In today's partner episode of the 'My DPC Story' podcast, host Maryal Concepcion discusses the rise and successes of the Direct Primary Care (DPC) model with guests Dr. Brad Brown (fellow DPC Doctor and My DPC Story Alum) and Brad Butler, Head of Sales at Hint Health. They delve into the significance of the DPC community, tech innovations from Hint Health, and the continuous growth of the DPC movement. Dr. Brad shares his experiences from starting Strive Direct Care during residency to contributing to the Hint ecosystem. Brad Butler discusses Hint Health's role in supporting DPCs through resources like the startup toolkit, their bootcamp program, Hint Connect and the upcoming Hint Summit (Aug 24-27th, 2025). GET YOUR HINT STARTUP KIT HERE AND GET PLUGGED INTO THE HINT COMMUNITY TODAY!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr. Maryal Concepcion (00:04):
Direct Primary care is an innovative
alternative path toinsurance-driven healthcare.
Typically, a patient pays theirdoctor a low monthly membership
and in return builds a lastingrelationship with their doctor
and has their doctor availableat their fingertips.
Welcome to the My DPC Storypodcast, where each week you
(00:26):
will hear the ever so relatablestories shared by physicians who
have chosen to practice medicinein their individual communities
through the direct primary caremodel.
I'm your host, MarielleConception.
Family, physician, DPC, owner,and former fee for service.
Doctor, I hope you enjoy today'sepisode and come away feeling
inspired about the future ofpatient care direct primary
(00:49):
care.
Well, my DVC story listeners,thank you so much for tuning in
today.
This is such a wonderful time ofthe year.
We're gearing up for meetingeach other in person at all
these summits, including Hintsummit at Rosetta Fest.
That's coming up in August, andtoday we're really going to be
highlighting the sense ofcommunity that hints bringing to
the DPC ecosystem.
(01:10):
And my two guests today are Dr.
Brad Brown.
You've heard him on the podcastbefore, he is a fellow family
physician who opened his DPCStrive direct care while in
residency.
So I'm so excited to hear anupdate as to how his practice
has been going, and also hiswisdom looking back on his
opening times, up until now.
And then our other guest todayis Brad Butler.
(01:31):
He is the head of sales at HintHealth and he has significant
experience supporting DPCdoctors on their launch journey.
So thank you both for joining metoday.
Brad Butler (01:40):
Great.
Thanks for having us.
Dr. Brad Brown (01:43):
Pretty rare.
You get two Brads in one, in onepodcast episode.
It's, it's,
Brad Butler (01:47):
it's a treat, folks, it's a treat.
Dr. Maryal Concepcion (01:48):
So guys, let's, let's jump in.
And Dr.
Brad, I wanted to start withyou, because again, you've been
on the podcast, it was quite awhile ago, where it was like
literally a hundred episodesago-ish.
And so much has happened.
You've had a pa join yourpractice.
You and Dr.
Schuster are still going crazywith, your growth and just being
established in the community.
So tell us, what's the update onStrive?
Dr. Brad Brown (02:11):
it's crazy to think it's, it was a hundred
episodes ago.
That's pretty amazing growth foryou as well.
So I, I'm an, I'm an avidlistener.
I love it.
I love hearing other people'sexperiences and trying to apply
it into, you know, strive intomy clinic too.
So yeah, myself and um, Dr.
Schuster, she's on the otherside of this wall for those of
who can see.
But, uh, we hired a PA Alexis.
She has 25 years experience.
She has her own little niche.
(02:31):
We're just growing nice andsteadily.
I thought there'd kind of be aplateau, but it just keeps, just
keeps going.
And I'm shocked every month,every month it's like, how in
the world is this still rollinglike this?
And it's a lot of fun.
It's a wild ride.
There's always little tweaksand, and things we can do.
And it's fun to bounce ideas offof other fellow DPC docs, say,
what works for you?
This is working for us.
This isn't working for us.
(02:52):
And trying to, to apply it.
So, to, basically dovetail whatyou already said about the
community.
The DPC community as a whole isawesome, how many friends and
mentors do we all have that youcan just text or call and be
like, Hey, what do you thinkabout this?
Or Hey, how are you growing orso quickly, or anything like
that.
And it's been a lot of fun.
In the, the North Denver areawhere I am, there's been five or
six other DPCs in the last maybe18 months that have opened as
(03:15):
well.
And you know, we're all, we'reall kind of close.
We have a group text, which isreally cool too, and they've all
sat on this couch right here.
And they ask all the questionsand I say, Hey, I'm just, I'm
just one clinic, so you, youmake it your own.
But this is kind of what workedfor me.
So it's a lot of fun.
I, I wouldn't trade it foranything.
Dr. Maryal Concepcion (03:30):
And I think you have a unique
perspective, not only because ofyou opening Strive Direct Care
in residency, but also you hadcreated this, electronic health
record that has now become Hintclinical.
And I think that it's reallypowerful in terms of, your
journey as a DPC physician, butalso someone who's very much, in
the tech space and the workflowspace, somebody who's been,
(03:51):
challenged about like, oh, weneed a new thing to do this
process or whatnot.
So I would love if you couldjust give us some, high level
takeaways on the coulda, wouldashould as now that you've, been
pre in practice for a while,given that, you can look back on
what you started with and whereyou are now
Dr. Brad Brown (04:08):
that's a fantastic question.
I think the short answer is Ishould have hired a virtual in
May about like three yearsbefore I did.
That was like the best decisionwe made it'cause we all wanted
one as well.
So she's phenomenal.
And she, I highly recommenddoing that sooner rather than
later.
but from a 30,000 foot view,it's, it all goes back to your
why, right?
I, I didn't mean to start aclinic during residency, it kind
(04:30):
of was just, just the snowballstarted and I didn't wanna stop
that momentum.
And so as it, as it kept goingand learning on the fly, I
wouldn't change anything.
There aren't Sure, there's somethings that I, I wish I could
tweak here and there, like Isaid.
But with that, you know, the,the clinic piece with the tech
piece with, with Hint andformerly, you know, RDPC, but
having that perspective, I, it'smy why was I wanted to change
(04:53):
the American healthcare system,right?
Just in my own, in my own space,for the person sitting on my
couch right here.
I wanna change the world forthem type of thing.
with Hint, hint is very missionand vision aligned to how I see
DPC.
And so it was, it was a nobrainer for me to, you know, be
their medical director for thelack of a better term to where I
can use my platform with Hint tohelp DPC grow.
(05:15):
My voice is much louder in theDPC space because of the, the
platform hint allows me to have.
And so, it is the coulda,shoulda would, is I I wish I
could have every clinic,everyone, every doc I talk to be
in DPC but a lot of'em don't doit.
But it is I, I think we are allexperiencing the change and the,
the ground swell of, Physiciansand employers and families,
(05:36):
everything like that.
People want something different.
And DPC is just tailor made forthat.
It's phenomenal that Hint washistorically in the DPC space as
the membership management piece.
And then as Hint clinical cameabout and, and everything
blossomed there over the lasttwo and a half years, obviously
I'm a little bit biased, but I'ma huge fan because Hint is the
only in the space that'sinvesting every spare dollar
(05:57):
back into DPC with Hint Summit,with the launch bootcamp, the
DPC playbooks, Hint Connect, theemployer trends, reports, the,
all the data and everything thatcomes out too.
It's really amazing to be partof a company that is fully
invested all in mission andvision.
And so that's why I personallyam all in as well.
'cause it's easy to get behind acompany like that.
Brad Butler (06:19):
Yeah.
One thing I'll add to that.
Thank you, Dr.
Brad.
And there's no surprise thatyou're growing at the, the rate
that you are.
It's exciting to see.
One thing about Hint is we'retalking to a lot of DPCs or a
lot of physicians who arelooking to join in the DC and
there's a lot of questions onwhat is it?
How do I do it?
And so we have the, the benefitof that vantage point across so
many data points and there's alot there, right?
(06:40):
There's no surprise that all thethings that A DPC would need to
consider to start launch theirpractice are not things that you
were trained on, not things thatyou didn't before.
So there's a question of wheredo you go?
And that's really where Hint andits ongoing mission too.
Really support the ongoingdirect care movement and make it
the new standard is reallycoming into play.
And how do we support folks atthat level to ensure that they
(07:02):
not only launch their practice,but they grow and scale it with
success.
So there's a number of thingsthat we're doing with that.
And one is, a great just DPCstartup playbook that we have.
It's online, it's on our launchpage of hint.com/startup.
And it's a long checklist ofthings like that.
How do I think about pricing?
(07:23):
How do I think about values?
How do I think about mission?
How do I think my legal, mymalpractice?
How do I get my branding set up?
How do I think about oh, sellingmy memberships and services to
my retail plans?
There's a lot there to consider.
And so it's a great, greatchecklist to have.
Once you have that, then there'sthe question of, okay, how do I
do it?
And that's where I know thisterm gets thrown out a lot, but
(07:45):
it's really, really true iscommunity.
And so that's where a lot offolks are coming in and there's
a lot of resources that we'rereally excited to continue to
invest in at Hint.
So one is.
Every Hint customer joins theHint community, and you have
access to all the conversationsthat people are having,
like-minded questions that arejust coming up for folks that
(08:06):
have been doing it before, tofolks who are experiencing for
the very first time and how do Ilearn from those particular
groups?
Bootcamp is another great way.
So for all practices that arelooking to launch in about three
or so months or so, there's acohort around 12 weeks long
where every week we're goingthrough different topics around
(08:26):
all those things that DPCscontinually talk through.
So not only is it the checklist,but it's a lot of groups that
are running the same situations.
And, and it's really fun to seethe conversations that come with
this.
I know Dr.
Brad sits on these conversationsas well as a mentor too.
So you get the good sage adviceof him, but.
(08:47):
They're talking about how totalk about memberships.
How do I sell this?
How do I go to employerspracticing their pitch?
How many times do you get thatopportunity to have like a
staging ground where you canreally kind of trial and test
something and fail and getbetter at it?
And that's a really excitingthing to see with all the
community.
Dr. Maryal Concepcion (09:02):
And Dr.
Brad, I, I wanna lean in heretoo to your experience, you
shared in your podcast beforeyou were in the DPC docs
Facebook group as a second yearmedical student.
what types of things do you seebeing part of the syn community
and being, you know, part ofthe, the voice of the startup
toolkit that is really helpful,that you really want people to
know, in addition to what BradButler said.
Dr. Brad Brown (09:23):
Yeah.
I see the value is everything isright there, right where you
need it.
You know, when I was a secondyear medical student.
Gosh, was that 6, 7, 8 years,eight years ago now?
And I snuck in that group evenwithout an NPI number that was
kind of where everyone was goingfor information.
But with the Hint ecosystem, andthe Hint community, everything's
right there.
It's really easy to access.
It's free.
I mean, it's just, you can justuse it to help start your clinic
(09:45):
and the, the partnerships youknow, everything from legal to
marketing, to, you know,branding, everything like that
is, it's right there at yourfingertips and it makes it easy.
And all of the people who areone month, one year, 10 years
ahead of you, there's very few10 years ahead of you.
'cause DPC is still so young.
But those, those people arethere to say, Hey, this is what
I was doing, you know, a monthago, a year ago, 10 years ago.
(10:06):
And so the value is, is youalmost can't put a price on it
because it's, being able to justtalk to people is the beauty of
DPC.
Right?
It's not an AI generated chatbot.
Dr. Maryal Concepci (10:16):
Absolutely.
And let's talk about themovement now because you know,
this was so fascinating at HintSummit last September.
Because you guys are looking atdata from multiple clinics who
are using Hint in differentforms, hint, clinical hint core,
the membership, billing andmanagement services that hint
started with and more Hint,connect, I would love Brad
(10:36):
Butler, especially if you couldshare some of the, high level
takeaways in terms of the datathat you are seeing about the
movement.
Because I'm sure there's somepeople in the audience who are,
like, I don't really know ifDPCs really a thing that's gonna
continue in the future.
Brad Butler (10:50):
Yeah.
I, I think the first message isyou're not alone in that.
And so we have been, I think,anecdotally feeling the
movement.
I think EnergyWise andexcitement wise, we've been
feeling the movement.
We've been seeing some newfaces, some new names join every
year, both at Summit, but justin every DPC focused event um,
that we've seen across thecountry in the conversations.
(11:11):
And so the question has been,alright, well what are the
actual numbers?
What is this representing?
'cause you hear things kind ofgetting thrown out every once in
a while.
Our team's done a ton of work ontrying to really hone down and,
hey, not only what does the DBCmarket look like, but how is it
growing with these new foundersand these new physicians that
are starting their own clinics.
(11:31):
So, there's now.
3,600 DBC practices across thecountry, which is really
exciting.
The even more exciting part ofthat we found is that since
2022, that number has grown onaverage about 20 or 19 20% year
over year.
And so that's moving at a reallyhigh clip.
It speaks to both, I thinkwhat's happening right now in
(11:54):
the traditional fee for servicein healthcare systems and why
people are moving over.
But I think more so is thatgrowth is around pointing that
there is another way and thatpeople are showing success in
this.
And so that's been a reallyexciting thing.
The other piece of it too, thatwe're seeing as well is.
They're thinking more options,they're thinking more kind of
possibilities out there.
So it's, Hey, what can I do onmy traditional primary care
(12:18):
service that could be adifferent service line that's
interesting to my localpopulation, my local community
that also frankly have adiversified revenue stream to
that.
So we're seeing a lot ofinterest now of what we're
calling almost DBC plus, whichare DBCs baseline services with
different kind of add-onservices around weight loss
management hormone therapy morekind of wellness based services
(12:41):
in that particular way.
And that has just kind ofmorphed to allow a lot more
opportunities for folks.
Dr. Maryal Concepcion (12:46):
That data really helps in terms of just
giving a general picture of howamazing this movement is just
plowing forward because patientsare demanding it, communities
are demanding to have access tohigh quality healthcare and not
specifically insurance, when itcomes to the future challenges.
Dr.
Brad, I'd love if you could.
Tell us about, the futurechallenges that you see people
being concerned about,especially when it comes to, how
(13:09):
do I grow a panel?
What types of things are youhearing from the community that
really addresses the goodproblems that people have, the
future growth of thesepractices, because people want
DPC.
Dr. Brad Brown (13:19):
Yeah.
what, what I hear often when,docs current and in the
pre-contemplative stage ask whenthey call or text me is, am I
always on call?
That's always the one question,you know, do I have to answer
texts all the time?
It's like, that depends on whatyou wanna offer.
But also, it's hiring is alwaysa big one.
That comes up to when do I hire,how do I hire?
(13:39):
'cause I mean, most docs, wehave no idea how to hire people.
What do I need to look for?
Because we're all, mepersonally, I'm a people
pleaser, so if I'm interviewingsomeone, I'm like having a good
time, having a good conversationwith'em.
And I think they're great, butmaybe they're not the best fit.
I've hit home, runs on all fourpeople that I've hired.
I don't consider myself anexpert in that at all.
I just, the people that haveapproached me to wanna work here
were phenomenal.
Things like that to where the,the tech stack basically all of
(14:03):
the hint ecosystem with clinicaland core, and even a little bit
of connect.
Take the burden of, of theday-to-day monotony of being a
doctor off your plate.
So then you can learn how to runa business.
You can learn how to hire, youcan learn about, you know,
payroll, things like that.
'cause those are things that youcan totally learn.
Doctors are bright people.
We can, we made it through medschool and residency by studying
(14:25):
for crying out loud, you know,so we can, we can learn those
things.
And the growth piece is really,is what the ex, what the
exciting part is to where, youknow, we all, we all hear and
see and feel that excitement atconferences and, and podcasts of
course and everything.
And then, you know.
It's like one patient signs upevery two or three days and
you're, you know, you go fromgoogling private jets to food
(14:48):
stamps within the, a swing oflike two hours, you know?
But then when you look backmonth over month, you're like,
actually I'm having good growth.
And my projections were youknow, looking at the, the
awesome reporting is the, myprojections were I'd cover my
expenses in 12 months and nowI'm actually covering'em after
three months.
You know, that's way ahead ofschedule.
So yeah, it takes a little bitof work, but the, the, the hint
(15:08):
tech stack really does removethe burden of, okay, I need to
go document, I need to go chart,I need to, I need to activate, I
need to get, collect the paymentinfo.
It does it all, everything soseamlessly to where you have the
time and mental bandwidth to, togo be a business owner.
Dr. Maryal Concepcion (15:25):
It really speaks to the person who,
especially most of us are inthis bucket where you are
wearing a lot of hats,especially on day one.
Brad Butler (15:33):
one thing that I think may just be helpful for
the audience is is where we'rereally aiming with our kind of
tech solutions within Hinton,just overall, overall offering
is reducing the barriers toentry for DPCs.
And when it comes to thetechnology itself, it's what are
all the things from the EMR,from the patient communications
(15:53):
and all the things you need todo to optimize around that
interaction to all the backendbilling, all the administrative
aspects around membership andhow you're billing, who are you
billing really reducing andhaving one single spot to manage
all of that.
And then having kind of a onestep back, a further kind of
ecosystem at which you can helpfolks.
Move those barriers even moreso, so through different
(16:17):
ecosystem partners that we havewithin Hint, there's a lot of
other great tools out there thatcan be part of an ecosystem or
other great services andpartners that are also part of
that, that can also be helpingwith that.
And so Hint can kind of helpcurate those options for folks.
And then there is the otheravenue of like, all right, now
that I have these things, whatare the things I can go out
(16:37):
there and engage with mycommunity with?
So one example, I know I've beentalking about community a lot is
there was a particular customerjust recently who was sharing a
story around how they have anopportunity through a recent
cancellation of a chamber ofCommerce.
And this is a brand new practicecoming coming through, but there
was a recent cancellation, sothey were taking advantage of
(16:57):
the opportunity to be invitedbecause of this.
They stepped in, they'rehustling, working so hard to get
all the last minute preparationsmade, the collateral, the
assets, all the things becausethe audience is gonna be quite,
quite wide and you can see andhear the excitement going.
And there was just one thing tonote that I thought was so
(17:18):
powerful that was left and, andquite honestly understated in a
lot of these conversations.
And the comment was, I wasn'tsure who to share the excitement
with other than this group righthere.
Like, I, I love that that is afact where people can go share
their stories, see what they'rerunning through, and and have
this excitement because I thinkit reinforces the lesson overall
(17:39):
of like, never do this alone.
And so that's what we're here todo and help support people along
with.
Dr. Maryal Concepcion (17:44):
Brad, tell us more about that, because
I feel that as you're talkingabout how this person was really
empowered, within community tellus more about the bootcamp for
those people who are, wanting tolearn more and wanting to lean
into, oh my goodness.
There's a place where I can goto specifically for help with
these things that I need to getmy clinic off the ground
Brad Butler (18:03):
so this is a relatively new offering that
we're really excited about withhim.
So this is a bootcamp wherefolks who are a few months out
of their launch can join a, acohort and it's one to two hours
a week roughly.
There's gonna be some homework.
We always ask folks to do that,and it's walking through all
those things that you need to doto get a a practice started.
(18:25):
Now, I think you could, you canalways go into chat GPT and say,
Hey, drive me a 12 week programto launch A-A-D-P-C practice,
and it'll give you a lot ofgreat stuff.
But the value is in the, thepeople and bringing together the
people, the people who have donethis before, the mentors, the
subject matter experts.
And so that's what we're aimingto do is every week we have
different topics with differentmodules that focus on different
(18:48):
things from.
How do you design your officeto, how do you think about sales
and marketing?
How do you think about corevalues and everywhere in between
to get people really, reallylaunch ready for that.
Really, really exciting, butalso likely very frightful day
Dr. Brad Brown (19:04):
it's a lot of fun.
I know I've said that a fewtimes on this call, but the
bootcamp is I guess my role iskind of mentor we just finished
our second cohort today, oursecond 12 week cohort today.
One of the, One of my favoriteparts is each week the
curriculum.
We have local community experts,if you will.
So, we have, you know, everyoneknows Phil Boucher.
He comes in and he'll, he doesa, a talk on marketing, you
know, Lauren Reedy, who ispopular in the DPC world as
(19:27):
well, she'll, he goes overwebsites.
So if you have a website or alanding page, she'll go over
with a fine tuned tooth combright in front, like in the, in
the class.
And so, you know, it stings alittle bit.
She went over mine and mine'sfive years old now, and she's
like, you need to update this.
Just things like that.
And then, you know, I, I, I do aweek, there's a a CPA and a
financial guy does one week.
And it's just little pieces hereand there to kind of draw on
(19:49):
everyone's experience.
And it's fun to see, you know,people who are all in the, I'm
gonna start in the next sixmonths, which is an arbitrary
timeframe, right?
Or we had, we had half, abouthalf of our cohort launched
halfway through the bootcamp.
And so it was cool to see, okay,I, we talked about this, and
then I went and applied it, andthen this is actually what I
learned.
It was really cool to see theback and forth and the
(20:10):
discussions even asynchronouslyin the community boards later,
but also on our, our weekly callas well.
So it's, it's really boots onthe ground stuff and the startup
world is kind of where my jamis.
I love that
Brad Butler (20:22):
And I think part of that too is to, to join on this,
is we do have an upcoming cohortthat is gonna be starting May
6th.
You don't have to be launchedright then.
But it's really exciting to justbe part of that.
So call to action is join us.
It'd be great to have you atbootcamp and when we do'em
every, every quarter or so.
But it's really exciting to seethe, the ongoing momentum.
Dr. Brad Brown (20:42):
You can join a couple weeks later.
People do that and you can catchup.
Dr. Maryal Concepcion (20:45):
I love it.
So, one thing also I want tocall out is, again, like I
mentioned in the very beginning,as people are listening to this
podcast, also what is gonna comeup is the month of August, and
that is when Hint Summit isgoing to be at Rosetta Fest.
So, could you guys tell us aboutthis, because I think it's, I
think it's so serendipitous forpeople to be hearing your words,
hearing about the communityfocus that Hint is bringing and
(21:07):
when it comes to meeting peoplevirtually and then meeting
people in person, it's a verydifferent thing.
So can you talk about what isdown the line with all of these
opportunities for people toconnect and then ending with
people connecting in person?
Brad Butler (21:20):
Yeah.
This is, probably hints mostexciting time of the year, and
we have a lot of exciting timesof the year.
But Hint Summit is for folks whohaven't joined, not only is a
good time, but it's really thatkind of culmination of all the
ongoing work that individualDPCs have been doing on the
networking side, launching theirpractices and coming together as
a larger community to say, Hey,not only celebrate our wins, but
(21:43):
what's happening in this space?
Where are things going?
And so we bring together andcurate a lot of different
speakers and and cool things to,to participate in this.
So yes, it is in August 24th to27th in Denver this year uh,
we're actually joining up withour friends at Rosetta Fest
which is really exciting.
(22:03):
We're gonna have veryspecifically a DPC content track
at Rosetta Fest, so withspeakers and sessions and events
around DPC specifically.
And it's a good moment in timetoo, because one thing to note
is.
Employers are looking at this,they are hungry for this
service.
And it's a really good avenueand it's one of the biggest
questions we get is how can Itap into that employer market
(22:27):
and how can we look at that?
Dr. Brad Brown (22:28):
When I was getting started, especially in
residency you know, I, I heardfrom other DPC docs, Hey, you
know, employers is a great wayto get quick growth.
You know, it's like, oh, quickgrowth, cover your overhead, a
good, good shot in the arm, ifyou will.
And in my mind I was like, oh,I'll get to it.
I'll get to it in the future.
I don't really have time to gowalk around and knock doors and
pitch to businesses.
I've read all the books andtalked as many people as I
(22:48):
could, and what I've learned aswell is there's a little bit of
a long lead time.
It's not like a, a company'sjust gonna call you and say, I'm
gonna sign up my 20 employees.
From that first point ofcontact, there is a decent
amount of time before someonesigns up.
And so, I was.
Approached by actually NextEraof all people with Clint
Flanagan, who's now a goodfriend, I was kind of in his
neighborhood, if you will.
He's here in the northern Denvernorthern Colorado area.
(23:10):
And he said, Hey, we have a lotof employers that have employees
in your area.
Would you want to be anaffiliate?
And we can NextEra affiliate andwe can basically just send
patients your way.
And my first reaction when Clintlistens to this, he's gonna
laugh.
'cause I tell him this all thetime.
My first reaction was like, ohno, I don't wanna do that.
I don't wanna be affiliated withanyone.
I wanna do my own thing.
You know?
But then I quickly realized thatthat's not actually how it
(23:31):
works.
And it's just a really good wayto get more feet in your door
and get the word out more about.
Your own personal clinic.
And so it's kind of how networksconnect NextEra, all these
affiliate type of networks towhere it's a way that employers
can have their own network ofDPC docs.
And it's not like just my ownclinic here in Erie, Colorado
(23:52):
has to take care of all of youremployees that are all over the
country type of thing.
And being a part of the employerscene a little bit over the past
few years, I'm excited for the,to be paired with the Rosetta
Fest for in Summit is theseemployers are gonna see the joy
and the they're gonna feel thatexcitement from DPC.
It's, it's only gonna fuel thatfire more.
I don't know if I have any harddata, Brad Butler, you'd have
(24:13):
more than me.
But I know that the employeradoption rate for DPCs is going
through the roof right now.
Looks like, I think Hintmeasured 801% growth from 2018
to 2022, and I'm sure that'seven more now.
But for what employers areoffering DPC as a benefit for
their employees.
(24:33):
So I see it as people workingwith employers, people who would
never have found you, your ownclinic.
They would never have found you,but now they're offered a
benefit through their and nowthey see the, the amazingness of
your DPC clinic is a phenomenalway to, to grow your own clinic
and the movement as a whole.
Brad Butler (24:50):
Yeah.
One, one thing I would say forthe folks out there to think, oh
my gosh, employers that seemshard is, is.
It's moving certainly in thatdirection more and more so, a
bit of numbers, so over.
Over 6,500 employers now in theUS have a DPC sponsored plan or
offering DPC memberships as partof their benefit package to some
(25:13):
degree.
And what's interesting on thatis if we look at of all the
memberships that hint helpsmanages for our customers.
The start of 2022, that numberwas 43% of those memberships
were being paid for by aemployer sponsor.
Now, fast forward to today, thatnumber's 58%, and that's just in
(25:34):
two short years that we'reseeing.
That's two and a half shortyears that we're seeing that
change.
And so I think the, the market'sthere, as we know, premiums are
going up and up and up, andemployers are really looking for
a solution.
And that's just where a reallynice match made there.
And it's a really great avenueto diversify your panel mix and,
(25:54):
and find other options too thatjust doesn't have to be solely
on the, on the backs of buildingout retail plans.
And so, Yeah.
Participating members can now bea hint connect site and receive
those members for thoseemployees and their families
that are in your particular neckof the woods.
So it's a really greatopportunity to not only get this
in front of employers more, butthen also and have it to bolster
(26:16):
up your panels and serve thoselocal communities.
Dr. Maryal Concepcion (26:19):
For the listeners, I'm sure you're just,
ballooning with inspiration andexcitement about what to do
next.
So make sure you go tohint.com/startup.
The link will also be in theshow notes, but we've mentioned
so many things, the startuptoolkit, the bootcamp finding
Kindred spirits in community,and also going to Hint Summit to
meet these people in person.
How do you guys see DPC as amovement empowering people to
(26:43):
practice amazing primary care?
Dr. Brad Brown (26:45):
DVC is here to stay.
I mean, it's not a fledgingmovement anymore.
The data is backing it.
You know, it really comes downto there's so much uncertainty
in the world right now.
Right.
with the financial markets, withthe government, with healthcare,
with you name it, that with ai,I mean, people really resonate
and they love being able tospeak to a human right and meet
in your office or on the phoneor meet them where they are.
(27:09):
And that, that.
That is what is veryprofessionally fulfilling for,
for me.
And I've seen a lot, I've hearda lot of other DPC docs kind of
echo that as well to whereburnout, sure, there's a little
bit of burnout in DPC, but it'sa different type.
It's almost like, it is almostso good that you're getting
burnt out of, of so muchamazingness to where you can,
you need to go on a vacationfrom it.
(27:30):
But DPC is here to stay.
It's growing quickly and it'sreally because the demand is
there.
And so, I'm not biased at all, Ipromise, but maybe just a little
bit.
Brad Butler (27:39):
Yeah, I think just the opportunity for time and
regain control and agency ofone's life allows you to.
Direct in the way that you wantit to direct it.
And I think that's justgenerally a cleaner burning fuel
for DBCs to stay motivated andnot having to deal with all the
burnout and all the things thatare happening.
So I get excited about just thetime availability that people
(28:01):
have because then you'respending on things you want to,
is it building the business?
Is it helping advocate orhelping a, a patient member
navigate through a trickysituation through the, the
healthcare system?
There's a whole bunch of thingsthat folks are doing, and that's
where folks even though they'reworking hard, working
diligently, they're rejuvenatedevery day.
(28:22):
And that's where I find the mostoptimism in.
Dr. Maryal Concepcion (28:24):
Amen.
And I definitely will say thatDr.
Rad and I can attest to that.
Absolutely.
And everybody we talk to in ourcommunity is so enthused that
this movement exists.
So again, if you are a person inmedical school, just like Dr.
Rad was or residency, if you arethinking about it, reading about
it in social media.
DPC is out there, and DPC isaccessible as a business model
(28:47):
for you to deliver in yourcommunity.
So make sure you grab thatstartup toolkit.
go to hint.com/startup.
The link will also be in theshow notes, Because you're going
to be empowered with thatchecklist also it is a resource
for you to even learn more abouthow to work with employers
through Hint Connect, make sureyou check out the bootcamp, find
your kindred spirit again incommunity.
(29:09):
It is so important, given that aphysician is not necessarily
always an MBA and you need thatcommunity around you to help you
get through and again I wouldlove to see you all in person
August 24th to 27th in Denver,Colorado at Hint Summit.
At Rosetta Fest.
So again thank you guys so muchfor joining us today.
Thank you so much for listeningto all the listeners.
Make sure that if you are goingto go to Hint Summit, get$50 off
(29:32):
your registration with the code,hint 50, that's HINT five zero.
And thank you guys so muchagain.
Brad Butler (29:39):
Yeah, this was a blast.
Thank you so much.
Dr. Brad Brown (29:41):
Always a pleasure with you, Marielle.
Dr. Maryal Concepcion (29:45):
Thank you for listening to another episode
of my DBC story.
If you enjoyed it, please leavea five star review on your
favorite podcast platform.
It helps others find the show,have a question about direct
primary care.
Leave me a voicemail.
You might hear it answered in afuture episode.
Follow us on socials at thehandle at my D DPC story and
join DPC didactics our monthlydeep dive into your questions
(30:07):
and challenges.
Links are@mydpcstory.com forexclusive content you won't hear
anywhere else.
Join our Patreon.
Find the link in the show notesor search for my DPC story on
patreon.com for DPC news on thedaily.
Check out DPC news.com.
Until next week, this isMarielle conception.
Direct Primary care is an innovative
alternative path toinsurance-driven healthcare.
Typically, a patient pays theirdoctor a low monthly membership
and in return builds a lastingrelationship with their doctor
and has their doctor availableat their fingertips.
Welcome to the My DPC Storypodcast, where each week you
(00:26):
will hear the ever so relatablestories shared by physicians who
have chosen to practice medicinein their individual communities
through the direct primary caremodel.
I'm your host, MarielleConception.
Family, physician, DPC, owner,and former fee for service.
Doctor, I hope you enjoy today'sepisode and come away feeling
inspired about the future ofpatient care direct primary
(00:49):
care.
Well, my DVC story listeners,thank you so much for tuning in
today.
This is such a wonderful time ofthe year.
We're gearing up for meetingeach other in person at all
these summits, including Hintsummit at Rosetta Fest.
That's coming up in August, andtoday we're really going to be
highlighting the sense ofcommunity that hints bringing to
the DPC ecosystem.
(01:10):
And my two guests today are Dr.
Brad Brown.
You've heard him on the podcastbefore, he is a fellow family
physician who opened his DPCStrive direct care while in
residency.
So I'm so excited to hear anupdate as to how his practice
has been going, and also hiswisdom looking back on his
opening times, up until now.
And then our other guest todayis Brad Butler.
(01:31):
He is the head of sales at HintHealth and he has significant
experience supporting DPCdoctors on their launch journey.
So thank you both for joining metoday.
Brad Butler (01:40):
Great.
Thanks for having us.
Dr. Brad Brown (01:43):
Pretty rare.
You get two Brads in one, in onepodcast episode.
It's, it's,
Brad Butler (01:47):
it's a treat, folks, it's a treat.
Dr. Maryal Concepcion (01:48):
So guys, let's, let's jump in.
And Dr.
Brad, I wanted to start withyou, because again, you've been
on the podcast, it was quite awhile ago, where it was like
literally a hundred episodesago-ish.
And so much has happened.
You've had a pa join yourpractice.
You and Dr.
Schuster are still going crazywith, your growth and just being
established in the community.
So tell us, what's the update onStrive?
Dr. Brad Brown (02:11):
it's crazy to think it's, it was a hundred
episodes ago.
That's pretty amazing growth foryou as well.
So I, I'm an, I'm an avidlistener.
I love it.
I love hearing other people'sexperiences and trying to apply
it into, you know, strive intomy clinic too.
So yeah, myself and um, Dr.
Schuster, she's on the otherside of this wall for those of
who can see.
But, uh, we hired a PA Alexis.
She has 25 years experience.
She has her own little niche.
(02:31):
We're just growing nice andsteadily.
I thought there'd kind of be aplateau, but it just keeps, just
keeps going.
And I'm shocked every month,every month it's like, how in
the world is this still rollinglike this?
And it's a lot of fun.
It's a wild ride.
There's always little tweaksand, and things we can do.
And it's fun to bounce ideas offof other fellow DPC docs, say,
what works for you?
This is working for us.
This isn't working for us.
(02:52):
And trying to, to apply it.
So, to, basically dovetail whatyou already said about the
community.
The DPC community as a whole isawesome, how many friends and
mentors do we all have that youcan just text or call and be
like, Hey, what do you thinkabout this?
Or Hey, how are you growing orso quickly, or anything like
that.
And it's been a lot of fun.
In the, the North Denver areawhere I am, there's been five or
six other DPCs in the last maybe18 months that have opened as
(03:15):
well.
And you know, we're all, we'reall kind of close.
We have a group text, which isreally cool too, and they've all
sat on this couch right here.
And they ask all the questionsand I say, Hey, I'm just, I'm
just one clinic, so you, youmake it your own.
But this is kind of what workedfor me.
So it's a lot of fun.
I, I wouldn't trade it foranything.
Dr. Maryal Concepcion (03:30):
And I think you have a unique
perspective, not only because ofyou opening Strive Direct Care
in residency, but also you hadcreated this, electronic health
record that has now become Hintclinical.
And I think that it's reallypowerful in terms of, your
journey as a DPC physician, butalso someone who's very much, in
the tech space and the workflowspace, somebody who's been,
(03:51):
challenged about like, oh, weneed a new thing to do this
process or whatnot.
So I would love if you couldjust give us some, high level
takeaways on the coulda, wouldashould as now that you've, been
pre in practice for a while,given that, you can look back on
what you started with and whereyou are now
Dr. Brad Brown (04:08):
that's a fantastic question.
I think the short answer is Ishould have hired a virtual in
May about like three yearsbefore I did.
That was like the best decisionwe made it'cause we all wanted
one as well.
So she's phenomenal.
And she, I highly recommenddoing that sooner rather than
later.
but from a 30,000 foot view,it's, it all goes back to your
why, right?
I, I didn't mean to start aclinic during residency, it kind
(04:30):
of was just, just the snowballstarted and I didn't wanna stop
that momentum.
And so as it, as it kept goingand learning on the fly, I
wouldn't change anything.
There aren't Sure, there's somethings that I, I wish I could
tweak here and there, like Isaid.
But with that, you know, the,the clinic piece with the tech
piece with, with Hint andformerly, you know, RDPC, but
having that perspective, I, it'smy why was I wanted to change
(04:53):
the American healthcare system,right?
Just in my own, in my own space,for the person sitting on my
couch right here.
I wanna change the world forthem type of thing.
with Hint, hint is very missionand vision aligned to how I see
DPC.
And so it was, it was a nobrainer for me to, you know, be
their medical director for thelack of a better term to where I
can use my platform with Hint tohelp DPC grow.
(05:15):
My voice is much louder in theDPC space because of the, the
platform hint allows me to have.
And so, it is the coulda,shoulda would, is I I wish I
could have every clinic,everyone, every doc I talk to be
in DPC but a lot of'em don't doit.
But it is I, I think we are allexperiencing the change and the,
the ground swell of, Physiciansand employers and families,
(05:36):
everything like that.
People want something different.
And DPC is just tailor made forthat.
It's phenomenal that Hint washistorically in the DPC space as
the membership management piece.
And then as Hint clinical cameabout and, and everything
blossomed there over the lasttwo and a half years, obviously
I'm a little bit biased, but I'ma huge fan because Hint is the
only in the space that'sinvesting every spare dollar
(05:57):
back into DPC with Hint Summit,with the launch bootcamp, the
DPC playbooks, Hint Connect, theemployer trends, reports, the,
all the data and everything thatcomes out too.
It's really amazing to be partof a company that is fully
invested all in mission andvision.
And so that's why I personallyam all in as well.
'cause it's easy to get behind acompany like that.
Brad Butler (06:19):
Yeah.
One thing I'll add to that.
Thank you, Dr.
Brad.
And there's no surprise thatyou're growing at the, the rate
that you are.
It's exciting to see.
One thing about Hint is we'retalking to a lot of DPCs or a
lot of physicians who arelooking to join in the DC and
there's a lot of questions onwhat is it?
How do I do it?
And so we have the, the benefitof that vantage point across so
many data points and there's alot there, right?
(06:40):
There's no surprise that all thethings that A DPC would need to
consider to start launch theirpractice are not things that you
were trained on, not things thatyou didn't before.
So there's a question of wheredo you go?
And that's really where Hint andits ongoing mission too.
Really support the ongoingdirect care movement and make it
the new standard is reallycoming into play.
And how do we support folks atthat level to ensure that they
(07:02):
not only launch their practice,but they grow and scale it with
success.
So there's a number of thingsthat we're doing with that.
And one is, a great just DPCstartup playbook that we have.
It's online, it's on our launchpage of hint.com/startup.
And it's a long checklist ofthings like that.
How do I think about pricing?
(07:23):
How do I think about values?
How do I think about mission?
How do I think my legal, mymalpractice?
How do I get my branding set up?
How do I think about oh, sellingmy memberships and services to
my retail plans?
There's a lot there to consider.
And so it's a great, greatchecklist to have.
Once you have that, then there'sthe question of, okay, how do I
do it?
And that's where I know thisterm gets thrown out a lot, but
(07:45):
it's really, really true iscommunity.
And so that's where a lot offolks are coming in and there's
a lot of resources that we'rereally excited to continue to
invest in at Hint.
So one is.
Every Hint customer joins theHint community, and you have
access to all the conversationsthat people are having,
like-minded questions that arejust coming up for folks that
(08:06):
have been doing it before, tofolks who are experiencing for
the very first time and how do Ilearn from those particular
groups?
Bootcamp is another great way.
So for all practices that arelooking to launch in about three
or so months or so, there's acohort around 12 weeks long
where every week we're goingthrough different topics around
(08:26):
all those things that DPCscontinually talk through.
So not only is it the checklist,but it's a lot of groups that
are running the same situations.
And, and it's really fun to seethe conversations that come with
this.
I know Dr.
Brad sits on these conversationsas well as a mentor too.
So you get the good sage adviceof him, but.
(08:47):
They're talking about how totalk about memberships.
How do I sell this?
How do I go to employerspracticing their pitch?
How many times do you get thatopportunity to have like a
staging ground where you canreally kind of trial and test
something and fail and getbetter at it?
And that's a really excitingthing to see with all the
community.
Dr. Maryal Concepcion (09:02):
And Dr.
Brad, I, I wanna lean in heretoo to your experience, you
shared in your podcast beforeyou were in the DPC docs
Facebook group as a second yearmedical student.
what types of things do you seebeing part of the syn community
and being, you know, part ofthe, the voice of the startup
toolkit that is really helpful,that you really want people to
know, in addition to what BradButler said.
Dr. Brad Brown (09:23):
Yeah.
I see the value is everything isright there, right where you
need it.
You know, when I was a secondyear medical student.
Gosh, was that 6, 7, 8 years,eight years ago now?
And I snuck in that group evenwithout an NPI number that was
kind of where everyone was goingfor information.
But with the Hint ecosystem, andthe Hint community, everything's
right there.
It's really easy to access.
It's free.
I mean, it's just, you can justuse it to help start your clinic
(09:45):
and the, the partnerships youknow, everything from legal to
marketing, to, you know,branding, everything like that
is, it's right there at yourfingertips and it makes it easy.
And all of the people who areone month, one year, 10 years
ahead of you, there's very few10 years ahead of you.
'cause DPC is still so young.
But those, those people arethere to say, Hey, this is what
I was doing, you know, a monthago, a year ago, 10 years ago.
(10:06):
And so the value is, is youalmost can't put a price on it
because it's, being able to justtalk to people is the beauty of
DPC.
Right?
It's not an AI generated chatbot.
Dr. Maryal Concepci (10:16):
Absolutely.
And let's talk about themovement now because you know,
this was so fascinating at HintSummit last September.
Because you guys are looking atdata from multiple clinics who
are using Hint in differentforms, hint, clinical hint core,
the membership, billing andmanagement services that hint
started with and more Hint,connect, I would love Brad
(10:36):
Butler, especially if you couldshare some of the, high level
takeaways in terms of the datathat you are seeing about the
movement.
Because I'm sure there's somepeople in the audience who are,
like, I don't really know ifDPCs really a thing that's gonna
continue in the future.
Brad Butler (10:50):
Yeah.
I, I think the first message isyou're not alone in that.
And so we have been, I think,anecdotally feeling the
movement.
I think EnergyWise andexcitement wise, we've been
feeling the movement.
We've been seeing some newfaces, some new names join every
year, both at Summit, but justin every DPC focused event um,
that we've seen across thecountry in the conversations.
(11:11):
And so the question has been,alright, well what are the
actual numbers?
What is this representing?
'cause you hear things kind ofgetting thrown out every once in
a while.
Our team's done a ton of work ontrying to really hone down and,
hey, not only what does the DBCmarket look like, but how is it
growing with these new foundersand these new physicians that
are starting their own clinics.
(11:31):
So, there's now.
3,600 DBC practices across thecountry, which is really
exciting.
The even more exciting part ofthat we found is that since
2022, that number has grown onaverage about 20 or 19 20% year
over year.
And so that's moving at a reallyhigh clip.
It speaks to both, I thinkwhat's happening right now in
(11:54):
the traditional fee for servicein healthcare systems and why
people are moving over.
But I think more so is thatgrowth is around pointing that
there is another way and thatpeople are showing success in
this.
And so that's been a reallyexciting thing.
The other piece of it too, thatwe're seeing as well is.
They're thinking more options,they're thinking more kind of
possibilities out there.
So it's, Hey, what can I do onmy traditional primary care
(12:18):
service that could be adifferent service line that's
interesting to my localpopulation, my local community
that also frankly have adiversified revenue stream to
that.
So we're seeing a lot ofinterest now of what we're
calling almost DBC plus, whichare DBCs baseline services with
different kind of add-onservices around weight loss
management hormone therapy morekind of wellness based services
(12:41):
in that particular way.
And that has just kind ofmorphed to allow a lot more
opportunities for folks.
Dr. Maryal Concepcion (12:46):
That data really helps in terms of just
giving a general picture of howamazing this movement is just
plowing forward because patientsare demanding it, communities
are demanding to have access tohigh quality healthcare and not
specifically insurance, when itcomes to the future challenges.
Dr.
Brad, I'd love if you could.
Tell us about, the futurechallenges that you see people
being concerned about,especially when it comes to, how
(13:09):
do I grow a panel?
What types of things are youhearing from the community that
really addresses the goodproblems that people have, the
future growth of thesepractices, because people want
DPC.
Dr. Brad Brown (13:19):
Yeah.
what, what I hear often when,docs current and in the
pre-contemplative stage ask whenthey call or text me is, am I
always on call?
That's always the one question,you know, do I have to answer
texts all the time?
It's like, that depends on whatyou wanna offer.
But also, it's hiring is alwaysa big one.
That comes up to when do I hire,how do I hire?
(13:39):
'cause I mean, most docs, wehave no idea how to hire people.
What do I need to look for?
Because we're all, mepersonally, I'm a people
pleaser, so if I'm interviewingsomeone, I'm like having a good
time, having a good conversationwith'em.
And I think they're great, butmaybe they're not the best fit.
I've hit home, runs on all fourpeople that I've hired.
I don't consider myself anexpert in that at all.
I just, the people that haveapproached me to wanna work here
were phenomenal.
Things like that to where the,the tech stack basically all of
(14:03):
the hint ecosystem with clinicaland core, and even a little bit
of connect.
Take the burden of, of theday-to-day monotony of being a
doctor off your plate.
So then you can learn how to runa business.
You can learn how to hire, youcan learn about, you know,
payroll, things like that.
'cause those are things that youcan totally learn.
Doctors are bright people.
We can, we made it through medschool and residency by studying
(14:25):
for crying out loud, you know,so we can, we can learn those
things.
And the growth piece is really,is what the ex, what the
exciting part is to where, youknow, we all, we all hear and
see and feel that excitement atconferences and, and podcasts of
course and everything.
And then, you know.
It's like one patient signs upevery two or three days and
you're, you know, you go fromgoogling private jets to food
(14:48):
stamps within the, a swing oflike two hours, you know?
But then when you look backmonth over month, you're like,
actually I'm having good growth.
And my projections were youknow, looking at the, the
awesome reporting is the, myprojections were I'd cover my
expenses in 12 months and nowI'm actually covering'em after
three months.
You know, that's way ahead ofschedule.
So yeah, it takes a little bitof work, but the, the, the hint
(15:08):
tech stack really does removethe burden of, okay, I need to
go document, I need to go chart,I need to, I need to activate, I
need to get, collect the paymentinfo.
It does it all, everything soseamlessly to where you have the
time and mental bandwidth to, togo be a business owner.
Dr. Maryal Concepcion (15:25):
It really speaks to the person who,
especially most of us are inthis bucket where you are
wearing a lot of hats,especially on day one.
Brad Butler (15:33):
one thing that I think may just be helpful for
the audience is is where we'rereally aiming with our kind of
tech solutions within Hinton,just overall, overall offering
is reducing the barriers toentry for DPCs.
And when it comes to thetechnology itself, it's what are
all the things from the EMR,from the patient communications
(15:53):
and all the things you need todo to optimize around that
interaction to all the backendbilling, all the administrative
aspects around membership andhow you're billing, who are you
billing really reducing andhaving one single spot to manage
all of that.
And then having kind of a onestep back, a further kind of
ecosystem at which you can helpfolks.
Move those barriers even moreso, so through different
(16:17):
ecosystem partners that we havewithin Hint, there's a lot of
other great tools out there thatcan be part of an ecosystem or
other great services andpartners that are also part of
that, that can also be helpingwith that.
And so Hint can kind of helpcurate those options for folks.
And then there is the otheravenue of like, all right, now
that I have these things, whatare the things I can go out
(16:37):
there and engage with mycommunity with?
So one example, I know I've beentalking about community a lot is
there was a particular customerjust recently who was sharing a
story around how they have anopportunity through a recent
cancellation of a chamber ofCommerce.
And this is a brand new practicecoming coming through, but there
was a recent cancellation, sothey were taking advantage of
(16:57):
the opportunity to be invitedbecause of this.
They stepped in, they'rehustling, working so hard to get
all the last minute preparationsmade, the collateral, the
assets, all the things becausethe audience is gonna be quite,
quite wide and you can see andhear the excitement going.
And there was just one thing tonote that I thought was so
(17:18):
powerful that was left and, andquite honestly understated in a
lot of these conversations.
And the comment was, I wasn'tsure who to share the excitement
with other than this group righthere.
Like, I, I love that that is afact where people can go share
their stories, see what they'rerunning through, and and have
this excitement because I thinkit reinforces the lesson overall
(17:39):
of like, never do this alone.
And so that's what we're here todo and help support people along
with.
Dr. Maryal Concepcion (17:44):
Brad, tell us more about that, because
I feel that as you're talkingabout how this person was really
empowered, within community tellus more about the bootcamp for
those people who are, wanting tolearn more and wanting to lean
into, oh my goodness.
There's a place where I can goto specifically for help with
these things that I need to getmy clinic off the ground
Brad Butler (18:03):
so this is a relatively new offering that
we're really excited about withhim.
So this is a bootcamp wherefolks who are a few months out
of their launch can join a, acohort and it's one to two hours
a week roughly.
There's gonna be some homework.
We always ask folks to do that,and it's walking through all
those things that you need to doto get a a practice started.
(18:25):
Now, I think you could, you canalways go into chat GPT and say,
Hey, drive me a 12 week programto launch A-A-D-P-C practice,
and it'll give you a lot ofgreat stuff.
But the value is in the, thepeople and bringing together the
people, the people who have donethis before, the mentors, the
subject matter experts.
And so that's what we're aimingto do is every week we have
different topics with differentmodules that focus on different
(18:48):
things from.
How do you design your officeto, how do you think about sales
and marketing?
How do you think about corevalues and everywhere in between
to get people really, reallylaunch ready for that.
Really, really exciting, butalso likely very frightful day
Dr. Brad Brown (19:04):
it's a lot of fun.
I know I've said that a fewtimes on this call, but the
bootcamp is I guess my role iskind of mentor we just finished
our second cohort today, oursecond 12 week cohort today.
One of the, One of my favoriteparts is each week the
curriculum.
We have local community experts,if you will.
So, we have, you know, everyoneknows Phil Boucher.
He comes in and he'll, he doesa, a talk on marketing, you
know, Lauren Reedy, who ispopular in the DPC world as
(19:27):
well, she'll, he goes overwebsites.
So if you have a website or alanding page, she'll go over
with a fine tuned tooth combright in front, like in the, in
the class.
And so, you know, it stings alittle bit.
She went over mine and mine'sfive years old now, and she's
like, you need to update this.
Just things like that.
And then, you know, I, I, I do aweek, there's a a CPA and a
financial guy does one week.
And it's just little pieces hereand there to kind of draw on
(19:49):
everyone's experience.
And it's fun to see, you know,people who are all in the, I'm
gonna start in the next sixmonths, which is an arbitrary
timeframe, right?
Or we had, we had half, abouthalf of our cohort launched
halfway through the bootcamp.
And so it was cool to see, okay,I, we talked about this, and
then I went and applied it, andthen this is actually what I
learned.
It was really cool to see theback and forth and the
(20:10):
discussions even asynchronouslyin the community boards later,
but also on our, our weekly callas well.
So it's, it's really boots onthe ground stuff and the startup
world is kind of where my jamis.
I love that
Brad Butler (20:22):
And I think part of that too is to, to join on this,
is we do have an upcoming cohortthat is gonna be starting May
6th.
You don't have to be launchedright then.
But it's really exciting to justbe part of that.
So call to action is join us.
It'd be great to have you atbootcamp and when we do'em
every, every quarter or so.
But it's really exciting to seethe, the ongoing momentum.
Dr. Brad Brown (20:42):
You can join a couple weeks later.
People do that and you can catchup.
Dr. Maryal Concepcion (20:45):
I love it.
So, one thing also I want tocall out is, again, like I
mentioned in the very beginning,as people are listening to this
podcast, also what is gonna comeup is the month of August, and
that is when Hint Summit isgoing to be at Rosetta Fest.
So, could you guys tell us aboutthis, because I think it's, I
think it's so serendipitous forpeople to be hearing your words,
hearing about the communityfocus that Hint is bringing and
(21:07):
when it comes to meeting peoplevirtually and then meeting
people in person, it's a verydifferent thing.
So can you talk about what isdown the line with all of these
opportunities for people toconnect and then ending with
people connecting in person?
Brad Butler (21:20):
Yeah.
This is, probably hints mostexciting time of the year, and
we have a lot of exciting timesof the year.
But Hint Summit is for folks whohaven't joined, not only is a
good time, but it's really thatkind of culmination of all the
ongoing work that individualDPCs have been doing on the
networking side, launching theirpractices and coming together as
a larger community to say, Hey,not only celebrate our wins, but
(21:43):
what's happening in this space?
Where are things going?
And so we bring together andcurate a lot of different
speakers and and cool things to,to participate in this.
So yes, it is in August 24th to27th in Denver this year uh,
we're actually joining up withour friends at Rosetta Fest
which is really exciting.
(22:03):
We're gonna have veryspecifically a DPC content track
at Rosetta Fest, so withspeakers and sessions and events
around DPC specifically.
And it's a good moment in timetoo, because one thing to note
is.
Employers are looking at this,they are hungry for this
service.
And it's a really good avenueand it's one of the biggest
questions we get is how can Itap into that employer market
(22:27):
and how can we look at that?
Dr. Brad Brown (22:28):
When I was getting started, especially in
residency you know, I, I heardfrom other DPC docs, Hey, you
know, employers is a great wayto get quick growth.
You know, it's like, oh, quickgrowth, cover your overhead, a
good, good shot in the arm, ifyou will.
And in my mind I was like, oh,I'll get to it.
I'll get to it in the future.
I don't really have time to gowalk around and knock doors and
pitch to businesses.
I've read all the books andtalked as many people as I
(22:48):
could, and what I've learned aswell is there's a little bit of
a long lead time.
It's not like a, a company'sjust gonna call you and say, I'm
gonna sign up my 20 employees.
From that first point ofcontact, there is a decent
amount of time before someonesigns up.
And so, I was.
Approached by actually NextEraof all people with Clint
Flanagan, who's now a goodfriend, I was kind of in his
neighborhood, if you will.
He's here in the northern Denvernorthern Colorado area.
(23:10):
And he said, Hey, we have a lotof employers that have employees
in your area.
Would you want to be anaffiliate?
And we can NextEra affiliate andwe can basically just send
patients your way.
And my first reaction when Clintlistens to this, he's gonna
laugh.
'cause I tell him this all thetime.
My first reaction was like, ohno, I don't wanna do that.
I don't wanna be affiliated withanyone.
I wanna do my own thing.
You know?
But then I quickly realized thatthat's not actually how it
(23:31):
works.
And it's just a really good wayto get more feet in your door
and get the word out more about.
Your own personal clinic.
And so it's kind of how networksconnect NextEra, all these
affiliate type of networks towhere it's a way that employers
can have their own network ofDPC docs.
And it's not like just my ownclinic here in Erie, Colorado
(23:52):
has to take care of all of youremployees that are all over the
country type of thing.
And being a part of the employerscene a little bit over the past
few years, I'm excited for the,to be paired with the Rosetta
Fest for in Summit is theseemployers are gonna see the joy
and the they're gonna feel thatexcitement from DPC.
It's, it's only gonna fuel thatfire more.
I don't know if I have any harddata, Brad Butler, you'd have
(24:13):
more than me.
But I know that the employeradoption rate for DPCs is going
through the roof right now.
Looks like, I think Hintmeasured 801% growth from 2018
to 2022, and I'm sure that'seven more now.
But for what employers areoffering DPC as a benefit for
their employees.
(24:33):
So I see it as people workingwith employers, people who would
never have found you, your ownclinic.
They would never have found you,but now they're offered a
benefit through their and nowthey see the, the amazingness of
your DPC clinic is a phenomenalway to, to grow your own clinic
and the movement as a whole.
Brad Butler (24:50):
Yeah.
One, one thing I would say forthe folks out there to think, oh
my gosh, employers that seemshard is, is.
It's moving certainly in thatdirection more and more so, a
bit of numbers, so over.
Over 6,500 employers now in theUS have a DPC sponsored plan or
offering DPC memberships as partof their benefit package to some
(25:13):
degree.
And what's interesting on thatis if we look at of all the
memberships that hint helpsmanages for our customers.
The start of 2022, that numberwas 43% of those memberships
were being paid for by aemployer sponsor.
Now, fast forward to today, thatnumber's 58%, and that's just in
(25:34):
two short years that we'reseeing.
That's two and a half shortyears that we're seeing that
change.
And so I think the, the market'sthere, as we know, premiums are
going up and up and up, andemployers are really looking for
a solution.
And that's just where a reallynice match made there.
And it's a really great avenueto diversify your panel mix and,
(25:54):
and find other options too thatjust doesn't have to be solely
on the, on the backs of buildingout retail plans.
And so, Yeah.
Participating members can now bea hint connect site and receive
those members for thoseemployees and their families
that are in your particular neckof the woods.
So it's a really greatopportunity to not only get this
in front of employers more, butthen also and have it to bolster
(26:16):
up your panels and serve thoselocal communities.
Dr. Maryal Concepcion (26:19):
For the listeners, I'm sure you're just,
ballooning with inspiration andexcitement about what to do
next.
So make sure you go tohint.com/startup.
The link will also be in theshow notes, but we've mentioned
so many things, the startuptoolkit, the bootcamp finding
Kindred spirits in community,and also going to Hint Summit to
meet these people in person.
How do you guys see DPC as amovement empowering people to
(26:43):
practice amazing primary care?
Dr. Brad Brown (26:45):
DVC is here to stay.
I mean, it's not a fledgingmovement anymore.
The data is backing it.
You know, it really comes downto there's so much uncertainty
in the world right now.
Right.
with the financial markets, withthe government, with healthcare,
with you name it, that with ai,I mean, people really resonate
and they love being able tospeak to a human right and meet
in your office or on the phoneor meet them where they are.
(27:09):
And that, that.
That is what is veryprofessionally fulfilling for,
for me.
And I've seen a lot, I've hearda lot of other DPC docs kind of
echo that as well to whereburnout, sure, there's a little
bit of burnout in DPC, but it'sa different type.
It's almost like, it is almostso good that you're getting
burnt out of, of so muchamazingness to where you can,
you need to go on a vacationfrom it.
(27:30):
But DPC is here to stay.
It's growing quickly and it'sreally because the demand is
there.
And so, I'm not biased at all, Ipromise, but maybe just a little
bit.
Brad Butler (27:39):
Yeah, I think just the opportunity for time and
regain control and agency ofone's life allows you to.
Direct in the way that you wantit to direct it.
And I think that's justgenerally a cleaner burning fuel
for DBCs to stay motivated andnot having to deal with all the
burnout and all the things thatare happening.
So I get excited about just thetime availability that people
(28:01):
have because then you'respending on things you want to,
is it building the business?
Is it helping advocate orhelping a, a patient member
navigate through a trickysituation through the, the
healthcare system?
There's a whole bunch of thingsthat folks are doing, and that's
where folks even though they'reworking hard, working
diligently, they're rejuvenatedevery day.
(28:22):
And that's where I find the mostoptimism in.
Dr. Maryal Concepcion (28:24):
Amen.
And I definitely will say thatDr.
Rad and I can attest to that.
Absolutely.
And everybody we talk to in ourcommunity is so enthused that
this movement exists.
So again, if you are a person inmedical school, just like Dr.
Rad was or residency, if you arethinking about it, reading about
it in social media.
DPC is out there, and DPC isaccessible as a business model
(28:47):
for you to deliver in yourcommunity.
So make sure you grab thatstartup toolkit.
go to hint.com/startup.
The link will also be in theshow notes, Because you're going
to be empowered with thatchecklist also it is a resource
for you to even learn more abouthow to work with employers
through Hint Connect, make sureyou check out the bootcamp, find
your kindred spirit again incommunity.
(29:09):
It is so important, given that aphysician is not necessarily
always an MBA and you need thatcommunity around you to help you
get through and again I wouldlove to see you all in person
August 24th to 27th in Denver,Colorado at Hint Summit.
At Rosetta Fest.
So again thank you guys so muchfor joining us today.
Thank you so much for listeningto all the listeners.
Make sure that if you are goingto go to Hint Summit, get$50 off
(29:32):
your registration with the code,hint 50, that's HINT five zero.
And thank you guys so muchagain.
Brad Butler (29:39):
Yeah, this was a blast.
Thank you so much.
Dr. Brad Brown (29:41):
Always a pleasure with you, Marielle.
Dr. Maryal Concepcion (29:45):
Thank you for listening to another episode
of my DBC story.
If you enjoyed it, please leavea five star review on your
favorite podcast platform.
It helps others find the show,have a question about direct
primary care.
Leave me a voicemail.
You might hear it answered in afuture episode.
Follow us on socials at thehandle at my D DPC story and
join DPC didactics our monthlydeep dive into your questions
(30:07):
and challenges.
Links are@mydpcstory.com forexclusive content you won't hear
anywhere else.
Join our Patreon.
Find the link in the show notesor search for my DPC story on
patreon.com for DPC news on thedaily.
Check out DPC news.com.
Until next week, this isMarielle conception.
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