My DPC Story

Maryal Concepcion, MD
  • 5.0 (110)
  • 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. 4d ago

    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! Learn more about VIVID VAULT HEALTH SOLUTIONS TODAY! The DPC Directory: If you're a DPC doctor, you’ll find resources to grow your practice! If you serve the DPC world, grab a FREE listing today and get discovered by doctors who need your services. 👉 Visit thedpcdirectory.com and become part of the movement shaping the future of healthcare! Earn money WHILE running your DPC! Join SERMO for FREE today! 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

  2. 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! Learn more about VIVID VAULT HEALTH SOLUTIONS TODAY! The DPC Directory: If you're a DPC doctor, you’ll find resources to grow your practice! If you serve the DPC world, grab a FREE listing today and get discovered by doctors who need your services. 👉 Visit thedpcdirectory.com and become part of the movement shaping the future of healthcare! Earn money WHILE running your DPC! Join SERMO for FREE today! 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
  3. 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

  4. 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! Learn more about VIVID VAULT HEALTH SOLUTIONS TODAY! The DPC Directory: If you're a DPC doctor, you’ll find resources to grow your practice! If you serve the DPC world, grab a FREE listing today and get discovered by doctors who need your services. 👉 Visit thedpcdirectory.com and become part of the movement shaping the future of healthcare! Earn money WHILE running your DPC! Join SERMO for FREE today! 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

  5. May 10

    Suing for Her Freedom: How Dr. Nyasha Spears Won Her Non-Compete Battle and Opened Amity Creek Direct Primary Care in Duluth, Minnesota

    Dr. Maryal Concepcion welcomes Dr. Nyasha Spears, family physician and co-founder of Amity Creek Primary Care in Duluth, Minnesota. After her century-old community clinic was closed by a corporate hospital system with just 36 days notice, Dr. Spears took her former employer to court, won a temporary injunction against her non-compete, and opened the doors to Amity Creek alongside her partner Dr. Kristen Lusian. What You'll Learn How a corporate hospital merger transformed a beloved community clinic and pushed Dr. Spears toward DPCWhy she chose to sue for her freedom rather than accept her non-competeThe strategies she explored to get around her non-compete and why most didn't workHow she partnered with Dr. Kristen Lucian while legally restricted from being an LLC ownerWhy "don't lawyer up" advice didn't apply to her situationHow a judge ruled physician non-competes against the public interestWhat it looks like to serve patients with catastrophic insurance, trauma history, and chronic anxiety in DPCWhy partnership in DPC reduces decision fatigueHow to balance opening a practice with parenting and presenceAbout Dr. Nyasha Spears Dr. Nyasha Spears is a family physician in Duluth, Minnesota. She trained at the Duluth Family Medicine Residency Program and practiced full spectrum family medicine including operative obstetrics in Ashland, Wisconsin before returning to Duluth. She is passionate about community medicine, independent physician practice, and serving patients in the way they truly need. Connect with Dr. Nyasha Spears Visit Amity Creek Direct Primary Care online for more information about her practice in Duluth, Minnesota. Subscribe and Support My DPC Story Leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts to help other physicians find these stories. Join our Patreon for commercial-free episodes and extended conversations. Visit mydpcstory.com for the Start Here page, free resources, and the DPC Toolkit Magazine. Follow @mydpcstory on all platforms. Lean more about Hint Clinical today! Learn more about VIVID VAULT HEALTH SOLUTIONS TODAY! The DPC Directory: If you're a DPC doctor, you’ll find resources to grow your practice! If you serve the DPC world, grab a FREE listing today and get discovered by doctors who need your services. 👉 Visit thedpcdirectory.com and become part of the movement shaping the future of healthcare! Earn money WHILE running your DPC! Join SERMO for FREE today! 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

    55 min

  6. May 3

    The Tools You Use Serve Your Patients: Building a DO-Led DPC with Dr. Courtney Barrett

    Dr. Courtney Barrett, founder of True Insight Direct Care in the Raleigh, North Carolina area, opens our May theme, The Tools You Use, with a conversation that redefines what tools means in a Direct Primary Care practice. As a DO offering osteopathic manipulative treatment alongside full-spectrum primary care, Dr. Barrett shares how OMT functions as both a clinical tool and a front door to membership. We dig into her EHR vetting process, her non-negotiables for tech stack decisions, and why patient experience optimization shaped every choice. Dr. Barrett also shares how her husband Jeff, a former 911 dispatcher, joined the practice full-time and built operational workflows that anticipate needs before they happen. From phlebotomy setup to OMT documentation, prior authorization handling, employer contracting, HSA-funded memberships, health share pairings, and her board work with Hope and Vine supporting young women aging out of foster care, this conversation covers the full spectrum of tools that make a DPC practice work. What You Will Learn How non-member OMT services bring patients in who later become DPC membersHow to talk to patients about DO vs MD, and OMT vs chiropractic careWhy HSA-funded DPC memberships became a major enrollment driverHer tech stack philosophy: cohesive over fragmented, patient experience firstNon-negotiables: charting without juggling windows, automated patient communication, CSV file portabilityWorking directly with employers without middlemenPairing DPC with health shares for catastrophic coverageResources True Insight Direct Care blogmydpcstory.com Learn page: free business plan, BAA, and EHR rubricDr. Feneisha Franklin's episode on acquiring a DPC practiceVote in the Battle of the Support Stack running all month at mydpcstory.com. Lean more about Hint Clinical today! Learn more about VIVID VAULT HEALTH SOLUTIONS TODAY! The DPC Directory: If you're a DPC doctor, you’ll find resources to grow your practice! If you serve the DPC world, grab a FREE listing today and get discovered by doctors who need your services. 👉 Visit thedpcdirectory.com and become part of the movement shaping the future of healthcare! Earn money WHILE running your DPC! Join SERMO for FREE today! 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

    1h 10m

  7. Apr 26

    Going Viral on TikTok by Accident: How Dr. Jihan Ansari Built Harbor Direct Primary Care Through Authentic Marketing

    Dr. Maryal Concepcion welcomes Dr. Jihan Ansari, founder of Harbor Direct Primary Care in South Orange County, California. Dr. Ansari shares the marketing strategies that grew her DPC practice from patient zero to a thriving two-physician clinic she runs with her husband, Dr. Pedram Ansari. From cold-calling former co-resident Dr. Jose Buenostro to learn about DPC, to filming a TikTok before jury duty that unexpectedly went viral, Dr. Ansari's story is a real-world playbook for direct primary care physicians who want to market authentically without expensive ads or pushy sales tactics. What You'll Learn How a single TikTok with the tagline "I'm the doctor who doesn't take insurance" went viralWhy the "I'm the doctor that..." hook captures attention on social mediaHow she built a virtual waitlist of 10 to 11 patients before opening day using Facebook groupsWhy TikTok rewards organic content and how she uses it to educate patients about DPCHow to evaluate and hire a marketing team that genuinely understands DPCWhy she stopped Facebook and Instagram ads and doubled down on Google ads and SEOHow transparent cash pricing on her website attracts patients seeking alternatives to insuranceWhich community marketing efforts didn't pay off and why she walked awayHow a virtual assistant helped scale onboarding without losing the personal touchWorking together as a physician couple in one DPC practiceServing small employer groups in Orange CountyBoundaries, parenting, and sustainability as a DPC physicianAbout Dr. Jihan Ansari Dr. Jihan Ansari is a board-certified family medicine physician and co-founder of Harbor Direct Primary Care in South Orange County, California. She completed her residency at UCSF Fresno alongside Dr. Jose Buenostro. Born in Southern California and educated on the East Coast, she practiced briefly in Canada before returning to launch Harbor DPC with her husband, Dr. Pedram Ansari. She is passionate about lifestyle medicine, root-cause care, and accessible primary care. Connect with Dr. Jihan Ansari Visit Harbor Direct Primary Care online and follow Harbor DPC on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. Lean more about Hint Clinical today! Learn more about VIVID VAULT HEALTH SOLUTIONS TODAY! The DPC Directory: If you're a DPC doctor, you’ll find resources to grow your practice! If you serve the DPC world, grab a FREE listing today and get discovered by doctors who need your services. 👉 Visit thedpcdirectory.com and become part of the movement shaping the future of healthcare! Earn money WHILE running your DPC! Join SERMO for FREE today! 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

    1h 10m

  8. Apr 19

    From Hospitalist Burnout to Driver's Seat: How Dr. Nadia Sirdar Built a Bethesda DPC Practice Rooted in Aging in Place, Women's Midlife Health, and Real Relationships

    After nearly a decade as a hospitalist in the Washington, DC area, Dr. Nadia Sirdar realized she had stopped feeling. End-of-life conversations had become a script. Length-of-stay metrics were drowning out the humans in front of her. She wasn't burned out on medicine. She was burned out on the system. In this episode of My DPC Story, Dr. Maryal Concepcion sits down with Dr. Sirdar, internal medicine physician, public health expert, and founder of Find Bethesda Doctor, to talk about the leap from hospital medicine to Direct Primary Care, opting out of Medicare to care for elderly patients aging in place, building a practice for women in midlife (and the surprise wave of husbands who joined too), and what it actually takes to thrive as a physician and as a patient over a lifetime. This conversation is for any physician who has scrolled federal job boards at midnight wondering "is this it?", and for anyone who needs to hear that saying your dream out loud is the first move toward making it real. What You'll Learn Why hospitalist autopilot can mimic a stable career while quietly costing you everythingHow opting out of Medicare unlocked Dr. Sirdar's ability to care for elderly patients aging in placeWhy multilingual care (English, Spanish, Hindi, Urdu) and cultural fluency change patient outcomesHow to build a DPC practice for women in midlife, perimenopause, and menopause, and why men keep asking to joinThe financial planning realities of leaving fee-for-service: self-funding, opt-out timelines, and why a smaller piggy bank forces smarter decisionsHow to set boundaries with patients without losing the relationshipWhy "if you've seen one DPC, you've seen one DPC" is the most freeing sentence in medicineThe vendor traps new DPC physicians fall into and how to avoid themHow functional strength, real food, and aging in place are the three pillars of thriving Dr. Sirdar teaches her patientsLean more about Hint Clinical today! Learn more about VIVID VAULT HEALTH SOLUTIONS TODAY! The DPC Directory: If you're a DPC doctor, you’ll find resources to grow your practice! If you serve the DPC world, grab a FREE listing today and get discovered by doctors who need your services. 👉 Visit thedpcdirectory.com and become part of the movement shaping the future of healthcare! Earn money WHILE running your DPC! Join SERMO for FREE today! 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

    1h 21m
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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
    323
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 My DPC Story
  • Show Website
    My DPC Story

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