Plum Health Blog
How Plum Health DPC Started
Recently, I had a great interview with Dr. Kevin Cuccaro and Dr. Melissa Cady of the Changed Physician. We discussed why I went into medicine and how Plum Health DPC came to exist. Here’s what they said about our practice:
This is Episode 67 of The Changed Physician Podcast with Dr. Paul Thomas discussing his journey into direct primary care with hosts, Dr. Kevin Cuccaro and Dr. Melissa Cady.
Timeline:
01:00 Why he went into medicine
03:00 Community outreach and art
06:30 His realizations during residency
09:15 What led to him discovering a new model of delivering medicine
12:30 Physician shortage area
14:30 What is DPC (Direct Primary Care)
15:30 How he provides affordable meds and labs for patients
16:15 Why Americans are screwed over by the Medical Industry
17:00 How DPC model empowers patients
19:20 How his interaction with his patients is now
22:20 Why he named his business Plum Health
24:45 The cost of his direct primary care model
26:50 How his practice model gives him time for his other pursuits
What is Plum Health DPC
Plum Health DPC is a membership model for primary care in Detroit, Michigan and Farmington Hills, Michigan. We believe that healthcare should be affordable and accessible for everyone. Our patients pay a membership to be a part of the practice, starting at $49 each month for adults. With that membership, they can call or text their doctor anytime they need care. We guarantee same-day or next-day appointments and no wait time for scheduled appointments. We also save our patients 50% to 90% on their medications, labs, and imaging costs.
What is Direct Primary Care
Direct Primary Care allows you to have a direct relationship with your doctor. For the equivalent of a monthly cell phone bill, you can receive direct, primary health care services that are tailored to your individual needs.
Dr. Paul Thomas Interviewed on the Talk2MeDoc Podcast
Dr. Paul Thomas Interviewed on the Talk2MeDoc Podcast
This month, I had a great interview with Andrew Tisser of the Talk2MeDoc podcast. We discussed the direct primary care model and why it’s beneficial for patients and why it’s beneficial for doctors. We talk about primary care, access to care, health disparities, physician burnout, and so much more. Here’s what they had to say:
Join Andrew Tisser with Dr. Paul Thomas as they talk about an exciting new model of primary care. In this episode, you’ll learn:
What is Direct Primary Care?
Benefits of DPC to patients and physicians alike
How to negotiate wholesale prices on labs and imaging
Much more!
Here’s that full episode and below I take a deeper dive into some of these topics.
The Private Medical Practice is Not Dead
During medical school, medical students are told that the only way to have a career in medicine is via an employed model. That simply isn’t true. The private medical practice is not dead. In fact, once you get outside of the health insurance model, the private medical practice is thriving.
When I first started our direct primary care practice back in November of 2016, there were only about 400 practices across the country. Now, there’s over 1,300 direct primary care practices, and the movement continues to grow.
Why? Because patients are looking for kind, caring, and thoughtful physicians who have enough time to fully address all of their concerns. And guess what? The Direct Primary Care model allows doctors to have the time and space to take care of their patients in a comprehensive manner with enough time to fully listen.
Doctor, Heal Thy Self
For too long, primary care physicians have been battling burnout and moral injury by practicing in the fee-for-service model. This has lead to many doctors experiencing burnout and compassion fatigue. As many of 54% of physicians are affected by burnout.
In this podcast episode I make the analogy of half of your lights in your house burning out. If this were to happen, you wouldn’t change each individual lightbulb. Instead, you’d call the big energy company and inquire about the electrical grid in your city, or you’d call up an electrician and have them evaluate the electrical panel in your home.
Yet, when 54% of doctors face burnout, the hospital systems and insurance companies tell them to engage in meditation exercises, retreats, or self-care activities. Sometimes they just tell the doctors to “be more resilient.”
This approach is a slap in the face for hard working and compassionate doctors across our country.
What needs to happen is a comprehensive, systems-based reform of our health insurance and medical care payment systems that uplift the doctor patient relationship rather than forcing doctors into a one-size-fits-all model of high-volume, low-quality patient visits.
About Paul Thomas, MD:
Dr. Paul Thomas is a board-certified family medicine physician practicing in Corktown Detroit. His practice is Plum Health DPC, a Direct Primary Care service that is the first of its kind in Detroit and Wayne County. His mission is to deliver affordable, accessible health care services in Detroit and beyond. He has been featured on WDIV-TV Channel 4, WXYZ Channel 7, Crain's Detroit Business and CBS Radio. He has been a speaker at TEDxDetroit. He is a graduate of Wayne State University School of Medicine and now a Clinical Assistant Professor. Finally, he is an author of two books Direct Primary Care: The Cure for Our Broken Healthcare System and Startup DPC: How to Start and Grow Your Direct Primary Care Practice
You can find Dr. Thomas.
Website: https://www.plumhealthdpc.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PlumHealthDPC/
Doctors Embracing Startup DPC Book on Social Media
Startup DPC Book Gets Great Feedback on Social Media
This week, we’ve been getting a lot of love for the Startup DPC Book on Social Media.
Let me preface this post by stating a few things. First, I’m a physician on a mission to delivery affordable and accessible healthcare here in Detroit and beyond. Second, I’m an educator. Not only am I a clinical assistant professor at Wayne State University School of Medicine, but I also teach in other ways. One of those ways is by teaching other doctors how to successfully start and grow their own direct primary care practices.
I truly believe that direct primary care is a better way of serving our patients - we have more time to listen to our patients, we have more tools to deliver compassionate care, and we can actively lower the cost of medical care for our patients. Therefore, I want to reach as many doctors as possible with this information.
My physician colleagues have responded and they’ve sent me some tremendous feedback via social media. Below are a few of those posts!
Direct Primary Care Doctor Inspired by Startup DPC Book
Recently, Rebecca Berens, MD of Vida Family Medicine in Houston Texas sent out very kind post on Instagram. She recently read the Startup DPC book, Startup DPC: How to Start and Grow Your Direct Primary Care Practice and she posted a quote on her Instagram that I used in the book from John C Maxwell, “Growth is the great separator between those who succeed and those who do not. When I see a person beginning to separate themselves from the pack, it's almost always due to personal growth.”
This is the quote that I used at the beginning of Chapter 6 on How to Prepare for Direct Primary Care While in Residency. I used the quote here because I believe that new doctors and residents have the greatest opportunity to learn a new system of care, and they have a unique opportunity to adopt the DPC model and the DPC mindset before getting enmeshed in the dysfunctional fee-for-service system as an employed physician.
Here’s what Dr. Berens had to say:
I love this quote that Dr. Paul Thomas from @plumhealthdpc added to his new book, #startupdpc Direct Primary Care is a new concept to many patients (and even doctors), but it was truly personal growth that led me to take this path. I was so tired of churning patients through the system in 10 minute increments, never having enough time to really help them in the way I knew I could. Meanwhile, I was arriving home to my family emotionally drained and physically exhausted. Becoming a mother made me realise that I needed to do better, for my patients and my family. Starting your own business is a huge risk (even without a pandemic throwing a wrench in the mix!) but in the end all of the stress and uncertainty it will be worth it.
.
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Does spending more time at home during pandemic have you reflecting too? How have you grown over the last few months?
TESTIMONIAL FOR STARTUP DPC BOOK AND COURSES
Post from Dr. Prisiliano Salas about the Startup DPC Book and Startup DPC Courses:
Just finished a course by Paul Thomas, M.D. from Plum Health DPC and #startupdpc. Let me just say that Paul knows his stuff. I met him in 2018 at the Family Medicine DPC Summit. He gave a lecture about his experience starting a #DirectPrimaryCare practice and using social media marketing strategies. I've been following him on/off during this time but had not fully made the jump onto social platforms the way he describes it. Now two years later his practice growth is testament to this method. He's full and added a new doc! On top of that he remains faithful to his mission, to empower the #DPC community with his knowledge and reproducible success. I'm now ready to embrace social media to share my knowledge and experience with my patients (though still working up to youtube to get more camera ready 😎 ). Take one of his courses or read one of his 2 books, he won't disappoint. Keep the momentum going!
Thank you so much for the shout out Dr. Salas! and best of luck with your direct primary care practice. I know that you’ll have every advantage on attracting new patients after taking our Sales Funnel course.
Regina Allen Hardin, MD of Modern Medicine made this post on LinkedIn:
Medical Student gives a shout out to the Startup DPC book
This week, Startup DPC got a nice shout out from Pretty Girl Practice on Instagram. If you’re a direct primary care doctor, social media applications like Facebook and Instagram can be great platforms to reach new audiences and also to improve your branding. If you don’t have a Facebook Page or an Instagram page for your direct primary care practice, consider making one to improve how people in your community perceive your brand and your business. I teach doctors how to do this, step-by-step, in the Sales Funnel course on our website, here.
Here’s what Pretty Girl Practice on Instagram had to say about direct primary care:
You pay a monthly membership fee (like Netflix) to your Doctor
You can schedule as many visits as you like with your DOCTOR and text your doctor medical questions when needed (no more Dr. Google 🤓)
Hour long visits and you receive higher quality care (currently insurance companies often have quick 20 minute visits to see more patients and therefore make more money)
great for fields like Family Medicine, Pediatrics, even some Dermatologists use this model
allows Doctors to be entrepreneurs again! and brings back the treasured physician-patient relationship. Also, decreases burnout for physicians. Plus patients are more satisfied, win-win!
I really think DPC will be the practice of the future. It’s the practice a lot of us dreamt of when we first became doctors.
The following image is a screenshot from her story about Direct Primary Care:
Startup DPC gets a nice shout out from PrettyGirlPractice on Instagram.
Sincerely thank you to all of the doctors who’ve picked up a copy of the book and who’ve used their social media platforms to share about the book. I appreciate all of you!
-Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health DPC
Startup DPC Book Reaches Number 1 on Amazon in the Physicians Category
This is Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health DPC here in Detroit Michigan. We believe that healthcare should be affordable and accessible for everyone, and we are doing our part to make that happen here in Corktown, and Detroit, and beyond.
However, several doctors have reached out to me and asked how we made Plum Health such a successful direct primary care practice. How are we attracting new patients? How are we lowering the cost of healthcare? How are we lowering the cost of medications, labs, and imaging services? How are we cutting all of the bureaucratic red tape?
I answered all those questions individually for my physician colleagues, but I also saved those answers in a word document, which eventually became this book.
This book is intended to help family physicians and internal medicine physicians start and grow their direct primary care practices. We want to see more doctors adopt this model that lowers healthcare costs and puts patients first.
The response to the book has been tremendous, and we’ve received many great reviews and a ton of great feedback about the content of the book. Thank you so much to everyone who has purchased the book, thank you for everyone who has left a review on Amazon, and thank you for making us number one on Amazon in the physicians category. We sincerely appreciate all of you!
- Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health DPC
PS if you're a doctor looking to start a direct primary care practice, check out Startup DPC
Startup DPC: How to Start and Grow Your Direct Primary Care Practice is the number 1 new release on Amazon in the Physicians category!
Startup DPC Paperback is Now Available
Direct Primary Care Book Available in Paperback Format
The Startup DPC book is published and it feels amazing to have it in my hands. It took me 3 years to write this book, as I documented many of my experiences in starting and growing a direct primary care practice. I took all of my experience, knowledge, and wisdom and poured it into this text.
My goal is to help other doctors start and grow successful and thriving direct primary care practices. There are so many challenges and obstacles that they will face along the way, and I know that this book will help them overcome those challenges and obstacles.
Today was a big day for me, as I published the book on May 5th, and received my first few copies in the mail today. I'm really excited to see this direct primary care movement grow and I'm wishing all of the DPC doctors out there continued success. I know that we are improving health care for our patients, our communities, and our nation.
Thanks for reading and watching,
- Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health DPC
Paul Thomas MD Publishes Startup DPC: How to Start and Grow Your Direct Primary Care Practice
Dr. Paul Thomas of Plum Health DPC Publishes a New Book
I am proud and excited to announce that my new book, Startup DPC: How to Start and Grow Your Direct Primary Care Practice has officially been published! And it is currently the #1 new release in Amazon’s Family Practice Medicine category!
Why This Book on Direct Primary Care Was Written?
I wrote this book for so many reasons - to begin with, starting and growing a Direct Primary Care practice has changed my life. I’ve been able to serve people in my community with a high-value family medicine service, I’ve been able to advocate for causes that I feel passionate about, and I’ve been able to be creative in my approach to solving people’s healthcare challenges. In short, I’ve been able to become the doctor I’m meant to be.
I’ve also learned a ton from my colleagues in the direct primary care movement, and I wanted to give back in a tangible way. So, I took all of my learnings, all of my knowledge and wisdom that I’ve gained over the past four years and put those lessons into this book. I’ve had a lot of victories, but I’ve also made a ton of mistakes and I’ve had my share of failures - I wanted to share about the spectrum of success and failure and give my primary care colleagues as many advantages as possible when they set out to do this kind of work.
What The Direct Primary Care Doctors Have Said About Startup DPC
"I have followed Dr. Paul Thomas' career since he started Plum Health DPC in 2016. His ability to integrate podcasts, blogs, and media appearances within his brand is incredible. Dr. Paul presents direct primary care to physicians in a digestible, seamless format that has solidified his position as a DPC influencer across the country. His branding and marketing techniques are top notch, and I can't wait to see what creative ideas he formulates in the future. Dr. Paul is truly a rising star in the DPC movement."
- Dr. James Pinckney II, CEO & Founder Diamond Physicians
"Starting your own direct primary care practice can be a stressful and confusing endeavor. Dr. Paul Thomas does an excellent job alleviating much of that stress and confusion in this detailed, engaging account of starting a successful, thriving practice. If you have ever wondered whether direct primary care might be for you, do yourself a favor and read this book before making that decision - I bet you'll find it less intimidating than you expect."
- Tiffany Leonard, MD, FAAFP, Owner and Physician of Deer View Family Medicine
"Dr. Paul Thomas does it again! An easy to understand and implement guide to making your DPC practice as successful as it can be!"
- Eleanor Host, MD, Whole Family Direct Care
"Dr. Paul's content is simultaneously engaging and thorough, filling a void in the literature up until this point. His latest book is pioneering in its ability to walk someone through the process of starting a direct primary care practice from a to z, hitting on all of the most salient points and leaving nothing to the imagination."
- Phil Hellman, MD, Paradox Health
"Dr. Thomas' experience with personal branding is extremely helpful to budding direct primary care physicians. In this book, he walks you through the important steps, from creating a logo to engaging with local media and then using social media to market your practice. You really can't find this hands-on, real-life advice anywhere else. I wish his book had been in print when I opened my direct care practice in 2018!"
- Aleea Gupta, MD, Family First Direct Primary Care
"Dr. Thomas has been a huge inspiration to me as a new DPC doctor!His first book was an excellent introduction to the model, but this book really dives deep into the nuts and bolts of how to start and market your practice.As doctors we are not educated on how to run a business, but this guide answered all my questions and makes this scary process feel manageable!"
- Rebecca Berens, MD, Vida Family Medicine PLLC
"Dr. Paul is an influential thought leader of the direct primary care movement. His efforts to advocate for the doctor-patient relationship and assist his colleagues in navigating to the direct primary care model are exemplary."
- Dan Schaefer, M.D. Family physician, Owner and founder of Whole Health Family Medicine Clinic.
Startup DPC Book Description
We all know that our current healthcare system is broken, especially for primary care doctors and their patients. Primary care physicians have to see more and more patients in less and less time in order to keep up with declining reimbursement from insurance companies. This leads to rushed office visits, missed opportunities for genuine connections between doctors and their patients, frustrated patients, and burned out doctors. But it doesn't have to be this way.
Direct primary care offers a real opportunity at a fulfilling practice of medicine. It’s a golden opportunity to restructure your time, build the practice of your dreams, and spend your best hours taking care of patients and prioritizing your family life, rather than wasting time as a data entry clerk for an insurance company. In short, direct primary care gives you the opportunity to become the doctor that you're meant to be.
But how do you get this done? How do you go from a less-than-fulfilled doctor in the dysfunctional fee-for-service system to an empowered, entrepreneurial direct primary care physician capable of starting their own successful DPC practice?
The answers you're seeking are in this book!
My name is Dr. Paul Thomas, and I'm a Board Certified Family Medicine Doctor - I launched my own direct primary care practice straight out of residency in Southwest Detroit with over $100,000 in student loan debt. In my first month of practice, I had 7 patients. A few years later, we have over 700 patients, and I've hired a medical assistant and a second family doctor to help me manage the growing demand for our services.
I was named the entrepreneur of the year in 2018 by the Detroit Vanguard Awards, I gave a TEDxDetroit talk on direct primary care, and I've been featured in the Detroit Free Press, Reason Magazine, CBS Radio, Detroit's ABC affiliate WXYZ, Detroit's NBC affiliate WDIV, and Crain's Detroit Business. I've also been a speaker multiple times at the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) DPC Summit, the Direct Primary Care Nuts and Bolts Conference, and the Hint Health DPC Summit.
In this book, I'm going to teach you everything I know about direct primary care and about starting a successful direct primary care practice. Here's a smattering of the topics that we'll cover:
- How to have the right mindset to be successful in your direct primary care journey
- How to become the doctor you're meant to be
- What a typical day looks like for a direct primary care doctor
- How to finance your direct primary care startup
- How to raise money for your DPC practice
- How to overcome a lack of business training in medical school and residency
- How to construct the perfect timeline for starting your DPC practice
- How to write a business plan for your direct primary care clinic
- How to start a direct primary care practice straight out of residency
- How to convert an existing fee-for-service clinic to a direct primary care practice while remaining profitable
- What's the difference between direct primary care and concierge medicine
- How to hire a second doctor for your DPC practice
- How to find a profitable location for your DPC practice
- How to negotiate a lease deal for your medical practice
- How to build out the medical office of your dreams
- How to attract patients to your direct primary care practice
- How to brand your practice so you stand out in your marketplace
- How to build your personal brand to grow your direct primary care practice
And so much more!
By picking up this book, you may be taking your first step in starting your direct primary care practice, or you may be taking the next big leap in growing your direct primary care practice. I know that whoever you are, and whichever stage you're at in your DPC journey, this book will inspire you and demonstrate in concrete methods how you can be even more successful.
Here's to your success in the growing DPC movement!
- Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health DPC
Direct Primary Care Book Reaches 50 Reviews
Today is an amazing day and I’m very excited that my book Direct Primary Care: The Cure for Our Broken Healthcare System has reached 50 reviews on Amazon! A sincere thank you to everyone who helped me write, edit, and publish the book, and a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has read the book and reviewed it on Amazon.
I wrote this book because I wanted to communicate the ethos of the direct primary care movement - why do we do what we do as direct primary care doctors and how it impacts our patients, our communities, and the greater healthcare system. A year and a half after its publication, I believe the book is continually achieving those aims.
Here’s the latest review:
This was a fantastic, passionate, and very simple approach to addressing a huge problem in the American healthcare system. I learned a lot from reading Dr. Thomas’s book. I highly recommend any physician read it if anyone is considering going into direct primary care.
There’s a lot of crazy stuff happening in our world right now, but there’s a lot that I’m grateful for as well, so thank you again.
-Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health DPC
Today, May 5th, 2020, I just received my 50th review for my book, Direct Primary Care: The Cure for Our Broken Healthcare System, and I couldn’t be happier!
Dr. Paul Thomas of Plum Health Featured on Sound Financial Bites
This week, we were featured on Sound Financial Bites. The topic was wide ranging, and it was great to be featured on this podcast. The producers of Sound Financial Bites, Paul Adams and Cory Shepherd, wrote a fantastic summary of our conversation, here:
EPISODE SUMMARY
This episode of the Sound Financial Bites Podcast tackles a topic that is central to our financial and physical wellbeing: healthcare. Paul Adams and Cory Shepherd welcome primary care physician Dr. Paul Thomas to discuss his practice, Plum Health, and the innovative strides he is making in the healthcare industry. Dr. Paul’s mission is to make healthcare accessible to those who cannot afford it and those who are fed up with the time, energy and money spent on traditional methods.
WHAT WAS COVERED
01:24 – Introducing today’s guest, Dr. Paul Thomas
02:38 – Dr. Paul defines the term direct primary care
03:18 – Concierge medicine
04:59 – How Dr. Paul’s business model makes money
06:39 – The huge markup on healthcare services
09:49 – The amount of patients a typical primary care physician has
11:26 – The pricing model that Dr. Paul utilizes
13:32 – Dr. Paul talks about the incredible growth of his practice, Plum Health
15:53 – Dr. Paul’s vision for the next five years of his practice
19:25 – Cosmetic surgery and Lasik
20:43 – Paul interrupts the podcast to provide the audience with a special offer
21:52 – The distinction between health insurance and healthcare
22:42 – Making healthcare accessible to those who cannot afford it
24:49 – The high-income earning patients that Dr. Paul also serves
26:28 – How Dr. Paul’s practice remains profitable
29:45 – The value of primary care
34:04 – The convenience factor
34:36 – Paul invites the audience to submit questions for Dr. Paul that he will answer in the next episode he joins
35:58 – Cory thanks Dr. Paul for joining Sound Financial Bites
TWEETABLES
“If you make greater than sixteen thousand dollars, you are disqualified from Medicaid services.”
LINKS
Sound Financial Group on Facebook - @SoundFinancialGroup
Sound Financial Group on LinkedIn
Dr. Paul Thomas Book - Direct Primary Care: The Cure for Our Broken Healthcare System
Thinking about Direct Primary Care, if you’re able to integrate our service with the right insurance product, there could be tremendous savings for you, your family, or your business. In short, part of my job is to protect you from insurance companies, big lab companies, and hospital systems that will overcharge you for your routine primary care services.
Thanks for reading and listening, and have a great day,
-Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health DPC
Here’s the promo image from Sound Financial Bites for the podcast on Healthcare vs Health Insurance featuring Dr. Paul Thomas of Plum Health DPC.
Is Direct Primary Care the Cure for Our Broken Healthcare System?
Is Direct Primary Care (DPC) the Cure for our Broken Healthcare System? That's the question that Caitlin Morse, PMP posed to me after reading my book with the same title (link to the book).
Direct Primary Care (DPC) is a growing model of health care across the Nation, but does it live up to the hype? This is the question from Caitlin Morse PMP in her article on LinkedIn, among other questions, below.
During this conversation between myself, Paul Thomas MD, and Caitlin Morse PMP, we discuss the following:
What happens when your DPC doctor is sick or goes on vacation?
What does Plum Health use for EMR/EHR if not a system designed to optimize billing?
Would this model break if all of the patients currently on Medicaid were switched to this model?
The difference between Direct Primary Care and Concierge Medicine.
What about childhood vaccinations? Public health facilities won’t vaccinate people with any insurance, even if self-pay. I was quoted thousands of dollars for out-of-network vaccines. These are included with every insurance plan at the PCP - are they included with DPC?
How does this model handle malpractice insurance/liability? Does more of a focus on preventative care expose primary care doctors to greater liability?
Could DPC provide follow-up for cancer patients in remission, stroke patients post-rehab, post-acute care, etc?
The claim is made that 80-90% of what the average patient needs could be addressed by a family physician at a DPC facility, but it would be helpful to understand what that number really represents and how it compares to the current use of PCPs. Is that 80-90% of a patient’s lifetime health needs or 80-90% of what the average patient goes to the doctor for in a single year? Or everything that 80-90% of the population need from a doctor? What percentage of healthcare costs does this represent?
Who are the people who use Direct Primary Care Services? What are their income levels? Why should a family sign up for Direct Primary Care?
These are questions that folks have about Direct Primary Care and how they can use these DPC services and benefit from them, so I’m happy to take the time and answer them. Thanks for reading and watching, and have a wonderful day.
-Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health DPC
Interview on Small Talk with Mark S. Lee
This week, we were featured on Small Talk with Mark S. Lee! Mark S. Lee is a good friend, and a champion of entrepreneurship in Detroit, so it was a privilege to be on the show. Here’s what we talked about:
Intro (01:45)
Dr. Paul Thomas is introduced by Mark S. Lee. Paul Thomas, MD is a board-certified family medicine physician practicing in Southwest Detroit. His practice is Plum Health DPC, a Direct Primary Care service that is the first of its kind in Detroit and Wayne County. His mission is to deliver affordable, accessible health care services in Detroit and beyond. He has been featured on WDIV-TV Channel 4, WXYZ Channel 7, Crain's Detroit Business and CBS Radio. He has been a speaker at TEDxDetroit. He is a graduate of Wayne State University School of Medicine and now a Clinical Assistant Professor.
Flashpoint Interview (02:30)
Two weeks ago, we were featured on Flashpoint with Devin Scillian and Dr. Frank McGeorge. We were able to discuss the Direct Primary Care model and what’s included in a membership with Plum Health DPC. At Plum Health, we believe that health care should be affordable and accessible for everyone. We also believe in the power of a personal relationship with your physician. To that end, all of my patients have my cell phone number, and can contact me at any time, and they can have an appointment in our office same-day or next-day guaranteed. People are choosing Direct Primary Care services because they are looking at rising premiums for health insurance and seeing less and less value from these insurance plans. We also discuss how to differentiate health care from health insurance.
The beginnings of Plum Health DPC in Southwest Detroit (04:00)
The beginnings of Plum Health DPC and the growth of the practice - we’ve met and exceeded our growth goals for Plum Health. We currently have 425 to 430 active members in our practice. People choose Plum Health because they want to have a personalized relationship with their doctor.
Why the current health care system is broken (05:30)
People are over-insuring, or insuring everything from Flu Shots to ICU care, and this drives up the prices of everything in between. When you remove the third party payers, you can lower the cost of care.
The Direct Primary Care book (06:00)
Direct Primary Care: The Cure for Our Broken Healthcare System - I wrote the book because our health care ecosystem is so complicated, and I wanted to write a book that could guide folks to understanding the Direct Primary Care movement and our practice. I broke up the book up into three chapters: the current crisis in our primary care system, defining direct primary care, and showing the impact that we’re having in our practice, Plum Health DPC, in Southwest Detroit.
REcent media appearances (07:00)
With the recent media appearances, there are more and more primary care doctors starting Direct Primary Care practices. There’s been a groundswell of physicians taking up this DPC model, because there’s been a groundswell of patients standing up and demanding excellent primary care services from a physician that they can trust.
Clinical Assistant Professor at Wayne State University School of Medicine (08:30)
I love speaking with students because they are really excited to learn about Direct Primary Care. Medical students are looking for a way to become primary care physicians without the insurance headaches like prior authorizations. When I speak with students, the lightbulb goes off, and they understand the model and get excited about practicing primary care. I love this because our country and our communities need excellent primary care physicians - they save communities money, they prevent hospitalizations and ER visits, and reduce unnecessary surgeries. From the American Academy of Family Physicians:
An increase of one primary care doctor per 10,000 people has been shown to result in:
5% decrease in outpatient visits
5.5% decrease in inpatient admissions
10.9% decrease in ER visits
7.2% decrease in surgeries
TedxDetroit Talk (09:30)
We spoke at TEDxDetroit in November of 2017 and, looking back, there have been several key events that helped us grow. The TEDxTalk, the Crain’s Detroit business profile, the Channel 4 WDIV story and the Channel 7 WXYZ story all contributed to our success.
Future Plans for Plum Health (10:30)
As we’re growing, more and more patients are spreading the word about Plum Health DPC via word of mouth. We’ve had some great reviews from our members! Excitingly, we’re growing and planning to add another doctor to our practice this year to be able to care for the next 500 patients who want to join.
Listen to the full interview here:
Thank you so much for reading and listening, and have a great week!
-Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health DPC
If you want to meet your goals for 2019, please reach out at paul@plumhealthdpc.com or 313.444.5630
Family Doctor on Flashpoint with Devin Scillian
Today, we were featured on Flashpoint on WDIV with Devin Scillian. The conversation focused on Direct Primary Care, and our clinic in Southwest Detroit called Plum Health DPC, which is making healthcare affordable and accessible in Detroit and beyond.
Devin Scillian is the host of Flashpoint, and a highly respected journalist in Detroit, so it was a tremendous honor to be invited onto the program to discuss this important issue. Flanking Devin Scillian was Frank McGeorge, MD, an emergency room physician and the Good Health reporter for WDIV. Dr. McGeorge was brought in to provide an additional layer of insight into health care and ask questions about Direct Primary Care from the lens of a physician/health care insider.
We also discussed our book, Direct Primary Care: The Cure for Our Broken Healthcare System.
Below I will paraphrase parts of the show:
Direct primary care introduction
Devin Scillian: Should your doctor be subscription-based? A new model allows as many visits as needed, for one monthly rate. There was a discussion about new concepts in health care… For some time I’ve been wanting to talk about a new idea in Health Care, it’s called Direct Primary Care. It doesn’t come from your employer, or the government. It’s basically an agreement between you and your doctor - you pay a monthly fee to subscribe to your physician. All the visits that you might need that month are covered. You need medications? Well, they cut a deal on prescriptions, which you would pay out of pocket.
We’ve had a lot of debates about what to do with American Health care - there’s talk about single payer health care and a universal system. Getting less conversation, and we’ll correct that this morning, is the idea of Direct Primary Care, and the Author of a new book Direct Primary Care: The Cure for Our Broken Healthcare System, is with us this morning, Dr. Paul Thomas of Plum Health DPC. And we have Dr. Frank McGeorge, our medical reporter from WDIV Local 4, who will ask better questions than I would.
So you can get rid of health insurance?
Devin Scillian: The first thing I want to get to, is to get rid of insurance and the government?
Paul Thomas, MD: I unequivocally recommend that folks have health insurance, but for your routine primary care services, the costs are much less if you purchase them directly through your doctor. You want to maintain a health insurance plan that you’re comfortable with, and use the free market or Direct Primary Care services to the lower the costs of your meds, labs, imaging services, and doctor visits.
So this is a club, basically? and what is your Pricing like?
Devin Scillian: So, I would kind of use you and your partners like I belong to a club, basically?
Paul Thomas, MD: Yes, it’s a membership model for health care, so you can come in and see us any time you need to. Visits are included in our pricing structure:
The 2018 pricing for Plum Health DPC, as shown during an interview between Paul Thomas MD, Devin Scillian, and Frank McGeorge MD on Flashpoint on WDIV, Local 4 News.
Devin Scillian: Unless your in a health plan that I’ve never heard of, this looks really reasonable, much less than you and I are paying, doc (Dr. Frank McGeorge).
Dr. Frank McGeorge: This is a very different way of doing things, clearly, and it does make sense. I have to say, I really applaud what you’re doing, because I think it’s wonderful that you are getting back to the most basic form of providing health care, that is directly to the patient, cutting out all of the bureaucratic nonsense as much as possible. You don’t need a biller and coder in your office, you save that money right off the top, and you pass that savings directly onto the patient.
Biggest concerns about the direct primary care model?
Devin Scillian: So your biggest concerns with it are what?
Dr. Frank McGeorge: Well what’s interesting to me, is that you’re doing what we used to do in Family Practice one hundred years ago, you were the small town doc. Everyone would come to you with all of their problems. But the problem now is that back then you could know all of medicine, but now, medicine is so much more complex. I guess, how do you deal with specialty referrals? The things that are out of your family practice domain.
Paul Thomas MD of Plum Health DPC on Flashpoint with Devin Scillian and Dr. Frank McGeorge of WDIV Channel 4 in Detroit, Michigan, discussing Direct Primary Care.
Paul Thomas MD: The typical scope of a family medicine doctor is 70 - 80% of anything that you might walk into the doctor’s office with. So I can handle 70 - 80% of your concerns, the rest you would typically refer to specialists. Now in my model, we use an e-consult platform called Rubicon, where we can write up your case history and send it to a Board Certified Ophthalmologist or Dermatologist or Cardiologist with a photo or a copy of your EKG, and get a second opinion at no charge to you the patient.
Devin Scillian: No charge to me, because you’ve developed a relationship with these specialists.
Paul Thomas MD: Exactly, it’s an e-consult platform called Rubicon that any primary care physician can use, and I use it because I actually have the time to listen to you fully, to take down copious notes about your condition, and send those over to the specialist and get a second opinion within about 12 hours.
How many patients can a direct primary care doctor handle?
Devin Scillian: Have you figured out where the sweet spot is for how many patients you can handle?
Paul Thomas MD on Flashpoint with Devin Scillian and Dr. Frank McGeorge of WDIV Channel 4 in Detroit, Michigan, discussing Direct Primary Care.
Paul Thomas MD: The typical number of patients per physician in the Direct Primary Care model is 500 - 600 patients. Now, contrast that with the typical family doctor who has to have 2,400 patients, so they’re seeing 1% of their panel each day or 24 patients each day. In our model, when we see 1% of our panel, we see 5 - 6 patients each day. And, that gives me an hour per patient to really sit down with you and understand what you’re going through, and help you through that situation.
What is the pricing like for medications and lab work?
Devin Scillian: You and I have been looking at these price lists (to Dr. McGeorge), because they cut deals on prescriptions and on lab tests. With your trained eye, and the time you spend in the Emergency Room, how does everything look?
Those forms for your reference: List of our laboratory prices. List of our medication prices.
Dr. Frank McGeorge: This is clearly the way it should be. One of the things I’ve always rallied against is the opaqueness of how billing and charging is done in the medical care system. Frankly, if you go into hospital A versus hospital B, you don’t know how much you’re going to be charged for any given test because it’s different in each hospital. This (pricing) is great because it’s all laid out in advance and it looks like it’s done, basically, at cost.
Paul Thomas MD: Exactly, because you’re already paying the membership, I want to give you as much value for your healthcare dollar as possible. So, we make all of our prices transparent, and we only charge the cost of the medication, or the lab, or the imaging service so you get the most value out of the service as possible.
Can Direct Primary Care Doctors make money in this system?
Devin Scillian: I don’t know how to ask this delicately, but is this lucrative for you? Do you make a fair amount - enough money? Or are you just messing with the system?
Paul Thomas MD: As the membership grows, as the doctor gets to full capacity, you earn about what you would make as an employed physician, maybe a little bit less. But, we have a saying in the Direct Primary Care movement that nothing pays like autonomy. I can be the physician I was meant to be. And, in this model, it’s really inspiring for other doctors who want to join this movement because you have the ability to practice medicine on your own terms, and not at the dictates of insurance companies or government heath care systems.
The full video can be seen above, and on the Flashpoint website.
Thank you so much for reading and watching,
-Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health DPC
Paul Thomas, MD with Devin Scillian and Dr. Frank McGeorge of WDIV Detroit on the set of Flashpoint. The discussion on Flashpoint this week centered around Direct Primary Care, a new model for health care that aims to improve the quality of healthcare while decreasing overall costs.
Paul Thomas, MD of Plum Health DPC, Devin Scillian of WDIV Channel 4 News in Detroit, and Dr. Frank McGeorge, an Emergency Medicine Physician and broadcaster with the Good Health segment on WDIV local 4. During Flashpoint this week, we discussed Direct Primary Care and the opportunity that it provides to change our healthcare system from the ground up. Devin Scillian was also kind enough to mention our book, Direct Primary Care: The Cure for Our Broken Healthcare System.
Paul Thomas MD on the DocPreneur Podcast
This week, we were featured on the DocPreneur Podcast, which is created and distributed by Michael Tetreault, Editor-in-Chief of the Direct Primary Care Journal. After publishing the book, Direct Primary Care: The Cure for Our Broken Healthcare System, Michael reached out about having me on the podcast.
I’m sincerely happy to share my experiences in Direct Primary Care, to teach and inspire other doctors to take this journey to an authentic, fulfilling practice of medicine, to become the doctors they were meant to be. This is one of the biggest reasons why I continue to get the word out about Direct Primary Care - I believe in this model and its ability to transform our healthcare system in the United States.
I want to personally thank Michael Tetreault for being on the vanguard of Direct Primary Care by creating educational materials for DPC doctors. Enjoy the podcast, and let me know what you think!
Thank you for reading, watching, and listening,
-Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health DPC
To read our book on Amazon, click this link.
Direct Primary Care Book by Paul Thomas MD
Direct Primary Care: The Cure for Our Broken Healthcare System
This week, I had the privilege of publishing and releasing my first book, Direct Primary Care: The Cure for Our Broken Healthcare System. Here’s the blurb I wrote for the book on Amazon:
They said it couldn't be done. It wouldn't be possible to fix our broken healthcare system. It wouldn't be possible to fix a healthcare system that undervalues primary care and human relationships. But here we are, a courageous group of primary care doctors, tirelessly working to create value for our patients in communities across the country. This is the story of the Direct Primary Care movement, and how it could revolutionize not only primary care, but the entire healthcare system. The book begins by describing the current crisis in primary care and goes on to define the scope of Direct Primary Care. It closes with concrete examples of how the Direct Primary Care model is working at Plum Health DPC in Southwest Detroit.
It’s been a long journey from “idea” to “published”, and there’s still a lot of work to do promoting the book and getting it out into the world. I wrote the book because I believe that healthcare should be affordable and accessible for everyone, and I also believe that the Direct Primary Care model gets us closer to that goal. So, in the book, I set out to explain and describe the ethos of the Direct Primary Care movement and the work that I do in SW Detroit with Plum Health DPC.
Screenshot from Amazon.com with the Kindle version of the book. Direct Primary Care: The Cure for Our Broken Healthcare System.
Screenshot from Amazon.com with the Paperback version of the book. Direct Primary Care: The Cure for Our Broken Healthcare System.
Within 72 hours, these titles will be merged into one page on Amazon!
Author Page for Paul Thomas MD on Amazon.com
One of the things that I had to do to publish the book on Amazon, was to set up an Author Page for myself, Paul Thomas MD, on Amazon.com. My bio reads something like this:
Dr. Paul Thomas is a board-certified family medicine physician practicing in Southwest Detroit. His practice is Plum Health DPC, a Direct Primary Care service that is the first of its kind in Detroit and Wayne County. His mission is to deliver affordable, accessible health care services in Detroit and beyond. He has been featured on WDIV-TV Channel 4, WXYZ Channel 7, Crain's Detroit Business and CBS Radio. He has been a speaker at TEDxDetroit and is a graduate of and Clinical Assistant Professor at Wayne State University School of Medicine. You can find out more at PlumHealthDPC.com.
It’s pretty neat and motivating to get working on the next book! I have a lot of ideas that I want to write about, mostly involving Direct Primary Care, and this was such a cool process.
The Process of Writing the Direct Primary Care Book
I wrote the book in about one week in January 2018. I thought I’d have it published in March. Boy was I wrong! After writing it, I sent the draft to some brave alpha readers, who read it and gave me feedback. That brought me to February. I then edited the draft with those suggestions and came up with a second draft, which I sent to some beta readers.
From there, Amanda and I edited the entire book and had the final draft. This was March. I still needed a cover design, formatting, promotional quotes from people I knew, and so many other things that I was naive to prior to starting this process.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I have a million people to thank, from those alpha readers to those who helped me design the cover through those who wrote blurbs for the book and my publisher. It definitely took a village to get this over the finish line. A very special thank you to Zain Ismail for writing the foreword.
Reception So Far
So far, the reception to the Direct Primary Care book has been good. We have been number one in the “Physician & Patient” and “Administration & Policy” categories on Amazon.com, which is exciting, and we broke the top ten for “Medical eBooks!”
Direct Primary Care: The Cure for Our Broken Healthcare System trending in Medical eBooks “Administration and Policy”.
Direct Primary Care: The Cure for Our Broken Healthcare System is trending in Medical eBooks “Physicians & Patient” Category on Amazon.com
Thanks so much for reading, I appreciate all of you, and enjoy the book!
- Dr. Paul Thomas, MD, Physician with Plum Health DPC and now author of Direct Primary Care: The Cure for our Broken Healthcare System
We’ve been getting a ton of support on Social Media, like our Facebook post. Follow us on Facebook, here: https://www.facebook.com/PlumHealthDPC/
We’ve been getting a lot of support on Social Media, like on our Instagram Page, follow us here: https://www.instagram.com/plumhealthdpc/