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Has anyone opened up one in a small town (no hospital 20+) miles. If so , what are the demographics of the area?
Direct primary care in rural setting
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I personally don't see it working in a rural area. People can barely afford gas and feed their kids let alone fork out $50/month for healthcare. Most rural folks are on Medicaid or medicare anyway and I don't see them switching.
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Good for her. But remember that she had ties to the area and it took her a while to get established. It wasn't easy and it's not for the faint of heart.
The key phrase in her talk: BE DEBT FREE WHEN YOU START and have savings to survive.
D
deleted480308
exactly, you aren't going to move into a new rural county with no connections and $300k in debt with a stay at home spouse and make that work. simply won't happen.
if you're debt is handled and your spouse has a job and you are a hustler with modest income expectations and good business acumen, it can happen. I don't think most docs know as much about business as they think they do
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Yep. It's definitely more risky to try this model in a rural area. Was just trying to show a successful example as per OP's question since the only opinion was that it wasn't possible.
Obviously this can't be done without a lot of research beforehand, a proper business model, and the understanding that it could take years to get established.
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It can work in a rural setting. You don't have to be debt free. I started my DPC in a semi-rural area with a mortgage, debt from too many years trying to keep a struggling insurance based group practice going and three kids in college so I had equivalent or worse cash flow problems as any student loan burdened graduating resident.
Some things to consider:
Working class uninsured and high deductible plan patients with a few chronic conditions make great DPC patients and most rural areas have plenty of these.
Unless your state Medicaid rules forbid it, a significant percentage of Medicaid patients with chronic conditions and crappy access to Medicaid accepting providers will find a reasonably priced DPC worthwhile.
Low overhead is critical so you can make prices affordable while allowing you a competitive income. One employee or less per doc is both possible and necessary.
You can moonlight in some places for cash flow even with opting out of Medicare. See : Opted Out Moonlighting
A broad spectrum of skills and quick access are valued by DPC patients. If they can see you for a splint instead of getting an ortho consult or get in the office and treat that acute problem at 430 pm instead of getting sent to the ER, that saves them quite a bit of out of pocket costs.
Some things to consider:
Working class uninsured and high deductible plan patients with a few chronic conditions make great DPC patients and most rural areas have plenty of these.
Unless your state Medicaid rules forbid it, a significant percentage of Medicaid patients with chronic conditions and crappy access to Medicaid accepting providers will find a reasonably priced DPC worthwhile.
Low overhead is critical so you can make prices affordable while allowing you a competitive income. One employee or less per doc is both possible and necessary.
You can moonlight in some places for cash flow even with opting out of Medicare. See : Opted Out Moonlighting
A broad spectrum of skills and quick access are valued by DPC patients. If they can see you for a splint instead of getting an ortho consult or get in the office and treat that acute problem at 430 pm instead of getting sent to the ER, that saves them quite a bit of out of pocket costs.
