The DPC NP
From Managed Care to Independent Practice: Jennifer Parker’s Journey to Direct Primary Care Entrepreneurship
How can a nurse practitioner transition from a career in managed care to becoming a successful entrepreneur? Join us as Jennifer Parker, a dedicated NP from Newport Ritchie, Florida, shares her compelling story. Starting as an LPN and navigating her way to establishing her own Direct Primary Care (DPC) practice, Jennifer reveals the steps she took to prioritize patient care over insurance restrictions. From forming an LLC to setting up her clinic, this episode offers an in-depth look at the challenges and triumphs of her entrepreneurial journey.
Learn the complexities of managing a small medical practice solo, including handling patient payments, choosing the right EMR systems like OptiMantra and Atlas MD, and balancing professional and financial responsibilities. Jennifer opens up about the difficulties of juggling medical duties with administrative tasks and the pros and cons of different EMR systems, while also sharing her anticipation of expanding her team. Discover how she navigates the operational aspects of her clinic, from offering multiple service tiers to dispensing medications in-office.
Jennifer also discusses the strategies behind growing her healthcare practice, with a focus on hormone therapy, weight loss, and DPC. Hear about the effectiveness of social media marketing and her innovative membership structures. Gain from her experience in managing multiple service tiers and implementing minimum commitment periods for weight loss programs. Finally, Jennifer provides invaluable advice for aspiring DPC clinic owners, stressing the importance of taking the leap despite fears, and the rewarding experience of building strong patient-provider relationships. Tune in for a wealth of insights on balancing work, family, and business growth in the healthcare sector.
Thank you for joining us today!
Be sure to follow and share, and leave a review!
If you have questions, comments or want to be part of our community, follow us on Facebook at The DPC NP!
How can a nurse practitioner transition from a career in managed care to becoming a successful entrepreneur? Join us as Jennifer Parker, a dedicated NP from Newport Ritchie, Florida, shares her compelling story. Starting as an LPN and navigating her way to establishing her own Direct Primary Care (DPC) practice, Jennifer reveals the steps she took to prioritize patient care over insurance restrictions. From forming an LLC to setting up her clinic, this episode offers an in-depth look at the challenges and triumphs of her entrepreneurial journey.
Learn the complexities of managing a small medical practice solo, including handling patient payments, choosing the right EMR systems like OptiMantra and Atlas MD, and balancing professional and financial responsibilities. Jennifer opens up about the difficulties of juggling medical duties with administrative tasks and the pros and cons of different EMR systems, while also sharing her anticipation of expanding her team. Discover how she navigates the operational aspects of her clinic, from offering multiple service tiers to dispensing medications in-office.
Jennifer also discusses the strategies behind growing her healthcare practice, with a focus on hormone therapy, weight loss, and DPC. Hear about the effectiveness of social media marketing and her innovative membership structures. Gain from her experience in managing multiple service tiers and implementing minimum commitment periods for weight loss programs. Finally, Jennifer provides invaluable advice for aspiring DPC clinic owners, stressing the importance of taking the leap despite fears, and the rewarding experience of building strong patient-provider relationships. Tune in for a wealth of insights on balancing work, family, and business growth in the healthcare sector.
Thank you for joining us today!
Be sure to follow and share, and leave a review!
If you have questions, comments or want to be part of our community, follow us on Facebook at The DPC NP!
Welcome to the DPCNP. I'm your host, amanda Price, family nurse practitioner with two decades of experience, including 16 years as a business owner. Hey, everybody, welcome to the DPCNP, and today I have a special guest, jennifer Parker. Jennifer, welcome to the show, thank you, thank you. Thank you for having me. I was going to say where you were from, but I didn't look when are you?
Speaker 2:It's okay. I'm in Newport, ritchie, florida. It's a small town. It's like maybe 30 minutes from Tampa.
Speaker 2:Tell us the story of how you got into nursing and then how you became a nurse practitioner A few years ago. I got divorced Not a few years ago, but my daughter was two she's 19 now. I didn't have anything, I didn't have a career in education, and so I had to start over and so I said I'm going to go to nursing school. So I went and got my LPN and I became an LPN first and I worked a few years as an LPN and then I wanted to further and so I got my RN and then I was an RN for about 10 years and I decided I wanted to become a nurse practitioner because I was tired of doing all the grunt work and seeing no success for my patients and I really thought that I could make a difference in their lives. And so I went back to school to be a nurse practitioner and I've been a nurse practitioner now for about three years.
Speaker 1:Wow, I love the fact that you had this terrible thing happen in your past, this divorce, and you used it as an opportunity to grow. That's really awesome. That takes a lot of courage.
Speaker 2:Thank you. It was a struggle but it's definitely been worth it and I've been able to provide for my children. I'm remarried now, so my husband he helps me and he's a great partner now too. It's been a great like educational change for me.
Speaker 1:Great Well, where did you work when you got out of nurse practitioner school?
Speaker 2:So I worked at a company that does managed care. I worked there for two years. I learned a lot about the things that I didn't want to do for my patients, telling them that they couldn't do certain things, have certain tests, you know, take care of their weight. And now I'm also working at another managed care company full time, while I'm opening my own practice. I mean, it's the same thing. It's, you know, all about the money, less about the patients. So I kind of really wanted to transition and make it more about the patient and what I could do for them and how to improve their lives and, you know, give them the things that you know they want.
Speaker 1:What was that moment where you decided that being an entrepreneur would be something in your future, that you wanted to move away from being an employee in the managed care clinic to actually doing it yourself?
Speaker 2:I have had lots of patients come in and you know they need knee surgery or they really just want to lose weight and they're really struggling and you know they're not feeling good with their hormones and I have to tell them all the time no, I'm sorry, the insurance doesn't pay for that, it doesn't cover that, and I get frustrated telling patients that they don't qualify for certain things. And so after a few years of doing that, I just found the DPC program and I thought, wow, this is something that I could do for my patients and it would give them, putting them first in their health care and improving lives versus worrying about what the insurance company is going to say.
Speaker 1:How did you find the DPC model? How did you even know about that?
Speaker 2:So I was just doing some research about entrepreneurship as a nurse practitioner on Facebook and I was like Googling different groups and stuff like that and I came across this Tampa Bay group and I was looking into it and a lot of them were talking about DPC and what it was membership based for patients and so I reached out to them and they provided me with some books to read. And I got a couple books and I read them and I started attending their meetings and I was thinking this was for me, so I decided to do it.
Speaker 1:What can you share with the audience, what the books are? Maybe they would be helpful to someone else.
Speaker 2:The one book is the startup DPC, from he's got the plum health clinic in Detroit, I think I can't remember his name, but that was one of the books I read. And then I just did a lot of like Google searching, like the DPC startup, and I looked at hint and I looked at Atlas at all the resources they offered.
Speaker 1:Okay, and we'll definitely get to what EMR that you have chosen a little bit later on in the podcast. But so I know that you're still opening up your practice, like you're still going through the motions of that. When did all that start and maybe walk us through? What has it been looking like for you? Just the steps that you've had to take in order to start from scratch.
Speaker 2:just the steps that you've had to take in order to start from scratch. In January we started, we opened our LLC, started doing all the necessary you know, licensing and getting established with different pharmacies and finding a location. Originally at first I was going to start out doing like telehealth and like home visit, but then I ran into some snags with like blood work and ordering medications and you had to have like a physical address, and so that pushed me into finding a physical location a little bit sooner than we anticipated. Everything kind of moved up in the timeline. But I found a great base for a great rent and then my husband he decorated the whole thing and painted and helped me put everything together and we opened our clinic. So I opened officially in March. I haven't had like my grand opening or anything yet. I'm kind of just doing like evening hours, monday through Friday. I'm here like 530 till whenever, and on the weekends if patients make appointments, and so that's where I am right now.
Speaker 1:So when you were originally making plans to open up this clinic, I know the process and it's it's been a long time since I opened up my clinic from scratch, because I had it, you know, 17 years ago. But I know that you have to research, looking for malpractice insurance and looking for property and liability insurance, and when you go to open up your own clinic, you have all of these things that you have to think about. You have to think about, you know, applying for your business license and applying for your tax ID number. So how hard was that for you to do? Or did you have people that came along beside you and kind of helped you and guided you along that way?
Speaker 2:Through the group I found on Facebook, the entrepreneur group I found for Tampa Bay. They held monthly meetings and during the meetings you could go and ask questions and there were a few people who were already pretty established, like a year in, who opened their clinic already, and one of the girls offered a course that you could pay a little fee and you could go and she gave you like a checklist of everything you should do, how to get started, some resources of like who to contact, who their contacts were, by taking that course that she offered. That was really beneficial to me and I was able to follow the checklist and go through and make sure I had everything done. Without that I think it would have been a struggle. But I know on Atlas I had printed their. They have like a step-step on what to do for starting your DPC and so that was a good resource as well and it gave you a lot of great information and tips on what to do.
Speaker 1:So how big of a space did you end up renting?
Speaker 2:So I have about a thousand square foot space. It's cute and quaint. It's got like a reception area and then one patient room which is pretty large. I could probably turn it into two patient rooms eventually if I wanted to. It has like a little office space for me and possibly another employee one day, and a little room for IV therapy and a bathroom. It's quite small but it's perfect for starting out and the rent was amazingly priced. I got very lucky for getting my place.
Speaker 1:That is great, and so you kind of answered what my next question was going to be, and that is do you have any staff with you? But I guess you are doing it solo, which means walk us through. What does it look like to have to be in charge of your memberships and asking your patients and stuff for the money, as well as being their provider?
Speaker 2:It is a lot of work. I do have one girl who I will hire full time, hopefully one day, and she comes and helps me do some lab draws. So I do have help in that aspect. She's very good at labs and she'll draw them for me when I need her to.
Speaker 2:Other than that. I use my EMR system and I use authorizednet. When they process your payments, they send you notification Payment went through, payment did not go through and the reason why I hate being the provider and having to call and try to get the patients to pay their bills. Right now I don't have that many patients, I think like 27. So I can manage it pretty good by myself at the moment, but it is frustrating to be the everything and trying to be professional and worried about their health and then also worried about the money that they're providing to the office.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I've said it in several podcasts how awkward that must be. Some people don't mind it, but my personality is very non confrontational and it's just an awkward situation for me. So I'm so thankful for my office manager that I have that I just make her handle all that stuff.
Speaker 2:Yes, I look forward to that day where I don't have to worry about the finance aspect and have somebody else do the follow through on that. My husband helps me. He's my partner, so he does a lot of the financial stuff. He hasn't got to the point where he reaches out to the patients yet, but he said that he would take that on for me if I wanted him to.
Speaker 1:Oh, that would be great. So yes, we'll do that.
Speaker 2:Yes, let me show you how Well what.
Speaker 1:EMR. Did you choose?
Speaker 2:I chose OptiMantra. I had done some research and some of the people that were mentoring me so they were using that in their practice and they were kind of doing the same thing. Dpc weight loss hormones they said it was pretty user friendly.
Speaker 2:And it was one of the cheaper ones for the monthly cost and since I was just getting started with no money, I did go the cheaper route. I do wish that maybe I got one that was like an all in one, that kind of did the billing aspect for you, where you didn't have to contact the patient, and some of the other features. I feel like maybe it would have been worth the little bit of extra money. Are you in a contract with OptiMantra? No, no, I can change it at any time.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's good. So I heard you talk about Atlas MD. Did you do a trial of that to see if you wanted that? Was it just too?
Speaker 2:expensive. I did do a trial of the Atlas MD and I think at the time because I was so busy trying to get the practice going and all of the checklist things I had to do to get it started that I really didn't give it a fair shot because it was very overwhelming to me and not as user friendly because I wasn't using it. I just went with the Opti mantra because it just seemed a little bit easier.
Speaker 1:What communication software are you using to talk to your patients through?
Speaker 2:I just added a phone line to my personal cell phone plan for the moment. I got a separate phone number, so it's a cell phone because I'm a one woman show. So that way it's with me at all times Because, like I said, I do still work full time during the day, so I have it with me. Patients can text me, call me. I have an email that I got set up through Vistaprint so they can email me, text me or call me at any time.
Speaker 1:That's exactly what I do for now, but I think I'm about to switch over to something that's going to be a little bit more user friendly, because what I've noticed about using this extra cell phone for my patients is sometimes I need to text every single one of them. Now, that's not a big deal if you have 27. But when you have 500 patients, you can't text them all and say hey, I'm going out of the country for this week, so try not to text me because I'm not going to respond.
Speaker 2:Yes, and it doesn't keep track of messages either. It's a little bit harder to keep track of the messages, I think.
Speaker 1:Yes, I agree, it would be nice to have a program that will download the messages into the patient charts, whereas, you know, when you have your cell phone, you have all these text messages and I save every single one of them because they're part of their medical record and I just don't want to lose any of that, in case they're like you told me to do this and I did this and and I'm like no, I don't think I told you that and I can scroll back through and look at the text conversation, but when you go to try to transcribe that from the phone to the chart, it doesn't go over really pretty.
Speaker 2:No, and it's very hard to keep track of, and OptiMatra does have the option you can pay extra to do the texting portion. So I might eventually add that in if I keep this program, because that way it does upload it into the chart.
Speaker 1:So I'm looking at your website. Who did you get to do your website?
Speaker 2:I did it. Oh, it looks nice, I was pretty impressed.
Speaker 1:I mean, you just literally opened two months ago and you've already got all these different options on here. I see that you're offering weight loss and men's health and then eventually or is it eventually you're going to do the hormone replacement and men's health, or you're already doing those?
Speaker 2:I already do hormone replacement for men. I do the testosterone for the men right now. I'm completing a course right now to make sure I have good understanding of the women's hormone therapy and do pellets. I plan to do the BHRT with the bioidentical hormones and do pellet for women and men. So I'm currently like taking a course right now.
Speaker 2:And then I'm about to put up on my website IV hydration, so I just purchased all the stuff I need and I'm going to offer four or five different ones to start out with, just to get my feet wet and see how it goes with the patients.
Speaker 1:Did you take a course in how to establish that in your clinic as well?
Speaker 2:I did. I did a lot of my courses on the Elite NP. So I took Justin's courses the IV course and I'm in the middle of his women's health course and I took the BHRT course and stuff like that. So he's really who I've been using right now for courses. I've gotten my certifications through him.
Speaker 1:And you get all your CEUs that you need for when you have to renew your certification. So that's helpful.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:I did all those courses to all those ones that you're doing. I've done them and it is so nice to be able to basically learn anything you want on his website. So yeah, you have not been to the elite NP, then you need to go to the elite nurse practitioners site.
Speaker 2:It's helpful very, very helpful, and they give you a complete outline of how to do it in your practice what to charge, where to order and it's been super helpful. Yes.
Speaker 1:So what is it going to look like for you to transition from your full-time job as you become a little bit busier at your own clinic? Is your current job flexible enough to where you can just keep backing off some hours to allow your clinic, or how are you planning on managing that?
Speaker 2:My job's not going to be flexible with hours. It's either all or none, so I have to work full time Monday through Friday there. That's the type of clinic it is. My plan is once I get that's the type of clinic it is my plan is once I get I think we calculated finances, once I get about 100 patients, I'm just going to quit and go all in. I'm at 27 now, so I'm hoping by maybe July or August I'll be able to leave my full time job and just delve into my own business and hopefully make it grow.
Speaker 1:Yes, and that's a realistic goal, I think. How are you marketing your clinic to the community?
Speaker 2:So we do kind of guerrilla marketing. We do lots of word of mouth. We do lots of vendor events. I have a TikTok and a Facebook and an Instagram. I use CapCut and I try to make reels and different things to get people's attention. I pay for ads on Facebook and TikTok as well, and lots of word of mouth. A lot of my patients are word of mouth. Like I have a testosterone patient who's super successful and he feels amazing since starting and so he sent me like two or three patients already. A lot of my growth right now is from friends and family and word of mouth. I do pay for, like, a social media with the advanced practice. It's a group for hormone therapy and stuff like that. Carmen she runs it, she's great and I pay like every three months of membership fee and I get all kinds of template for social media everything, email, blogs, stuff like that and you just revamp them and use them for your own practice and it's super helpful.
Speaker 1:Have you found that that's a good return of investment? All of the information and everything that you're doing across the social media platforms? Are you gaining patients by doing all that? No, I was hoping that that would not be the case.
Speaker 2:I mean I am growing. You know I get new followers all the time on TikTok and everything. I think if I maybe did a little bit more posting, maybe on more of a daily basis on there, maybe I would get more, because some of the ones that I put on, they do reach a lot of people, especially Facebook. I mean I think I have, you know, some of them are like 1000 plus views and stuff like that, especially if you pay for them. So like your name's getting out there. So it's good to like get your name out there so people recognize who you are, so it's great in that aspect. But I think if I had more posts and stuff like that that, maybe that would be a little more helpful.
Speaker 1:Are your testosterone patients also your DPC patients, or do you have kind of a separate thing going on within your clinic?
Speaker 2:It's a separate thing. If they choose to be a DPC patient, they can. Most of my weight loss patients and my hormone therapy patients are on their own membership for just that.
Speaker 1:Oh, so you have different styles of membership, based on whether or not they want to do BHRT or men's health, or even the IV hydration and the weight loss. Do they have their own membership dues?
Speaker 2:Yeah, everything has a monthly fee and it comes out automatically as part of their membership, except for the IV hydration. I think I'm going to do that and just pay for each one. I have seen like some other clinics pretty successful ones that do a membership base for the IV hydration, so I might look into that, because I'm just starting out. I was just going to do pay per IV for now.
Speaker 1:What are the different charges that you have for each one of the memberships and how did you come to those numbers?
Speaker 2:So I did some market research and I looked at several clinics in the area, probably within 30 miles of me, that's kind of offering the same things like DPC, weight loss and I kind of made a chart and wrote down all their prices and what they charged and then I tried to make mine a little cheaper so that patients would want to come to me because I'm new and so better pricing for a new clinic I thought would be more beneficial.
Speaker 2:So I have different costs for my direct primary care. Right now I have two tiers one for, like, the younger generation and one for the older population. But I find that to be a little harder to manage, so I'm thinking of making it just one payment in general for the DPC and then I have a monthly membership. I offer semaglutide and terzepidide and fentermine, so each of those have their own monthly costs that patients pay. And then also the hormone therapy testosterone has a monthly fee. And then the BHRT I haven't brought that into the clinic yet but that'll have a fee, like typically they do it every three to six months, so their fee will be based on like three months and six months.
Speaker 1:So you have a minimum amount of months that if someone, let's say someone wants to do weight loss, they need to at least commit to three to six months.
Speaker 2:I haven't really established that yet, so I'm not sure on that part. Yet I wasn't quite sure how to do that part, so I'm still kind of learning as I go. I don't know what other clinics do, but I am going to a clinic in the beginning of June. She is pretty successful. She's a little ways away from here but she's going to let me come and see how she runs her whole clinic step by step, and I'm hoping that that's going to give me a better understanding of how you know how often or how long you make them come for each one.
Speaker 1:I noticed on your direct primary care membership plan that it starts at 15. So you don't really see children.
Speaker 2:No, I can see children. I, you know I'm a family nurse practitioner but I have never had a lot of practice with children. So I started at 15 because I just didn't feel comfortable seeing kids. I do have the option for like members if they have children that need like a sick visit, you know, stuff like that ear infection I would see them for them, you know, for like a little fee. But I wasn't comfortable with the pediatric aspects because I've really never practiced it. I've mostly practiced geriatric never practiced it.
Speaker 1:I've mostly practiced geriatric. You know older adults. Yes, from your Medicare clinics, yes, I noticed that you don't say anything about people walking in just to sell pay to see you as an option. So you are not doing a hybrid model, is that correct?
Speaker 2:What do you mean?
Speaker 1:like taking insurance, no hybrid models would be like you have people that pay memberships, but then you also have people that can walk in, but they have to pay for that office visit.
Speaker 2:I do offer that. I haven't put it on my website yet. I actually was just making a checklist of all the things I need to update on the website. So, I do offer a non-member fee, which is more than the monthly fees, and then also if they need, like lab work or medications, because I do dispense medications as well. So if they need medications, then they get charged the fee for their medications and for their lab.
Speaker 1:What medications do you have in your office that you would dispense?
Speaker 2:So right now I have some blood pressure medications like lisinopril, amlodipine. I carry some statin medications. I have a bunch of antibiotics on hand Moxicillin, augmentin. I have the erectile dysfunction medications for men, obviously because I do men's health, so I do carry those on hand. Diflucan you know that women ask for and just like some common ones like that, general ones. Now I don't have a huge stock yet because obviously I don't have a ton of patients, but as I'm seeing new patients, I'm adding in meds that they need to help give them a lower cost, since they don't have insurance most of the time.
Speaker 1:My patients arrive on my Z-Packs and my medral dose packs.
Speaker 2:Oh, I have those. Those go like hotcakes.
Speaker 1:Yes, I've had to reorder those a lot. They just work for everything you know.
Speaker 2:They do, they treat everything. Everyone's always like you got any more of those Z-Packs? I need some. I'm like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:So are there other DPC clinics in your neighborhood or in your town where you work? Are patients already familiar with DPC?
Speaker 2:Yes, there are a few locations in the area, so some patients in the area are aware of DPC. It's still a struggle making them understand why they should come and have a membership and have insurance, and so I try to tell them. You know, with DPC they get extra loving care, unlimited visits, urgent visits. They can call me, text me, email me. They have options for dispense medications at dollars and I have cash-prepped labs and cash-priced images. You know, sometimes it's cheaper than using your insurance. Some of them it is a struggle to get them to realize the importance of it, but they are familiar with it. I think in the area there's maybe four or five different locations.
Speaker 1:So what would you feel like sets you apart from all of those other DPC clinics?
Speaker 2:Well, I'm a veteran owned company and so I feel like that gives me, you know, a little leg up and, you know, if there are veterans in the area, a lot of people would like to go to those kind of clinics and I feel like my pricing is pretty competitive and I do give my all and I put my heart into this clinic. So I'm hoping that my personality and my medical skills and the fact that I used to be in the army will put me aside from everybody else.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely, and thank you for your service. Oh, thank you. Did you work in the medical field while you were in the military?
Speaker 2:No, I was actually a diesel mechanic field while you were in the military. No, I was actually a diesel mechanic. Ah, that's unique. Yeah, very far off it's been about 20 years, but I was a diesel mechanic for a few years. I couldn't fix your truck now if you asked me to, but that is what I used to do.
Speaker 1:Sure you can, Jennifer. It's like riding a bike you just look at the car so you could offer DPC services. And if your car breaks down in my parking lot, then I you just look at the car so you could offer DPC services, and if your car breaks down in my parking lot then I'll come look at that too.
Speaker 2:I'll put a little chop shop in the parking lot and we'll put a tent up and we'll make it happen.
Speaker 1:How many female owned car shops do you know?
Speaker 2:None, I don't know any no but some people's doctor will be. How about that? That's right, it's a side business.
Speaker 1:Yes, your side hustle for sure. Well, in the midst of working full time and opening up this business, what does it look like to balance your home life with all that? I know you said you were married. I don't know how many kids you have, but what does it look like? Because you're sitting here talking to me and it's getting late in the. How many kids you have? But what does it look like? Because you're sitting here talking to me and it's getting late in the evening over where you are. So is that a common thing that you have to work a lot?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's pretty common. So I typically I have a husband who's very supportive, so he helps me out. We have three kids, the oldest ones and adults she's 19. But we have an 11 year old and a six year old and they're very active and they do dance and you know we have a lot of things going on. So he's very supportive, he helps, he picks them up and does all the extra things I need as well, on top of working his job and being my finance guy and then so typically I work eight to five at my other job and then I come here for my clinic and I'm here till you know eight, nine o'clock at night, and then Saturday and Sunday I'm here if needed. Sometimes I see patients on the weekends, so it is a circus, but we balance it well together and he really makes it easy for me to have time. He knows this is my dream, so he's really supportive.
Speaker 1:When do you take some time for yourself so that you don't suffer from burnout?
Speaker 2:We actually just did a two week trip to Europe. It was amazing. We went on a cruise and we went to Italy and France and Spain. We definitely make time to go on trips and we plan little weekend getaways and our kids are not ours together, so we get like every other weekend with no kids and so we try to go on date night and you know, if I'm at the office he'll come to the office. The kids come here, they watch TV, they play doctor and so it's a family place. The children may be here if my patients are here, and they may not be, but that's the beauty of having your own business. That's great.
Speaker 1:I love how you said that the kids might be there.
Speaker 1:They might not.
Speaker 1:That just goes to show that you are creating this family environment so that patients just kind of come into your second location as your family unit and they're a secondary family member so they get to meet your kids. They might get to meet your kids, they might get to meet your husband. And I think that goes a long way with trying to build relationships, especially in direct primary care, when you are trying to take care of patients from the perspective of getting that holistic encounter with them and really getting down to the nuts and bolts of what's wrong with them and being able to spend a lot of time with them. So getting down to the nuts and bolts of what's wrong with them and being able to spend a lot of time with them, so for them to get to know you on a personal level and not just a professional level, I think will go a long way and you'll get even more referrals from patients to tell their neighbors and their friends and their family members about you, particularly because they will get to know you on a personal level.
Speaker 2:Yes, it was very important to me Like that's one of my focuses on starting my own place as well is that I'm very family oriented and I am at everything that my kids have, and it doesn't matter that I have to work, it's I make the time to see my kids and for patients to see my why and why I created you First Health and why it's so important to me to have such good relationships with my patients.
Speaker 1:How did you come up with the name? You First Health.
Speaker 2:Back to what I originally said about putting my patients first. When my husband and I were strategizing about what to call the clinic, you know, I told him that I want to make sure my patients are first. They should be important, they're the center of their health. And so we were playing with words and he's like, well, that's what it's called, you first health, putting your health first. So that's just kind of how it went. And then we added the wellness part just so that could include the IV, hydration and stuff like that. So patients knew what you First Health was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a great catchy name and it makes total sense. When you hear it, you First Health. You just automatically know what that means.
Speaker 2:Right, that was what I was hoping for, and it took us a little while to come up with a name and make sure no one else had the name. It was important to me to make it sound like my patients were going to be a priority.
Speaker 1:What do you see as your vision for the future of you? First, health.
Speaker 2:My vision is to be able to hopefully have a full staff and hire on another nurse practitioner. Obviously, this clinic is only 1000 square feet, so, depending on how it goes, I'd like to maybe open another clinic in another area. I do have a really good friend. She's a chiropractor. She lives two hours from here and we have talks about opening a clinic together as well, using you First Health and her chiropractor side. So I hope maybe to have a clinic here and maybe a clinic over at her location and then hire a nurse practitioner to run this one or the other one, maybe have more locations, I'm not sure.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Well, you've got some good goals and they're realistic, and I totally believe that you're going to be able to achieve those.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you.
Speaker 1:You've already got your feet wet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm relatively new. I'm hoping in a year's time it's gonna be, you know, crazy busy and I'm gonna be telling people how I started out with only 20 patients and here I am with like 300.
Speaker 1:Those will be the fun stories, though, that you'll look back and you'll remember how slow it was back then, and then it'll be hustling and bustling just a year from now.
Speaker 2:Honestly, yes, that's what I am looking forward to that to see the potential of the company and see how much I can actually help patients feel better about themselves and their health.
Speaker 1:Is there any advice that you can offer to someone who is not quite there yet? They haven't even started their DPC clinic, but they're thinking about it. Do you have any pearls of wisdom that you could offer? I did this and I wish I had done that, or I did this and this was a great decision. Anything that you could offer someone.
Speaker 2:Well, you're never going to feel ready, even though you're afraid. You just need to jump and make it happen, because you're never going to be financially ready. You're never going to be financially ready. You're never going to have enough time. You're never going to feel like you know enough or have enough information. So if you want to do it, you just need to jump and make it happen, and I have done this business without getting a loan. So I would recommend, so that you don't put yourself in like a ton of debt if you can save money or have money saved, to just try to pay for everything yourself as you're growing and don't over buy or buy all the expensive things or anything like that. Just make smart purchases. You know all the furniture in my office I got on clearance and you know I buy minimal supplies. So just don't go wild and think you're going to have a million patients at once, and just take your time and get good pricing and get good connections. So you know where to start.
Speaker 1:That's excellent advice because we all have a place where we start, where we don't have any money, and you will get to the place and the time in your clinic where you will have enough money to buy the nicer things, the nicer furniture in your waiting room, the nicer exam tables and all the things, the nicer computers. But people should not expect to have that when they first open the clinic. Just get it open and get in the door. Patients are going to come to you. They don't judge you based on what your stuff looks like. They judge you based on your character and your relationship with them. Right, that's correct.
Speaker 2:That's right. They don't come in here and worry. I had patients coming in here and I didn't even have all the paint done and I had boxes in the corner, but they just wanted to be seen. They wanted to get started on their weight loss and I said, hey, I'm just opening up and I'm happy to see you, but you know you're going to see the progress. So I had patients here when it wasn't even done and they didn't even care.
Speaker 1:Yes, and that's true, and that'll be true for everybody. That was true for me too. Patients were coming in and we were still knocking down walls from the other space that we occupied, which was right next door, and you know, we had moved over to another bay and so we had so much construction going on, a lot of banging, a lot of wire cutting, and you know, with that, miter saw whatever it was. I don't know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1:But the really loud machines. You know people were just tolerating it because they were there to hear what I had to say about their health. They didn't care about the environment. Now you want it to be clean. You know you want it to be clean. You know you don't want OSHA knocking on your door and being like this is a cesspool. But, as long as you're clean, then you're doing things appropriate and exactly the way you should.
Speaker 2:That's right. Patients will choose you based on how you treat them and how you perform as a provider.
Speaker 1:Exactly. I think that is a great pearl to end on. This has been a great interview and I do wish you the best. I know that you're in the very beginnings of your clinic, but I love interviewing people in all stages and you're just one of the early ones, but you are going to make it. You're going to do great. Keep doing your thing and maybe we can do a follow up, like a year from now, and you could tell me about all your hundreds of people that you have then.
Speaker 2:Yes, I would definitely love that and I really appreciate being on your podcast and you reaching out to me. I think it was amazing.
Speaker 1:You're welcome. Okay, Jennifer, we'll get back to work and good luck to you.
Speaker 1:Thank you, talk to you later, okay, bye, bye. Thank you so much for joining us today on the DPCNP. We hope you found our conversation insightful and informational. If you enjoyed today's episode, please consider subscribing to our podcast so that you do not miss an update, and don't forget to leave us a review. Your feedback means the world to us and it helps others discover our show. We love hearing from our listeners. Feel free to connect on our social media, share your thoughts, your suggestions and even topic ideas for future episodes. As we wrap up today, we are so grateful that you chose to spend a part of your life with us. Until next time, take care. This is Amanda Price signing off. See you on the next episode, thank you.