Latest / DPC Life: Direct Primary Care Podcast / From Anger to Advocacy: The Birth of My DPC Story with Dr. Maryal Concepcion

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From Anger to Advocacy: The Birth of My DPC Story with Dr. Maryal Concepcion · DPC Life: Direct Primary Care Podcast

0:00
I was so angry. I was so angry.
0:02
You'd be told when I was 28 weeks pregnant with our second
0:05
kid that you're going to be fired unless you sign this
0:08
contract. And I didn't know how else to
0:11
cope. I've never been in a position
0:14
where you're the doctor, you have the medical degree, you're
0:17
the one who actually connects with the patients, but we don't
0:19
actually care about you. Boundaries are self-care, and I
0:24
am more comfortable with that now than I had been as an
0:28
employed physician. Direct primary care is truly
0:31
something that is growing like wildfire in this country.
0:35
Welcome to DPC Life, the podcast where independent doctors share
0:39
real. Stories, bold ideas and the
0:42
freedom of doing medicine. On your own terms.
0:46
I'm your host, Doctor Anne Gonzalez, and together we'll
0:49
explore the winds, the struggles and everything in between.
0:54
Let's dive in. Hello and welcome back to DPC
0:59
Life, the podcast where we talk about how to build your practice
1:04
to fit around your life and not the other way around.
1:08
Today I wanted to talk to you about another tip for getting
1:13
new patients to your practice. And actually, this is more about
1:18
getting referral sources to your practice.
1:21
So it's festival season right now.
1:22
It's the middle of October, and we just went to the Oktoberfest
1:27
in Hickory. It's a three day festival, big
1:30
festival. And I'm sure that there are
1:31
festivals in your city, your town, similar thing.
1:35
Lots of vendors, lots of craftspeople, Realtors, just
1:40
people from around the area who are out there to show off what
1:43
they do to sell things. And so these are people that
1:47
have small businesses and these are the people that you want in
1:50
your practice, either their employees or themselves.
1:53
Because a lot of times the reason why they have these
1:56
second, I would call them side gigs, creating things is because
2:00
either they don't have a regular employed job or they do and it's
2:05
not making ends meet or they just really love crafting and
2:08
wanted to share that with everyone.
2:10
But anyway, we were supposed to have a booth at the festival.
2:15
There was a music. Communication and we didn't have
2:17
a booth, but they said you can just go around and pass out
2:20
Flyers if you want. Since we had a raffle going on
2:23
and because we do aesthetics, we had a raffle for a facial, which
2:28
is a really easy thing to sell to people.
2:30
But if you don't do aesthetics, what you can raffle off is a
2:34
gift card or a small gift basket.
2:37
Something that is fun that people wouldn't hesitate to give
2:40
you their name and their e-mail. The idea is that you want to get
2:44
their name and e-mail because you want to be able to tell them
2:47
more about direct primary care and about your practice and why
2:51
it's so much better than regular fee for service practice.
2:56
So we walked around. We had a huge QR code on the
2:59
back of the clipboard. We would walk up to the vendors
3:02
and look at what they're selling and then ask, talk to them a
3:06
little bit about it and then ask them where they're from.
3:08
Most of the time they were from very close by and then we asked
3:12
them if they wanted to sign up for the raffle and we told them
3:14
where we were located and what we did.
3:17
And most of the time people were like, yeah, sure.
3:20
Like I would love to sign up. The QR code took them to a page
3:23
to sign up for the raffle. That way we have their e-mail.
3:27
It also had a link to go to our website in case they wanted to
3:30
see more. But now they're in our e-mail
3:33
system and they're going to get a sequence of I think 3 or 4
3:37
emails over the next week. And these are already timed.
3:41
They are in the system to go out automatically, like immediately
3:46
when they scan that QR code and put their name in, they get the
3:50
first e-mail and then a day later they get the second, a day
3:53
later the third, etcetera. So one of the easy things is
3:57
making an automation and that way you have a way to reach out
4:01
to more people. The other thing is if they are
4:03
not interested in doing direct primary care themselves, they
4:06
may know somebody or if they have employees that they might
4:11
want it for their employees. It's really a win win.
4:13
It was a great day. We got to most of the vendors
4:16
and so that it was actually a fun and pretty easy way to get
4:21
new people on the e-mail list to meet other businesses in the
4:25
area and just meet some new people.
4:27
So that's a fun thing if you've got festivals coming up, real
4:32
easy, didn't cost us anything. And if you're going to raffle
4:35
off something, it's going to be the cost of whatever you're
4:38
raffling. The.
4:39
E-mail sequences are one of the automations that have made
4:42
things a lot easier for us. Oh, you're saving time with
4:46
this. And if you can sit down and set
4:49
up your sequences whenever somebody signs up on your e-mail
4:53
list, then it just automatically will send these emails to them
4:56
and just as. I get older.
4:59
I'm really, I keep thinking about that Hamilton song, like,
5:02
why do you write like you're running out of time?
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That one I start, I'm just feeling that a whole lot more.
5:08
That's one of the themes that I've noticed over the past
5:11
several podcasts is trying to get your time back and use your
5:15
time really efficiently. So the automations are great
5:19
and. I actually.
5:20
Have a solution for that? If.
5:22
You want to learn more about it, you can go to
5:24
harmonyopshealth.com and it's a whole system that helps you with
5:28
automations, e-mail automations, social media planning and also
5:34
has a website, chat widget and voice AI.
5:37
So those things will help you especially if you are still in
5:41
fee for service and you're trying to.
5:43
Work out the rest. Of your contract, it's hard to
5:45
answer the phone, it's hard to call people back.
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Because you are still. Busy doing other things and so
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these these. Tools.
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Can help you. Reach out to more people.
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Just running in the background while you're seeing patients and
5:59
living your life and help you get more patients in even before
6:03
you start. So go to harmonyopshealth.com
6:07
and you can see more about this. So now on to our episode for
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today. We have Doctor Marielle
6:15
Concepcion and I feel she doesn't really need any kind of
6:19
introduction. She is the founder of my DPC
6:23
Story podcast, which is going on it's sixth season now.
6:27
And if you have not listened to it and you're going to do direct
6:30
primary care, you absolutely must listen because.
6:34
There are so. Many things that I learned
6:37
personally from the podcast and I still every Sunday look look
6:40
forward to listening to the new. Episodes.
6:43
Yeah, that. Was the first podcast I.
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Listened to when I decided that I wanted to do direct primary
6:47
care and every episode has little gems in each one.
6:51
Doctor Concepcion, thank you so much for being my guest.
6:55
And here we go today, my guest is.
6:59
Doctor Marielle Concepcion of Big Trees, MD founder physician
7:04
and also the founder of My DPC Story, which is an amazing
7:10
podcast. That's what I listened to pretty
7:12
much non-stop. Once I decided I want to go DPCI
7:15
was like every week I was like, yay, a new episode.
7:18
Thank you for being with us. Doctor Marielle, please tell us
7:21
how you got into DPC because it's a really interesting story.
7:26
Oh, thank you so much for having me on.
7:28
I'm so excited. Yeah.
7:30
I'm so excited to join you. I would say that I had a very
7:33
traditional experience after residency in terms of only knew
7:37
that there was the way to go into medicine was to be
7:40
employed. And so I looked for a place
7:43
where I could do all scope medicine to the point of
7:46
prenatal care. I did not want to do hospital
7:48
medicine, emergency medicine, or actual deliveries, but I still
7:52
want to do prenatal care. And I did want to find a place
7:55
where I could do colonoscopies. And so I found a place where my
7:59
husband and I could do a job share.
8:00
He's a family practice doctor also.
8:02
And we ended up coming to this rural town of Arnold, CA back in
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2015, right after I'd graduated residency.
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And I was able to do all of all of the things.
8:12
And we were, my husband and I doing a job share, intending to
8:17
have a family. We did not have kids at the
8:18
time, but we went into this community knowing that it was
8:23
rural, knowing that we would be able to do full scope medicine
8:26
and we were on salary. So it was great.
8:29
If there's snow on the road and only nine people showed up for
8:31
the day, like that's all you had and you didn't get dinged.
8:34
That changed when the salary was no longer on the table and it
8:38
was we were being pushed to go RVU based and that ended in a 2
8:43
1/2 year ongoing frustration flash whatever quote UN quote
8:47
negotiation with the corporation.
8:50
And then the corporation went extremely corporate.
8:52
And so I at that point the people that we have been working
8:56
with, the people who had been doing physician contracts for
8:59
decades, they were all let go and the new company men were
9:03
were brought in. And so at that point, I was
9:06
extremely frustrated that the things on the table that we were
9:10
expected to sign were exclusivity.
9:13
So if I worked for another company, the company that I was
9:16
contracted with would own my money.
9:18
I'm like, I'm sorry, who went to medical school?
9:21
Because it's not the company that that would be me that went
9:23
to doctor school. There would be exclusivity in
9:26
terms of location. If I were needed in a market in
9:29
Los Angeles that they would have the right to move me.
9:31
Non competes. They're not enforceable in
9:33
California in this situation and other just not reasonable things
9:38
like your, your RVU reimbursement will be set by us.
9:42
We cannot divulge how we're going to set that.
9:45
And it's going to be Evergreen. So we're never going to change
9:47
it. And I was just like, this is
9:50
completely not OK. And so at that point, I was so
9:55
frustrated. And this is back in 2019 when,
9:58
and ironically, she just texted me earlier today, there's an
10:00
orthopedic surgeon, doctor Ariana Demers, who was leaving
10:05
the same corporation to do her own thing.
10:07
And she was like, you need to look into DPC.
10:09
And so it very much speaks to me every time I see the Matrix and
10:14
see Neo following the rabbit and taking the red pill.
10:17
Like, I did not know what DPC was.
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And I didn't care that I didn't know what DPC was.
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I just know. I just knew that somebody said
10:27
you need to look into DPC. And I was completely open to
10:31
whatever DPC is. I will figure out what that is
10:34
as I go on. So I went to conferences still
10:36
really not knowing what direct primary care was.
10:39
And then when I realized that it really is old school medicine
10:43
with modern technology and it's accessible to everyday
10:45
Americans, I'm like, oh, and very much the the passion that I
10:50
have and, and to you for this movement, because it, it's so
10:55
crazy to think that as you know, educated physicians, it's sort
11:00
of a hard thing for us to understand what it is until
11:03
it's, it's very clear, right, That that's how I got started in
11:07
this this whole movement. Yeah, yeah.
11:11
Wow. And at that point, when you
11:13
started in DPC, you had one little boy already or was your
11:17
first child? Yeah, I opened our clinic
11:21
September of 20, so it's literally like 3 weeks I think
11:24
after you opened yours, so 2021. So we would have had both Nolan
11:31
and Asher. Nolan would have been just a few
11:33
months old because he's a November baby.
11:36
And so I, I had two at the time, didn't realize that until you
11:40
just asked that. Yeah.
11:42
So how did you make things work? I mean your husband was still at
11:46
a regular fee for service job. If I say, yeah, I would say that
11:50
one, it's way easier. Those of us who have cared for
11:53
little ones who are not yet mobile, it's way easier to like
11:57
carry them with you everywhere. But I will say that when I
12:00
opened, I was telemedicine home visit model only.
12:03
And so I and also was during the pandemic.
12:06
So we didn't have any daycare. Our oldest was with me basically
12:10
all the time. He's definitely on about Doctor
12:13
Julie Gunther's podcast. Like he's, I don't want to watch
12:15
this movie on that podcast. I remember that.
12:18
But he it's one of those things where it's like you just do
12:22
because you have to. There's there's no other option.
12:25
And so my husband would work, he would work.
12:29
His regular schedule was still, I believe, like 2 1/2 days, or
12:33
maybe it was three. I can't even remember.
12:36
But he did not work 8 to 5 all of the days of the week.
12:39
So we basically played it by ear as to who has kids, who has
12:44
patients when, how do we make this all work?
12:46
But we don't have family close by.
12:49
We didn't have daycare. It's been a journey, yeah.
12:53
Yeah, wow. So you started out as mobile and
12:58
home visits, So what made you do that?
13:00
Was it just really the child care situation?
13:03
Yeah, the fact that I didn't have to worry about negotiating
13:05
a lease, the fact that I didn't have to worry about rent and the
13:08
fact that I could just do as much as I could from here.
13:11
I think that I always wanted to have as much stuff done
13:16
virtually as much as possible. And so it was a great exercise
13:20
in that. But also just the, the sheer
13:23
like you don't have to have a space was like, that's, that's
13:28
as much thought as I gave it. Like my, my patients were so
13:31
happy to not have to go to an office.
13:33
They were like during the pandemic and I had I still have
13:37
quite a few people who are older.
13:39
Your your geriatrics trained also, you know, those people who
13:42
are like, I believe in science. I believe that infectious
13:46
diseases, infectious, like, I don't want to expose myself to
13:49
people. And so I also set boundaries for
13:51
myself. If a person was eligible for
13:54
full vaccination of COVID at the time, that's those are the only
13:57
people that I would take in the practice.
13:59
And that really helped me attract a panel of patients who
14:02
are pro science, pro vaccine pro like I have hesitancies, but I
14:06
will discuss them with you versus listening to some
14:08
Instagram influencer or google.com.
14:11
And so that has helped us maintain a practice that has
14:14
that culture, which is great. I didn't even think about that.
14:18
Yeah, I wish we had done that. OK, well, great.
14:23
After a while you ended up getting a like a brick and
14:28
mortar space. What caused you to do that?
14:31
Yeah. So this is before Jeremiah was
14:34
let go of his role because Adventist Health went to a non
14:38
physician model. I am very extremely and will
14:40
always be vocal about that. But when it came to a physical
14:44
space, I realized that there is a certain point.
14:48
I, I discussed with Doctor Cindy Richards also that there's a
14:51
certain point at which you can do so only so many home visits
14:55
in a day. And for me typical home visit is
14:58
2 hours. So it's, if I am doing 2 hour
15:00
visits and exhausted mentally after each one, how many of
15:04
those can I do in a day? And so that's when I said, hey,
15:07
like budget wise, we have funds to afford a place.
15:12
And it was 1290 per month for this location in town.
15:16
And it was a six month lease. And the owners of building
15:19
owners were really like local people and they wanted, they
15:23
wanted their little like shopping center to be with
15:27
really awesome professionals. And so they were really excited
15:30
to have a medical practice there.
15:32
But yeah, it really worked out because for 1290 a month and to
15:36
have the ability to have a place to start stocking albuterol and
15:42
nebulizers and doing things, I didn't have an autoclave.
15:45
I was mailing my tools to other DPC doctors to have them
15:50
autoclaved so I could do things like procedures in my clinic or
15:53
I would use disposable kits. But it was a great way to
15:57
transition as the practice grew, rather than committing to
16:00
something upfront that was really taking my overhead down
16:03
into the red or having a commitment when the practice was
16:06
growing. So you're growing your DPC
16:10
practice, but then you also have you had a lot of things going
16:14
on. And I've always, I've never
16:15
really, I didn't ask you this before, but did you know that
16:19
you wanted to start a podcast sometime about some kind of
16:22
topic? Or was this just kind of, I have
16:25
to do this because I, I'm talking to all these people?
16:29
I was so angry. I was so angry.
16:32
You'd be told when I was 28 weeks pregnant with our second
16:35
kid that you're going to be fired unless you sign this
16:37
contract. And I didn't know how else to
16:41
cope. I love therapy.
16:43
I be a therapist currently because mental health is so
16:47
important. Like we're recording this during
16:49
the week of mental health, World Mental Health Awareness Week.
16:53
I did not know. I've never been in a position
16:55
where you're the doctor, you have the medical degree, you're
16:59
the one who actually connects with the patients, but we don't
17:01
actually care about you. I was so angry.
17:04
And what I leaned on to cope was the fact that I had wanted to
17:11
hear more stories. I got so irritated at DPC Summit
17:15
when it would be like a panel of three or four people and they'd
17:18
share for 5 minutes and I'm like, that's not enough.
17:20
Like I don't, I want to ask more questions.
17:23
And so I had some friends at that time and DPC who had been
17:28
new in DPC for years, whatever. And it was, it was leaning into
17:34
something that I hoped with just that that came naturally.
17:38
Like I love speaking with people.
17:40
I love connecting with people and how we're family medicine
17:42
doctors. But at the same time, it allowed
17:46
me to connect with other people who saw how messed up the system
17:50
was. And so it like, even to this
17:54
day, I, as I think about what is important to me, advocacy is one
17:59
of the most important things to me, to my core, because I, it,
18:06
it's me being with other people. It's not me being isolated in
18:10
some island. It's me being and fighting for
18:12
what's right. And especially in this time in
18:14
our country's history when people are not going to be able
18:18
to get healthcare because of some unnecessary reason, and we
18:23
as a movement can address that in any community, rural, urban,
18:27
it doesn't matter. To me, that is really powerful
18:31
to stand with people like yourself and myself and elevate
18:34
that as much as I can. Yeah, yeah, it's great.
18:38
And so you, you also, besides the my DPC story, do a lot of
18:43
advocacy in other places. So tell us more about that.
18:49
Yeah, pretty much like I will advocate anywhere I can for
18:52
direct primary care because you have everyone around you is
18:56
going to have a different reason why they do do not like whatever
19:00
their feelings are about healthcare.
19:02
And so when I'm talking with people, I really appreciate as a
19:07
family medicine doctor, the ability to morph into any
19:10
conversation, whether that person is a social worker who
19:13
got laid off from the emergency room and is standing next to me
19:16
at Trader Joe's to a person who's on Capitol Hill and is
19:19
working in a policy office where their senator has Co sponsored a
19:23
bill in pro DPC. But I think that really what I
19:28
found in terms of advocacy is the ability, and that's why I
19:32
called my DPC story. My DPC story is because it's not
19:34
my story, but it is the story of everyone who shares on the
19:38
podcast. Because it is through story that
19:41
I have really connected with people in an advocacy lens to
19:46
help them understand what DPC is.
19:48
That it is not concierge medicine, that this is something
19:51
that is accessible to all people, that this is something
19:54
that is an actual fix to healthcare and that health care
19:57
is not insurance. And so advocacy wise, I am very,
20:01
very verbose and very outspoken when it comes to my own state
20:06
chapter of the California Academy Family Practice.
20:08
I attend the advocacy meetings there to speak up for and work
20:11
with my colleagues here in California to elevate direct
20:14
primary care to make sure that it is defined as a physician
20:18
patient relationship and we are not in the business of
20:20
insurance. I advocate on the county level
20:23
in terms of I. Hate that I had to bring VFC
20:28
vaccines to my own public health department from my own clinic
20:31
because there was no one there to vaccinate.
20:34
And it's I love elevating that insurance is not healthcare and
20:37
examples like that. I am actually going to be next
20:40
Sunday in DC speaking at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
20:45
policy meeting on healthcare and through the DPC Coalition.
20:49
I've definitely leaned into any time that a person wishes to
20:53
talk about health policy when it comes to DPC, how DPC can be a
20:57
solution, and that solution is multilayered to any community.
21:01
That is where I will be happy to advocate.
21:04
And I think that it's through things like the coalition
21:07
existing because unfortunately the DPC Alliance cannot in their
21:10
bylaws, they're not taking a political stance.
21:12
So I had to find somewhere else to advocate.
21:16
And speaking with my colleagues, especially Doctor Garrison
21:20
Bliss, who started this whole movement, and Jay Keith and
21:23
people from all over the country going to Capitol Hill and
21:26
advocating it's, it just feels so amazing to be able to help
21:31
elevate our movement through the voices that we all have, that we
21:36
all are making loud and clear because people, meaning our
21:41
patients, are desperate and wanting the care that we're
21:43
delivering. Yep, absolutely.
21:47
And the advocacy comes in so many ways.
21:49
So you're advocating for your patients, you're advocating for
21:52
the doctors. So not only on Capitol Hill, but
21:55
then also you have other things that you're doing as well.
21:59
I don't know how you do it all. Yeah, I I will say that it's it
22:05
is I I'm very much leaning into the entrepreneur world of GSTI
22:13
don't know if that is that if it's a OK to cuss on this
22:15
podcast them so they get shit done.
22:17
Mindset is definitely a crutch in my life.
22:21
And so I have very much learned to figure out delegation.
22:26
It's not my easiest skill because I'm very much a I can do
22:30
it and I can do it quickly and I can do it like whatever it is
22:33
like I can, I can figure it out and love.
22:36
It's very family medicine of me. But I love that mindset.
22:39
But also with entrepreneurship had to come.
22:41
I cannot do it all in 24 hours in a day.
22:45
Yeah, definitely. Yeah, having a team and having a
22:47
team that you trust is really important.
22:50
And yeah, it's hard to let go of that, like you said, because I
22:53
mean, that's, I think that's just part of our nature.
22:56
Number one is doctors do if you're going to have an
22:59
entrepreneurial kind of mindset, yeah, definitely is hard.
23:03
And I think there's a book that's called Buy Back Your Time
23:07
or something like. That by Dan Martel, yeah.
23:09
Yes, yes. And there's things that I think
23:11
like laundry. No more cooking.
23:16
I mean, I've been cooking for my family for 20 something years.
23:19
I am tired of it. I don't want to do it anymore
23:21
and I very rarely do anymore. I tell my family I'm like, I
23:25
love you. I show my love in other ways
23:27
besides cooking for you. Totally, totally.
23:32
Yep. So tell me about the DPC
23:35
directory. Yeah.
23:38
So it was very apparent that they're conversing with our
23:43
colleagues, that people were really leaning into the podcast
23:47
because of the resources that were shared.
23:50
And that's awesome. That's what I love.
23:51
That's what I am. One of the things that I'm
23:53
grateful for because people are going to approach DPC in
23:56
different ways. Like I approach DPC in rural
23:59
America. I don't have Rite AIDS anymore
24:01
around me. So it's like the people who are
24:03
talking about an urban setting are going to be heard
24:06
differently from people who are around settings like theirs.
24:10
So for me, when I was talking with people, I kept realizing
24:13
that resources and edible resources were very much needed.
24:19
And it really did not sit well with me that depending on what
24:24
your algorithm was during the day, like that's what you would
24:27
see in terms of your resources unless you did.
24:30
And I, I joke, but also I think she's awesome.
24:33
Doctor Jalen Pritchard was like deep dove into every single
24:36
freaking post that was ever made on DBC since 2016.
24:40
I say that just because like she that that is absolutely a
24:44
freaking way to make sure that you're thorough in your resource
24:46
search. But at the same time, not
24:49
everybody is going to be on Facebook.
24:52
Not everybody is going to be able to do that.
24:54
And there are no other resources really out there where it's a
24:59
there were a way, there was a way to read about people's
25:04
experiences with that resource. For example, Shawna Sanders, who
25:07
is an amazing lawyer, especially in the DPC space, people are
25:11
leaving her reviews on her, her Viso Legal site on the DPC
25:15
directory. So if you're looking for a
25:17
lawyer, you don't have to like worry about, is it in my
25:20
algorithm today that I can find a DPC lawyer?
25:23
No, you can actually go and look somewhere in a public setting
25:26
now. And so it was very much created
25:28
out of what I saw people needed, just like I needed to talk with
25:33
people about their DPC stories for the podcast.
25:36
So it was very much in tandem with the community's needs and
25:41
what I saw them asking for that wasn't being provided.
25:45
Yeah. And just the buy back your time,
25:47
Doctor Pritchard, this deep dive back to 2016, I mean, how many
25:52
hours did that take her? And so having that kind of
25:55
resource is great because that's really the one resource we just,
25:57
there's no, there's no value on it.
25:59
So that, that definitely will save a lot of people time and
26:04
effort and trying to find what they need for DPC.
26:06
So that's great. And then what?
26:09
About Rise Up, tell me about that.
26:11
I've seen a little bit about it, but I don't really know what
26:13
that is. Yeah.
26:15
Another thing that I realized on my journey in DPC is that
26:18
there's constant questions about side gigs.
26:21
How do I find another way to fund my DPC because I'm the
26:25
primary breadwinner because of whatever fill in the blank I
26:27
need to make this mortgage payment.
26:29
And also the questions about the questions about how do I do this
26:35
as a surgical specialist, how do I do this if I want to do OB,
26:39
but I'm family medicine, like I don't necessarily have a place
26:41
to do these things, but I want to do them.
26:44
And so when I was connected with the Flex Med staff group, so
26:48
Doctor Aaron Morgenstein, who's orthopedic surgeon and Doctor
26:51
Ali Shen, who's OB Guine, it was completely eye opening to see
26:56
that there is a completely in tandem group of doctors who are
26:59
doing locums and direct contracting, meaning they're not
27:02
having to use a broker, a third party to negotiate a contract.
27:07
They're able to do their skills and they're able to directly
27:11
contract with facilities what not even in their own hometowns.
27:16
As well as Doctor Naomi Lawrence Reed, who talked about side
27:21
gigs. This whole world was like,
27:23
they're answering the questions and I didn't even know that they
27:25
were in existence. And we collaborated over the
27:28
summer and said, hey, it would be really awesome to bring more
27:32
physicians to the table, not just the one O 1 content that we
27:37
see at DPC Summit. But going beyond that and having
27:40
the actual tools to how to direct contract, how to do
27:46
Locum's gigs, how to, what are the rules of engagement so that
27:50
you are presenting yourself and not having a company present for
27:54
you? What are the ways that you can
27:56
be opted in or opted out of Medicare and still do side gigs?
28:00
What are the things that you can do as a side gig even if you're
28:02
a pediatrician? So I think that it was very eye
28:05
opening and just leaning into expanding the education
28:10
opportunities for ADPC Dr. but also somebody who is not
28:13
necessarily primary care, who's interested in DPC as well as
28:18
maintaining their their level of care that they're able to
28:21
deliver, especially when it comes to surgery.
28:24
So we, we decided over the summer that let's collaborate
28:27
because the doctors who are wanting locums and direct
28:30
contracting don't necessarily know what DPC is and vice versa.
28:34
And so by by creating a summit that is touching on DBC, direct
28:40
contracting and locums, people are going to be empowered in
28:43
different ways that we haven't seen at conference before.
28:46
Yeah, I had no idea either. And that's that's really great
28:49
because yeah, definitely there are a lot of doctors when
28:51
they're first starting, they are doing locums.
28:54
The only way that they know about it is to go through these
28:56
agencies or companies. And I guess that's that's not
29:00
the only way. So that's that's.
29:03
Awesome. It's yeah, it's so like to hear
29:06
what can happen when you actually go into this
29:08
autonomously versus through being an employee.
29:13
It is incredible. And but those you have to be
29:16
strategic about those those avenues of finding work and that
29:21
it's like talking with Ollie and Aaron and all of their content.
29:27
It's like a crib sheet for how to go about the the act of doing
29:32
your own contracting. And it is it is not.
29:35
People are like, oh, I don't want to open a business of that.
29:38
Like literally having a crib sheet helps with the stress of
29:42
doing the act of going to get a locums job and it does not have
29:46
to be at an urgent care. OK, Yeah.
29:50
So what they what they help with is so if somebody if I wanted to
29:55
find a locums job and I went to them, I can learn how to create
30:01
a contract for myself to contract directly with someone
30:04
who needs a locums. Is that correct?
30:08
Yeah. So definitely in part, I would
30:09
say not only like where, where like how to do it with a
30:14
contract, but also where in terms of which companies are
30:16
going to be friendly for independent positions, Which
30:20
companies are going to be making you work like a dog?
30:23
Which companies are going to be allowing you to have a single
30:27
day malpractice coverage policy? Which, which locations are going
30:31
to be more friendly for a fair compensation versus others.
30:35
So it literally is the world of direct contracting and locums,
30:40
anything and everything you need to know.
30:42
They've been doing it for so long that they've created this,
30:47
this whole education platform of how do we empower physicians to
30:51
do what we're doing in DPC in terms of be autonomous in their
30:55
practice, but be autonomous in their practice through direct
30:58
contracting and locums as well as other side gigs, Yeah.
31:03
Do they help physicians find locums?
31:05
Is that part of it? Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
31:08
I mean, every day there's even conversation chats about, hey,
31:13
I'm in Florida did not like trying to figure out if this did
31:16
that. And it is so many physicians and
31:20
flexmen staff who are helping people navigate how to not lose
31:26
their minds over the finances because they're empowering
31:30
people to make money but also not give up their autonomy.
31:35
Yeah, and it's called Flex Med staff, right, the company the.
31:39
Flex Med staff is the company and then the Summit is the Rise
31:42
Up summitsoitsjust@flexmedstaff.com/rise
31:46
Up. But yes, it's it is just a
31:48
collaboration between my DPC story and Flex Med Staff.
31:51
OK, Yeah, great. Well, that's awesome because
31:54
that just something for sure that I think a lot of DPC
31:57
doctors, they would love to know that because a lot of a lot of
32:01
solo right and the coverage is a huge issue, especially if you're
32:06
in a rural area and there's no other DPC doctors around you.
32:09
Yeah, and I will say that many people, I've gotten the Flyers
32:14
from the Chicago. Here's the side gig conference
32:16
done. But you have to it's $1000 to
32:19
go. And then if you want to learn
32:20
about this side gig, it's another $700.00.
32:23
And this is yeah, this is like that and it gets, it gets crazy
32:27
and you have to go to Chicago for that one.
32:29
But this is completely virtual. It is 3 days of it's pre
32:34
recorded content. It's three days of virtual
32:36
content. You get the recordings for six
32:39
months after. So you can listen to the content
32:41
and digest it on your own time. But also we're going to have a
32:45
live day of Q&A. So like when when you're we're
32:49
looking at less than $300 to attend a conference like this,
32:52
when it's literally a crib sheet for how to make way more than
32:55
$300 even with one contract or one side gig, it is to me it's
33:00
like a no brainer. But that's why we made it
33:02
accessible too, so that it wasn't thousands of dollars.
33:05
And that could be accessible for people who are starting out
33:08
especially. Yeah, yeah.
33:10
And that's, yeah, that's exactly how you really need to think
33:13
about it is. Yeah.
33:14
It's $300 upfront, but you put it on your credit card and then
33:18
you get a contract and you paid it off.
33:21
Yeah, OK. You've got lots of stuff going
33:23
on. What about outside of your
33:26
business interests and the DPC? What do you like to do?
33:32
I love talking with people. I say that jokingly because
33:35
literally it doesn't take a lot for me to get excited about
33:39
doing stuff if there are other people involved.
33:41
I very much love activities like that.
33:43
I definitely love seeing my girlfriends from high school and
33:47
college and going to dinner with them.
33:49
My husband and I are excited. We have a like 4 day trip to San
33:53
Francisco that we're planning just the two of us.
33:56
And so I love hanging out with him.
33:58
I love Legos, I love my paint by number that I got.
34:02
It's super cute from Target. It's like a ghost with flowers
34:05
around and I'm super excited about that.
34:06
But yeah, it doesn't take much to make me happy.
34:09
I'm Oh, that sounds fun. I've never done that before.
34:11
Let's do it. So it's, it could be anything.
34:13
But I think that that's where as a Doctor Who's got all this time
34:18
that you don't have to be with patients in the clinic 8 to 5,
34:22
filling it is never the problem. But also just recently, because
34:26
I just came from a retreat, I'm really focusing on really
34:32
pairing down on what really brings me joy, what brings, how
34:37
do I support my authentic self and how do I elevate my
34:41
functional adult and lean into that when I'm healthier?
34:48
I'm healthier in all of my experiences with other people,
34:53
my kids, my husband. So I just really love that in
34:57
direct primary care because you can create the world you need
35:01
to. This also allows you to take
35:04
care of yourself, as as selfish as that sounds.
35:08
Boundaries are self-care, and I am more comfortable with that
35:12
now than I had been as an employed physician.
35:16
Yeah, yeah. And so the flip side of that,
35:19
besides the reverse of what do you like to do outside of
35:22
medicine is what are you saying no to now?
35:25
Yeah, I'm saying no definitely to a lot of people are wanting
35:30
to pick my brain, have me do consulting for free.
35:33
And I'm like, I have given so much.
35:35
My podcast is free. I am not at a point where I am
35:40
willing to work for free. Basically when it comes to other
35:44
people wanting to develop a tech for this movement or whatever,
35:50
have me as a speaker. I think that saying no to things
35:54
that are making me work harder than the person who's asking me
35:58
to that I'm saying no to as well.
36:01
And I'm saying no to this is gradual.
36:05
But saying no to the things that I can either automate, delegate,
36:09
or eliminate, that is totally my hardest thing right there.
36:13
But it is very much needed to keep the the foundation solid
36:18
going forward. Yeah, definitely.
36:21
I like the idea of the paring down like I'm saying no to
36:25
cooking. Well, thank you so much for your
36:30
time. Before we finish, is there
36:32
anything else that you want to tell people about DPC or just
36:35
share with the listeners? I would just say that direct
36:40
primary care is truly something that is growing like wildfire in
36:45
this country. So if there's anybody listening
36:47
and they're wanting to learn more about DPC, listen to all of
36:51
the episodes on DPC Life. Listen to your local DPC doctor
36:56
because DPC is in all 50 states. Go have a coffee with them,
37:00
lunch, tea, whatever. But it's this is not some voodoo
37:04
medicine type of like fringy movement.
37:07
This is literally a physician having a relationship with their
37:11
patient. And so if you're on the fence
37:13
about what is DPC, that is always going to be defined by
37:19
you from your experiences listening to other people and
37:22
how you lean into DPC is going to be different.
37:25
But I will say that in that spirit of leaning in and
37:29
creating your own understanding of DPC, that is also leaning
37:33
into who you are as an authentic person, who you are as a person
37:38
who needs certain things in the world and doesn't need other
37:40
things in the world to move forward, whether you continue in
37:43
medicine or not. I, I definitely would say that
37:45
that's what I would really encourage people to think about
37:49
in terms of how does DPC allow a person to understand what we're
37:54
doing and experience, experience that for themselves.
37:58
It's up to that person to lean in and learn.
38:01
Yeah, it's a lot of self discovery for sure.
38:05
Yeah, OK. Well, final things tell us how
38:08
to find you. The simplest way would be my DPC
38:12
story.com. You can find the links to all
38:14
the podcast feeds and social media there, but my DPC
38:18
story.com is definitely where to start.
38:19
Or you can look up DPC in any podcast platform and it'll be
38:23
there as well. OK.
38:24
Yeah, definitely. I encourage everyone who's
38:27
listening. Definitely listen to all of
38:29
them. It's been Four Seasons, 3/4.
38:34
We're going to be in Season 6 next year. 6 Holy moly.
38:37
Wow, that's amazing. That's incredible.
38:39
That is quite an accomplishment. Well, Doctor Concepcion, thank
38:43
you so much. I am so glad that you came on.
38:45
I'm glad to be able to call you a friend and say I know her when
38:49
I see my DPC story come up. It's awesome.
38:53
Thank you so much for having me. It's been such.
38:54
A pleasure. Thank you for listening.
38:57
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