My DPC Story

Maryal Concepcion, MD
  • 5.0 (111)
  • Medicine
  • Updated Weekly

As the Direct Primary Care and Direct Care models grow, many physicians are providing care to patients in different ways. This podcast is to introduce you to some of those folks and to hear their stories. Go ahead, get a little inspired. Heck, jump in and join the movement! Visit us online at mydpcstory.com and JOIN our PATREON where you can find our EXCLUSIVE PODCAST FEED of extended interview content including updates on former guests!

  1. Virtual Assistants for Physicians: Cut Admin Time and Grow Your DPC with Justin Lam

    15h ago

    Virtual Assistants for Physicians: Cut Admin Time and Grow Your DPC with Justin Lam

    What if you could get back fifteen hours of your work week without seeing a single extra patient? In this special episode, recorded live in a breakout room workshop following the California DPC Summit, Justin Lam, CEO of Cool Blue VA, sits down with a room full of physicians to talk about getting real help in your practice and in your life. Dr. Maryal Concepcion opens by sharing her own experience working with a virtual assistant she found through Cool Blue VA, then hands the room over to Justin. Justin walks through the questions so many physicians sit with when building a Direct Primary Care practice. Research shows only twenty-seven percent of a physician's time goes to direct patient care, while nearly half disappears into desk work and admin. Justin breaks down how to change that. You will hear: The "only you" test for deciding what to delegate and what to keep. If someone else can do it, it probably should not be on your plate. Why fifty percent is the right time to hire, not one hundred percent, and how waiting too long leads to rushed decisions and the wrong hire. How to design your ideal role before you ever start looking, including the top tasks to hand off, the tools your assistant will use, and how to measure success. The real difference between a local medical assistant and a virtual assistant, and what each one is best suited for. Local staff handle high-touch, in-person, revenue-generating work. Virtual assistants cover the inbox, scheduling, prior authorizations, records, specialist coordination, billing, and more. Practical hiring tools you can use today, from spelling and math checks to typing tests and strength assessments. The honest back and forth with physicians in the room, who ask about charting support, inventory, time zones, vacation coverage, billing by the minute, and even using a virtual assistant as an executive assistant for your home life. Whether you have a full panel or you are still mapping out your first month open, there is something here worth holding onto. Ready to grow your practice with the right support? Start here: coolblueva.com/dpcgrow A quick note on the audio. Because this was captured in a smaller breakout space, the sound gets tricky in spots. Thank you in advance for your patience with it. Connect with My DPC Story:  Listen, subscribe, and explore more at the My DPC Story podcast and media platform. Support the show GET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOAD Become A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE POD My DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG! FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

    45 min

  2. 4d ago

    Sustainable Physician, Sustainable Person: Leaving Corporate Medicine for DPC with Dr. Jeremiah Fillo

    What happens to a family physician when the system that trained him decides he no longer has value? In this deeply personal episode, Dr. Maryal Concepcion hands the introduction to a special guest, then sits down with her husband, Dr. Jeremiah Fillo of Big Trees MD, for an honest conversation about sustainability, not just as a doctor, but as a whole person. Dr. Fillo shares the path from rural Nebraska training under Dr. Tim Blecha (Blay-kee), through residency in Modesto, into a corporate regional medical center that slowly turned the heat up the way you would on a frog in a pot. He talks candidly about the evergreen contract, the exclusivity clause, and the moment he was told to sign or be terminated while his wife was pregnant. He describes being let go and replaced by a non-physician model, the AB 890 reality in California, and the months of uncertainty that followed. This is also a conversation about what comes after the devaluation. Dr. Fillo opens up about how he held onto his sense of self when the system told him he had none, why splitting and stacking firewood mattered as much as any clinical workflow, and how he learned to quiet his "referralologist" training once he joined a Direct Primary Care practice with real time and autonomy. Listeners will hear how DPC reshaped his parenting, his task switching between in-office visits and asynchronous telemedicine, and his perspective on joining an established practice he did not build from scratch. For any physician who has felt like a charge sheet instead of a clinician, this episode is a reminder: the system does not get to decide your worth, and there is real life after fee-for-service. In this episode: How job share became the foundation of a sustainable two-physician family. Why residency training around fee-for-service leaves new physicians blindsided to independent options. What being replaced by a non-physician model does to a person, and how to rebuild. Why rural communities cannot sustain healthcare on a three-day-a-week, hard-to-access model. How Direct Primary Care creates room to practice full scope again and still be present for your kids. About the guest: Dr. Jeremiah Fillo is a family physician at Big Trees MD in Arnold, California, where he practices Direct Primary Care alongside Dr. Maryal Concepcion. He trained at Creighton University School of Medicine and completed residency in Modesto, with additional procedural training at Brodstone Memorial in rural Nebraska. Connect with My DPC Story: Subscribe wherever you listen, leave a review, and share this episode with a physician who needs to hear that there is a sustainable path forward. Have a question or a story of your own? Call the My DPC Story voicemail and you may hear your answer on a future episode. Lean more about Hint Clinical today! Check out CoolBlue VA today at coolblueva.com/dpcgrow VOTE in the 2026 Battle of the Support Stack HERE! Support access to women's healthcare and join us for Fireside Chats for Women's Health in New Orleans! July 17th 7-9 pm. BUY tickets at mydpcstory.com/upcoming-events. If you're interested in donating or sponsoring, email hello@mydpcstory.com Get your copy of the Physician Owner's Planner today at mydpcstory.com/library Support the show GET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOAD Become A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE POD My DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG! FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

    59 min

  3. Jun 14

    You Don't Have to Build It Alone: Dr. Esther Khatibi on My DOC, Maternal Equity, and Sustainable Obstetric Care in Direct Primary Care

    What does it take to make women's healthcare access sustainable, not just for patients, but for the physician carrying the mission? In this episode of the My DPC Story podcast, Dr. Maryal Concepcion welcomes back Dr. Esther Khatibi, family physician who does surgical obstetrics, and founder of My DOC, a nonprofit delivering high-quality, evidence-based obstetric care to women regardless of their social, economic, religious, or ethnic background. Dr. Khatibi shares how she nearly tanked her own practice caring for pregnant patients who could not afford care anywhere else, and why the answer was not working harder. It was building a coalition: volunteer physicians, a board that believed in her before she had proof, sonographers, grant writers, and donors who each carried part of the load. This is a conversation about the maternal health gap, why early, individualized prenatal care matters most for the most vulnerable moms, including the higher risk faced by African American women, and why Direct Primary Care doctors are positioned to bring obstetric care back as the share of family physicians doing OB falls from 25 percent to just 7 percent. What you'll learn: How Dr. Khatibi went from nearly tanking her DPC to founding the My DOC nonprofitThe My DOC model: enrollment for uninsured, underinsured, or high-risk women on the DPC modelWhy early prenatal care reduces maternal morbidity and mortality, especially for African American momsHow volunteer physicians protect continuity from first visit through delivery and postpartumHow a 501(c)(3) sends most funds straight to patient services, labs, and ultrasoundsWhy the ER is the wrong place for a pregnant patient, and how a direct line to your doctor helpsDr. Concepcion and Dr. Khatibi also preview the My DPC Story fireside chats in New Orleans during the DPC Summit, where My DOC and Dr. Emily Holt's Poppy Direct Care come together for women's health access. Only 60 seats. Links: Support My DOC: mydoc.orgNew Orleans Women's Health Fundraiser: mydpcstory.com/upcoming-eventsSupport Poppy Direct Care's autoclave fund: https://bit.ly/4oqTS3DNew to DPC? Start here: mydpcstory.comSubscribe to My DPC Story on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and leave a five-star review so more physicians can find these stories. Lean more about Hint Clinical today! Check out CoolBlue VA today at coolblueva.com/dpcgrow Get your copy of the Physician Owner's Planner today at mydpcstory.com/library Support the show GET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOAD Become A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE POD My DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG! FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

    38 min

  4. Jun 7

    Designing a Sustainable Psychiatry Practice Around What Interests You: Dr. Daniel Hochman on DPC, Addiction Medicine, and Building Self Recovery

    In this June sustainability episode, Maryal sits down with Dr. Daniel Hochman, a psychiatrist in private practice in Texas and the founder of Self Recovery, an online addiction curriculum built from thousands of hours of one-to-one clinical work. Dr. Hochman left the insurance model early, around 2014, because the deep, philosophical therapy he wanted to practice could never be reimbursed in a fee-for-service system. His definition of sustainability is simple and worth sitting with: work that is aligned with your interests is sustainable, and the drag of burnout shows up when there is interference and conflict instead of alignment. What you will hear in this episode: Why sustainability is about alignment with your interests, not just doing less, and how "slow down" can mean five different thingsHis trial-and-error method for building a personal repertoire of recovery tools, using something as ordinary as what you choose to watch at nightHow he protects a sacred solo lunch, eats at his desk, and works calisthenics and movement into the day instead of a separate gym routineThe honest distinction between what drains him: a suicidal patient that morning did not deplete him, but a misaligned patient asking for a quick fix didHow he screens for fit by taking every call himself and asking one question: "Are you curious?"How to neutrally end or decline a relationship that is not a fit, and why modeling that can itself be therapeuticThe story behind Self Recovery: why he spent years writing a true addiction curriculum rather than referring patients to subpar optionsHis addiction model that became the course structure: emotional pain leads to craving, craving to following through, following through to false pleasure, with a capstone on how to actually liveWhy an educational designer helped him break heavy material into digestible, story-driven modules that keep people asking "what's next"Why online, private, self-paced work helps people face their hardest material when they are ready, on their own timeA one-minute motivational interviewing technique any physician can memorize: "On a scale of zero to 10, how ready are you to change?" then "Why not higher, and why not lower?"The tool most physicians leave on the table in addiction care, and how to pitch it as helping a patient be accountable to their own better halfHis incremental, no-big-scary-beast advice for physicians who feel stuck but are not yet a 10 out of 10 ready to make the leapConnect with Dr. Hochman: Self Recovery (online addiction curriculum, direct to consumer)The Zanko Method, a curriculum for professionals living with addiction.One-day Intensives at his practice: hochmanhealth.com (see the Intensives tab)New to DPC? Head to the Start Here page at mydpcstory.com for a practical startup guide and the essential beginner episodes. Got a question for the show? Leave a voice message on the contact page at mydpcstory.com. Want commercial-free and extended episodes? Join the My DPC Story Patreon. Follow along @mydpcstory and find everything at mydpcstory.com. If this episode inspired you, please leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. It helps more physicians find these stories when they need them the most. Lean more about Hint Clinical today! Check out CoolBlue VA today at coolblueva.com/dpcgrow VOTE in the 2026 Battle of the Support Stack HERE! Get your copy of the Physician Owner's Planner today at mydpcstory.com/library Support the show GET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOAD Become A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE POD My DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG! FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

    53 min

  5. May 31

    Two Doctors, Two DPC Clinics, and a Renovation Funded by Historic Tax Credits | Dr. Manuel Vogt, Texas DPC

    Can Direct Primary Care really pay off for a physician family carrying student loan debt and no employer match? In this episode of the My DPC Story podcast, host Dr. Maryal Concepcion talks with Dr. Manuel Vogt of Texas DPC about the real financial tools behind building a thriving practice. From a billboard at a railroad crossing to a 220-patient pre-enrollment list on opening day, Dr. Vogt shares how he and his wife built two separate Direct Primary Care clinics in San Antonio while protecting each other's autonomy. The standout story: how they used federal and state historic preservation tax credits, ADA credits, and a solar carport credit to fund a clinic renovation, then sold the state credits for 93 cents on the dollar. In this episode you'll learn: How a physician couple runs two independent DPC practices as a familyUsing historic tax credits to fund a clinic renovationSubleasing clinic space to cover your entire overheadMarketing to employers through a multi-clinic DPC umbrellaA workaround for Texas dispensing laws and discounted wholesale labsBetter diabetes care with CGMs and same-day textingFinding the panel size (around 500) that supports a daily 5K and school pickupsA pricing strategy that raises rates without losing patientsAdvocacy priorities: in-office dispensing and FSA eligibilityWhether you are a resident exploring Direct Primary Care or an established DPC owner planning expansion, this conversation is full of practical, money-saving ideas. 🔗 Vote in the Battle of the Support Stack and explore more at mydpcstory.com 🤝 Advocate with the Direct Primary Care Coalition at dpcare.org 💛 Join the My DPC Story Patreon for exclusive content Subscribe and follow My DPC Story for new episodes every week. If this helped, please leave a review to help others find the show. #DirectPrimaryCare #DPC #TexasDPC #MyDPCStory #PhysicianEntrepreneur #FamilyMedicine #HealthcareRenovation Lean more about Hint Clinical today! Check out CoolBlue VA today at coolblueva.com/dpcgrow VOTE in the 2026 Battle of the Support Stack HERE! Get your copy of the Physician Owner's Planner today at mydpcstory.com/library Support the show GET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOAD Become A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE POD My DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG! FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

    48 min

  6. May 24

    The DPC Doctor Fighting Louisiana's Reproductive Care Crisis: Dr. Emily Holt of Poppy Direct Care

    Dr. Emily Holt returns to the podcast one year after opening Poppy Direct Care in New Orleans, and the landscape around her has changed dramatically. When Maryal last spoke with Dr. Holt, Poppy was just months old and DPC Summit attendees were touring her 100-year-old clinic house. A year later, her panel has more than doubled, she's about to opt out of Medicare, and she's a named plaintiff in a lawsuit against Louisiana's Attorney General over the state's classification of mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled substances. This conversation goes deep on what it actually looks like to build a mission-driven DPC in a state that keeps making reproductive healthcare harder to deliver. In this episode, Dr. Holt shares: How word of mouth (plus authentic Instagram and TikTok) became her entire growth engineWhy her practice is intentionally slow-rolling, and how she and her husband decided what "enough" looks likeThe patient shift happening as 2026 insurance premiums skyrocket and Medicaid eligibility stays restrictiveWhat it means that every Planned Parenthood in Louisiana has closed, and how Poppy is trying to fill the gapHer free Tuesday night clinic for birth control and rapid STI testing, and the new Louisiana Health Department rules designed to shut clinics like hers outWhy being a Baija Charitable Alliance affiliate mattered for 340B pricing, and what the new program changes mean for small DPCs serving uninsured patientsThe reality of trying to provide IUDs for emergency contraception when no nearby pharmacy stocks themHow being her own boss let her join a lawsuit that employed physicians told her they couldn't touchWhat Reproductive Health Access Project (RHAP) offers cliniciansHer vision for turning Poppy into a training ground for med students and residents shut out of reproductive health experience in-stateMemorable moments: "If you can't stand for something, you will fall for anything."The state offering one dollar per patient to reimburse rapid STI testing supplies that cost forty-five dollarsThree generations of plumbers getting Poppy ready for Monday patientsWhy patients tell her, unprompted, that they trust her to trust themResources mentioned: Dr. Emily Holt's GoFundMe for an autoclave at Poppy Direct CareTake Me Home Program — free at-home HIV, hepatitis C, and syphilis testing mailed nationwideReproductive Health Access Project (RHAP)Dr. Byron Jasper and Byja Charitable AllianceAAFP DPC Member Interest GroupThe July My DPC Story live event in New Orleans, pairing Dr. Esther Katibi's nonprofit with Dr. Holt's work at PoppyDr. Holt's advice for DPC physicians thinking about reproductive health access in their own communities: find the helpers, get connected to local groups already doing the work, and don't wait until you have everything figured out to start. Lean more about Hint Clinical today! Check out CoolBlue VA today at coolblueva.com/dpcgrow VOTE in the 2026 Battle of the Support Stack HERE! Support access to women's healthcare and join us for Fireside Chats for Women's Health in New Orleans! July 17th 7-9 pm. BUY tickets at mydpcstory.com/upcoming-events. If you're interested in donating or sponsoring, email hello@mydpcstory.com Get your copy of the Physician Owner's Planner today at mydpcstory.com/library Support the show GET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOAD Become A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE POD My DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG! FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

    1 hr
  7. Own Your Records, Own Your Story: How Vivid Vault Is Helping DPC Patients Carry Their Health History Between Generations | Anna Smith, RN, MPH, CEO of Vivid Vault Health Solutions

    May 20

    Own Your Records, Own Your Story: How Vivid Vault Is Helping DPC Patients Carry Their Health History Between Generations | Anna Smith, RN, MPH, CEO of Vivid Vault Health Solutions

    What if your new patient visit didn't start with a 200-page ER record dump, scattered portal logins, and a patient saying "I think mom had some kind of cancer"? In this episode of My DPC Story, Dr. Maryal Concepcion sits down with Anna Smith, RN, MPH, CEO of Vivid Vault Health Solutions, to talk about a patient-owned, multi-generational health navigation platform built to strengthen the physician-patient relationship, not replace it. Anna shares her realization that healthcare collects massive amounts of data but rarely puts it in patients' hands in a way they can actually use. That moment became Vivid Vault, a bootstrapped, non-VC, non-PE-funded platform designed to help families consolidate records across generations so DPC physicians can finally practice with the comprehensive, portable patient story we've always needed. Big Trees MD is an early adopter, and Dr. Concepcion walks through exactly why. If you want to give your patients a comprehensive, portable, patient-owned record system without adding another six-figure EMR to your stack, book a leadership call at vividvaulthealth.org or email together@vividvaulthealth.org. Download the Vivid Vault app in the Apple Store starting April 22. If this episode moved you, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. What You'll Learn Why fragmented records cost DPC physicians time, accuracy, and patient retention. How Vivid Vault works as a health navigator, not a new EMR or added workflow. Why multi-generational, family-linked records matter, and how permissions, proxies, and minors are handled. How PROMIS assessments give physicians insight between visits. How wearable data (Apple Health, Oura, WHOOP, Garmin, Dexcom soon) is timestamped and clinically usable. Why patient-owned data is non-negotiable and what happens if a patient leaves your practice or the platform. How LLM-assisted review surfaces what matters in a 200-page ER packet without replacing clinical judgment. Why B2C with a DPC practice discount keeps the financial burden off clinics. About Our Guest Anna Smith, RN, MPH, is the CEO and founder of Vivid Vault Health Solutions, a Colorado-based, bootstrapped health navigation platform. Her background spans bedside nursing, public health, medical records administration in cardiology, and patient advocacy. She is a mother of three and builds alongside a leadership team whose lived experience, including parenting a heart transplant recipient, shapes every design decision. Resources Find the Vivid Vault app in the Apple App store today! Website: vividvaulthealth.org (scroll to bottom right and click "Schedule with Leadership")  Email: together@vividvaulthealth.org  Connect with My DPC Story Start Here page for every stage of your DPC journey: mydpcstory.com Support the show GET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOAD Become A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE POD My DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG! FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

    38 min

  8. May 17

    Tools That Serve You: AI, Tech, and Autonomy in Pediatric DPC with Dr. Michael Hobbs

    This month on the My DPC Story podcast we are talking about the tools that serve us, and Dr. Michael Hobbs is a voice you do not want to miss. Dr. Hobbs is a pediatrician and founder of Lakes Pediatrics, the first pediatric Direct Primary Care practice in the Minneapolis area, serving families across Edina, Wayzata, and the western suburbs. He brings over twenty years in Twin Cities pediatrics, more than a decade as an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School, Top Doctor recognition from Mpls.St.Paul Magazine and Minnesota Monthly, subspecialty training in infectious diseases and Group A Strep, and a Reach Institute mini-fellowship in pediatric mental health care. What makes this episode essential listening is Dr. Hobbs himself. A self-described knowledgeable hacker who grew up alongside the technology, from a Commodore 64 to writing early web pages, he has watched the entire arc of medical documentation: index cards, paper charts, dictation, the EHR, templates, and now AI scribes. He knows what gets better and what gets worse when tech enters the exam room. In this conversation, Dr. Hobbs covers: The one question to ask before adopting any tool, EHR, phone system, or AIWhy building your own tools is more doable than you thinkWhy now is not the time to lock into a long term software contractThe difference between AI that serves you and AI that turns you into a liability machinePatient transparency, shadow AI, BAAs, and using tools safelyWhy LLMs are terrible at math, learned the hard wayThe best first AI investment for a new DPC doctor on a small budgetAI as a clinical decision support thought partner, not a guideline machineAnd because both Dr. Concepcion and Dr. Hobbs are recovering anthropology buffs, they keep returning to the truth underneath the technology: people like people. The tools only matter if they give us more room to be human with the families we serve. Whether you are deep into building AI workflows or you hear the word AI and want to run, this episode meets you where you are. New to DPC or ready to go deeper? Visit the Start Here page at mydpcstory.com. Have a question for the show? Leave a voice message on the Contact page. Loved this episode? Leave a five star review on Apple Podcasts and follow @mydpcstory on socials. Connect with Dr. Hobbs at lakespediatrics.com. Lean more about Hint Clinical today! Check out CoolBlue VA today at coolblueva.com/dpcgrow VOTE in the 2026 Battle of the Support Stack HERE! Get your copy of the Physician Owner's Planner today at mydpcstory.com/library Support the show GET your FREE MONTHLY BUSINESS TOOL DOWNLOAD Become A My DPC Story PATREON MEMBER! SPONSOR THE POD My DPC Story VOICEMAIL! DPC SWAG! FACEBOOK * INSTAGRAM * LinkedIn * TWITTER * TIKTOK * YouTube

    54 min
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5
out of 5
111 Ratings

About

As the Direct Primary Care and Direct Care models grow, many physicians are providing care to patients in different ways. This podcast is to introduce you to some of those folks and to hear their stories. Go ahead, get a little inspired. Heck, jump in and join the movement! Visit us online at mydpcstory.com and JOIN our PATREON where you can find our EXCLUSIVE PODCAST FEED of extended interview content including updates on former guests!

Information

  • Creator
    Maryal Concepcion, MD
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    327
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 My DPC Story
  • Show Website
    My DPC Story

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