and by the time it was done, it
• 31:57
  there was carpet. Now it was awful.
• 31:59
  So we ripped off the carpet. So it was cement floors, just a
• 32:01
  big rectangular space. And so they put up all the
• 32:05
  walls, cabinetry, all the flooring.
• 32:09
  Yeah, they did everything it. Was great too.
• 32:11
  They had to do plumbing. So they, the plumbing was there.
• 32:15
  There was a bathroom. OK, good.
• 32:16
  Yes. So the bathroom we and we really
• 32:18
  tried to kind of build the space around the plumbing so they
• 32:20
  didn't have to move anything. We were able to kind of
• 32:24
  configure it so that we didn't have to do a lot of plumbing.
• 32:27
  But yeah, they did. They put in the sinks, they did
• 32:29
  everything else. That's so.
• 32:30
  Cool that you got to build it out yourself.
• 32:33
  So is there anything in your build that you're like, I really
• 32:36
  want this and. I really wanted, I really wanted
• 32:42
  a comfortable like I wanted my office to be the biggest area
• 32:48
  and to be the most comfortable with the most lighting.
• 32:51
  So I made sure that my office was 'cause there's only a couple
• 32:55
  of windows. So my office has the windows and
• 32:58
  I wanted to be able to have that comfortable open space.
• 33:01
  And so I have a couch, I have a couple of chairs.
• 33:05
  And so that's kind of where we sit and talk most of the time
• 33:08
  when I'm with patients and it's comfortable.
• 33:11
  I wanted that relaxed kind of sitting with a friend and that
• 33:15
  kind of a feeling. So I just that's I really wanted
• 33:17
  my office to be that. It's great so.
• 33:20
  Is that your favorite part of your office?
• 33:22
  The. Probably.
• 33:24
  Yeah. And then do you have a separate
• 33:26
  like little at lab area? Yeah, Yep.
• 33:29
  So I have a little and it's able to, I can close the door, lock
• 33:32
  it off. And so there's a counter space
• 33:35
  and some cabinets above and below and Yep.
• 33:38
  So that's all able to be separated from the exam room,
• 33:40
  which is in a different space. So that's awesome to make the
• 33:44
  little pass through like for the urine.
• 33:48
  Co I guess should have done that, Dang.
• 33:53
  Well, they can cut a hole for you.
• 33:55
  I call my husband. Hey, I need you to cut a hole in
• 33:57
  the wall and gave me a really good idea.
• 34:01
  I just always think about that when I'm like, Oh yeah, when I
• 34:04
  build a place. If I build a place, I'm going to
• 34:06
  have a little little pass through for the little door.
• 34:11
  Yeah. OK, so for your next office,
• 34:16
  remember, All right, well, anything else that you want to
• 34:21
  tell us about your practice or to tell, you know, listeners
• 34:25
  about DPC? I just think so highly of all
• 34:29
  the DPC physicians that have trail blazed the way for us and
• 34:34
  just that that's who I look up to is you and all these guys
• 34:39
  that have been doing this for years.
• 34:40
  And that paved the way for us and for this movement to just
• 34:44
  kind of blow up, which I think it's going to.
• 34:46
  I think this is the time and I see it already.
• 34:50
  Yeah. And I'm just, I'm excited to be
• 34:51
  part of it now. Yeah, yeah, definitely.
• 34:54
  I'm excited that you are. Yes.
• 34:58
  Yes, yes, keep going viral, colleagues.
• 35:04
  Help us out. Yeah, definitely.
• 35:06
  All right. Well, thank you so much and tell
• 35:08
  us how people can find you. Yes, so my website
• 35:11
  iscoraldpc.com and I'm also on Facebook and Instagram and you
• 35:18
  can probably just find it by Googling Coral DPC in Little
• 35:21
  River, SC Yep all. Right.
• 35:23
  Well, thank you so much. I appreciate you coming on and
• 35:27
  hopefully I get to see you again, maybe at the summit.
• 35:29
  Yes, definitely. Thank you so much for having me.
• 35:32
  I love talking with you and talking with other DPC docs so
• 35:35
  it's been fun. Thank.
• 35:36
  You it's really nice to see you and see you're succeeding.
• 35:39
  Especially I call when I see people that I've met at the
• 35:43
  Masterminds or at the summit, and especially the Masterminds,
• 35:47
  I call them my baby docs. We kind of are.
• 35:53
  My baby DPC docs and so now you're like a toddler.
• 36:01
  You have to hold our hands and help us through this.
• 36:04
  Process. You can walk now.
• 36:05
  You can walk on your own. All right.
• 36:11
  Thank. You thank you so much.
• 36:13
  Thank you for listening to DPC Life.
• 36:16
  Before we finish, if you're a woman in direct primary care and
• 36:19
  you've mostly been figuring this out on your own, you're exactly
• 36:23
  who this gathering is meant for. The details are in the show
• 36:26
  notes and if you can't make it in person, I've also put
• 36:30
  together a hysician community and some tools so you don't
• 36:34
  have. To do this by yourself.