My DPC Story
by Maryal Concepcion, MD
Latest episode
From Optum to DPC: Dr. Nick Jones on Leaving Corporate Medicine…
From Optum to DPC: Dr. Nick Jones on Leaving Corporate Medicine…
About this podcast
As the Direct Primary Care and Direct Care models grow, many physicians are providing care to patients in different ways. This podcast is to introduce you to some of those folks and to hear their stories. Go ahead, get a little inspired. Heck, jump in and join the movement! Visit us online at mydpcstory.com and JOIN our PATREON where you can find our EXCLUSIVE PODCAST FEED of extended interview content including updates on former guests!
Episodes
The newest 50 of 349 episodes
- From Optum to DPC: Dr. Nick Jones on Leaving Corporate Medicine, Building a Practice & Physician Advocacy · 50 min · Season 6 Episode 292What happens when the physician-owned practice you joined is acquired by Optum? And what becomes possible when you leave corporate medicine to build something of your own? In…
- How We Ran a Community Vaccine Clinic Without Billing Insurance: 84 Doses in a Day in Rural Direct Primary Care · 26 min · Season 6 Episode 291How do you run a community vaccine clinic when your Direct Primary Care (DPC) practice doesn't bill insurance? Dr. Maryal Concepcion and independent pharmacist Urvish share how…
- Laid Off to House-Call Pediatric DPC in Dallas | Dr. Tonya McDonald · 1 h 31 min · Season 6 Episode 290Dallas pediatrician Dr. Tonya McDonald was laid off with 21 other physicians and opened Radiance Pediatrics, a house-call direct primary care practice, in 2019. Seven years and…
- Navigating Medicare Open Enrollment Challenges by Empowering DPC Physicians · 9 min · Season 6 Episode 289Medicare Open Enrollment: A DPC Physician’s Toolkit for 2027 Changes Today we discuss why Direct Primary Care (DPC) practices still field urgent calls during Medicare open…
- Opening a DPC Practice After Training Through COVID: Dr. Nada Farooqui, MD of RAWQ Medicine · 56 min · Season 6 Episode 288Opening a DPC Practice After Training Through COVID: Dr. Nada Farooqui, MD of RAWQ Medicine Dr. Nada Farooqui, MD trained in family medicine at the height of the pandemic. Her…
- Six Years in Direct Primary Care: Hiring an RN, Fighting Misinformation, and DPC Finances · 1 h 8 min · Season 6 Episode 287What does a Direct Primary Care practice look like six years after opening? In this annual anniversary episode of My DPC Story, Dr. Maryal Concepcion catches up with Dr…
- Medicare Opt-Out for DPC Doctors: AAFP Resolution 504 Explained with Dr. Shannon Connolly · 26 min · Season 6 Episode 286Under current Medicare rules, a physician who opts out of Medicare for their DPC practice can't bill Medicare anywhere else. That means no hospitalist shifts, no SNF work and no…
- She Asked Us to Convince Her. Challenge Accepted. · 4 min · Season 6 Episode 285Today a DPC physician in Iowa, 25 months into her DPC practice, emailed us with three decisions she's weighing, and one challenge: "If there are still spots, convince me to…
- Dueling Pianos to Direct Primary Care: Dr. Brian Juan on Opening Metronome Family Medicine at Age 50 · 52 min · Season 6 Episode 284Dr. Brian Juan toured with rock bands and played dueling piano bars for more than a decade before he became a family doctor. Three months into Metronome Family Medicine, his solo…
- What Should a DPC Physician Pay Themselves? 10 Numbers Every Direct Primary Care Owner Must Know with Nate Goodman, CPA · 34 min · Season 6 Episode 281What should a direct primary care physician actually pay themselves? On this episode of My DPC Story, Dr. Maryal Concepcion sits down with Nate Goodman, CPA, founder of Goodman…
- Growing a Rural DPC Practice in Year 8: How Dr. Klaucke Built Patient Trust, Avoided Burnout, and Scaled Team-Driven Care · 33 min · Season 6 Episode 283Dr. Jillian Klaucke, MD, FAWM. Board-certified family physician at Sandpoint Premier Direct Primary Care, Idaho. Wilderness medicine fellow. Eight years into Direct Primary Care…
- From GameStop to DPC Owner: Dr. Sarai Ambert-Pompey on Telehealth, EHR Vetting & Trust-Based Care · 1 h 0 min · Season 6 Episode 282Dr. Sarai Ambert-Pompey opened Libélula Primary Care in Boise, Idaho. "Libélula" is Spanish for dragonfly, chosen for transformation. One year in, she joins Dr. Maryal Concepcion…
- How to Choose an EHR for Your DPC: What I Learned Switching After Almost 5 Years · 27 min · Season 6 Episode 281One month shy of five years. That is how long Big Trees MD ran on the electronic health record it opened with, and this month, that ended. Not because Dr. Maryal Concepcion went…
- How to Start a State DPC Alliance: Direct Primary Care in New York with Dr. Laura Petrescu · 49 min · Season 6 Episode 280When Dr. Laura Petrescu opened Athena Direct Primary Care & Lifestyle Medicine, she was the only Direct Primary Care physician in the Rochester, NY metropolitan area. Health…
- DPC and HSAs: The $150 Rule and How to Opt Out of Medicare | Dr. Phil Eskew · 1 h 14 min · Season 6 Episode 279Direct Primary Care no longer disqualifies patients from HSA eligibility. As of January 1, 2026, DPC membership fees are a qualified HSA expense at or below $150 per month for…
- How to Grow DPC With Employers Without Losing Autonomy | Dr. Kyle Rickner, Primary Health Partners · 1 h 7 min · Season 6 Episode 278Dr. Kyle Rickner heard about Direct Primary Care in a side room at the AAFP National Conference in October 2014 and committed to it 50 minutes later. Today Primary Health…
- 130 Patients in 6 Weeks: Dr. Nyasha Spears on Her Non-Compete Appeal and Opening Amity Creek Direct Primary Care in Duluth, MN · 52 min · Season 6 Episode 277Two months after opening Amity Creek Primary Care in Duluth, Minnesota, Dr. Nyasha Spears returns to My DPC Story with the real numbers, the real costs, and the parts of a Direct…
- Live from DPC Summit New Orleans: Boundaries, Employers, and Succession Planning in Direct Primary Care | Dr. Angela Andrews & Dr. Nicholas Jones · 59 min · Season 6 Episode 276Recorded LIVE on the floor at the AAFP Co-sponsored DPC Summit in New Orleans, Dr. Angela Andrews of Direct Primary Care of West Michigan and Dr. Nicholas Jones of Clear Health…
- Hiring Early, Opening a DPC, Setting Boundaries, and Reaching 600 Patients: Dr. Reid Lancaster of Ethos Modern Medicine · 53 min · Season 6 Episode 275From physician assistant to DPC physician, Dr. Reid Lancaster took the long road on purpose. In this episode of My DPC Story, he sits down with Dr. Maryal Concepcion to trace his…
- Facing Burnout, Cancer & Closing His DPC — Dr. Timothy Blain’s Story | Direct Primary Care · 59 min · Season 6 Episode 274When Dr. Timothy Blain opened his direct primary care practice in the middle of COVID, he finally felt like a “real doctor” again — after two decades of employed medicine…
- Leaving Corporate Medicine for Integrative Direct Primary Care: Ketamine-Assisted Therapy, MCAS, and Sustainable Boundaries with Dr. April Soto · 1 h 36 min · Season 6 Episode 273What does it look like to build a Direct Primary Care practice that protects your health as fiercely as it protects your patients? In this episode of My DPC Story, Dr. April Soto…
- Sustainability in Direct Primary Care: Building a Medical Career That Actually Lasts · 1 h 26 min · Season 6 Episode 272CLOSING SOON! VOTE IN THE 2026 MY DPC STORY BATTLE! VOTE HERE When most physicians hear the word sustainability, they think about keeping the doors open. But after a weekend with…
- Virtual Assistants for Physicians: Cut Admin Time and Grow Your DPC with Justin Lam · 55 min · Season 6 Episode 271What if you could get back fifteen hours of your work week without seeing a single extra patient? In this special episode, recorded live in a breakout room workshop following the…
- Sustainable Physician, Sustainable Person: Leaving Corporate Medicine for DPC with Dr. Jeremiah Fillo · 58 min · Season 6 Episode 270What happens to a family physician when the system that trained him decides he no longer has value? In this deeply personal episode, Dr. Maryal Concepcion hands the introduction…
- You Don't Have to Build It Alone: Dr. Esther Khatibi on My DOC, Maternal Equity, and Sustainable Obstetric Care in Direct Primary Care · 37 min · Season 6 Episode 269What does it take to make women's healthcare access sustainable, not just for patients, but for the physician carrying the mission? In this episode of the My DPC Story podcast…
- Designing a Sustainable Psychiatry Practice Around What Interests You: Dr. Daniel Hochman on DPC, Addiction Medicine, and Building Self Recovery · 52 min · Season 6 Episode 268In this June sustainability episode, Maryal sits down with Dr. Daniel Hochman, a psychiatrist in private practice in Texas and the founder of Self Recovery, an online addiction…
- Two Doctors, Two DPC Clinics, and a Renovation Funded by Historic Tax Credits | Dr. Manuel Vogt, Texas DPC · 46 min · Season 6 Episode 267Can Direct Primary Care really pay off for a physician family carrying student loan debt and no employer match? In this episode of the My DPC Story podcast, host Dr. Maryal…
- The DPC Doctor Fighting Louisiana's Reproductive Care Crisis: Dr. Emily Holt of Poppy Direct Care · 59 min · Season 6 Episode 265Dr. Emily Holt returns to the podcast one year after opening Poppy Direct Care in New Orleans, and the landscape around her has changed dramatically. When Maryal last spoke with…
- Own Your Records, Own Your Story: How Vivid Vault Is Helping DPC Patients Carry Their Health History Between Generations | Anna Smith, RN, MPH, CEO of Vivid Vault Health Solutions · 38 min · Season 6 Episode 264What if your new patient visit didn't start with a 200-page ER record dump, scattered portal logins, and a patient saying "I think mom had some kind of cancer"? In this episode…
- Tools That Serve You: AI, Tech, and Autonomy in Pediatric DPC with Dr. Michael Hobbs · 52 min · Season 6 Episode 267This month on the My DPC Story podcast we are talking about the tools that serve us, and Dr. Michael Hobbs is a voice you do not want to miss. Dr. Hobbs is a pediatrician and…
- Suing for Her Freedom: How Dr. Nyasha Spears Won Her Non-Compete Battle and Opened Amity Creek Direct Primary Care in Duluth, Minnesota · 54 min · Season 6 Episode 266Dr. Maryal Concepcion welcomes Dr. Nyasha Spears, family physician and co-founder of Amity Creek Primary Care in Duluth, Minnesota. After her century-old community clinic was…
- The Tools You Use Serve Your Patients: Building a DO-Led DPC with Dr. Courtney Barrett · 1 h 9 min · Season 6 Episode 265Dr. Courtney Barrett, founder of True Insight Direct Care in the Raleigh, North Carolina area, opens our May theme, The Tools You Use, with a conversation that redefines what…
- Going Viral on TikTok by Accident: How Dr. Jihan Ansari Built Harbor Direct Primary Care Through Authentic Marketing · 1 h 9 min · Season 6 Episode 264Dr. Maryal Concepcion welcomes Dr. Jihan Ansari, founder of Harbor Direct Primary Care in South Orange County, California. Dr. Ansari shares the marketing strategies that grew…
- From Hospitalist Burnout to Driver's Seat: How Dr. Nadia Sirdar Built a Bethesda DPC Practice Rooted in Aging in Place, Women's Midlife Health, and Real Relationships · 1 h 20 min · Season 6 Episode 263After nearly a decade as a hospitalist in the Washington, DC area, Dr. Nadia Sirdar realized she had stopped feeling. End-of-life conversations had become a script…
- Marketing a Direct Specialty Care Practice: How Dr. Ashley Agan Built Scottie ENT on Reviews, Relationships, and a Patient-First Brand · 1 h 5 min · Season 6 Episode 262What does it actually take to market a direct specialty care practice in a city full of competitors? For Dr. Ashley Agan, otolaryngologist and founder of Scottie ENT in Dallas…
- Visible Without the Ick: How Dr. Aleea Gupta Built a Thriving Solo DPC Practice with 12K Followers, Niche Patients & Authentic Marketing · 55 min · Season 6 Episode 261Dr. Aleea Gupta of Family First Direct Primary Care in the western suburbs of Chicago returns to My DPC Story four years after her first appearance, and a lot has changed. Her…
- How Dr. Josh Chow and His Wife Katherine Left Corporate DPC Behind to Open Their Own Practice in Colorado · 1 h 7 min · Season 6 Episode 260What does it look like when a physician gets laid off from a corporate-acquired DPC practice and turns that loss into the exact practice he always wanted to build? We close out…
- The Financial Side of Sustainable DPC: What Your Accountant Isn't Telling You (ft. Tom Squire, Osprey CFO) · 32 min · Season 6 Episode 259Can Your DPC Practice Survive Its Own Success? Most physicians opening a Direct Primary Care practice master the clinical side quickly. The harder challenge? Running the business…
- Melody Health Closed in December. Open Arms Opened in March. | Drs. Connolly, Poulin and Tressan · 1 h 45 min · Season 6 Episode 259Dr. Shannon Connolly, Dr. Shayne Poulin, and Dr. Amy Tressan found each other inside Melody Health, a mission-driven primary care practice embedded within Planned Parenthood…
- She Didn't Start a DPC Practice. She Bought One. · 1 h 13 min · Season 6 Episode 258Dr. Feneisha Franklin spent a decade in corporate medicine before finding her door: a Direct Primary Care practice seven minutes from her house, owned by a retiring physician…
- She Was Working 20 Hours a Day. Here's What She Built Instead. · 1 h 7 min · Season 6 Episode 257She was working 20 hours a day in fee-for-service medicine, and her supervisor was online at 3am too, totally unbothered. That's when Dr. Victoria Leventis-Shew knew nothing was…
- How One DPC Practice Built a Financially Sustainable Model - Without Insurance · 56 min · Season 6 Episode 256Dr. Matthew Hitchcock of Hitchcock Medical Group in Chattanooga, TN has spent over a decade proving that direct primary care is not just better medicine, it's a smarter business…
- Is Zion HealthShare Legit? Pre-Existing Conditions, Maternity, GLP-1s and Direct Primary Care Explained · 46 min · Season 5 Episode 255Episode Summary: After our episode about Zion HealthShare sparked more listener questions than almost any other episode this season, we brought together Preston Guthrie, Head of…
- Community, Advocacy, and Autonomy: Dr. Aisha Harris on Building Flint’s First Direct Primary Care Practice · 1 h 10 min · Season 5 Episode 254We’re closing out February with Dr. Aisha Harris of Flint, Michigan, a board-certified family physician, community advocate, and the founder of Harris Family Health, the first…
- Practicing Pediatrics at the Intersection of Policy & Purpose: Dr. Jalan Burton on DPC, Home-Based Care, and Intentional Medicine · 1 h 9 min · Season 5 Episode 253In this previously aired episode of My DPC Story, host Maryal Concepcion sits down with Dr. Jalan Burton, a Washington, DC/DMV–based pediatrician practicing at the intersection…
- Black Physician Entrepreneurship: How Dr. Lola Ashaye Built a Direct Primary Care Practice in Texas · 1 h 3 min · Season 5 Episode 252In this episode of My DPC Story, we’re highlighting Dr. Adelola "Lola" Ashaye, a board-certified family and lifestyle medicine physician and the founder of InTouch Primary Care…
- What Happens if You Get Sick for 6 Months? Access Options for DPC Doctors + Patients (Zion HealthShare Explained) · 36 min · Season 5 Episode 251If you run a Direct Primary Care clinic, you’ve probably asked: What happens to my family if I can’t work for months? In this episode, Zion HealthShare President Ashton Casper…
- Celebrating Black Physicians and the Power of Direct Primary Care with Dr. Gabrielle Williams · 1 h 8 min · Season 5 Episode 250In celebration of Black History Month and Heart Health Month, we're re-airing our powerful conversation with Dr. Gabrielle Williams, founder of Gateway Direct Health in Georgia…
- JANUARY RESET: Reordering Priorities and Designing a Sustainable Practice with Dr. Neal Douglas · 1 h 20 min · Season 5 Episode 249Most physicians are trained to manage what’s in front of them. What we’re rarely taught is how to step far enough back to ask whether the direction itself still makes sense. In…
- JANUARY RESET: Reclaiming Meaning and Presence in Medicine with Dr. Meena Julapalli · 1 h 8 min · Season 5 Episode 248Not all misalignment shows up as exhaustion. Sometimes medicine works - the protocols are correct, the outcomes are acceptable - and yet something essential feels missing. In…
