Debunking DPC Myths and Fostering Community in Independent Practice with Dr. Teresa Lovins

Today host Dr. Maryal Concepcion, MD FAAFP interviews Dr. Teresa Lovins, MD FAAFP and a nationally recognized family physician and owner of Lovin My Health Direct Primary Care (DPC) in Columbus, Indiana. Dr. Lovins shares her journey from traditional fee-for-service medicine to the DPC model, highlighting how DPC restores physician joy, prevents burnout, and strengthens doctor-patient relationships. She dispels common DPC myths, discusses the model’s affordability and accessibility, and explains how DPC empowers doctors to provide comprehensive, personalized care—including to patients without insurance. Dr. Lovins also offers insights on running a micro DPC practice, fostering community among independent physicians, and recent legislative wins that allow HSA funds for DPC memberships. With her candid perspective, Dr. Lovins demonstrates why DPC is a viable, rewarding option for family medicine physicians and patients alike. Tune in for first-hand advice, community-building tips, and a hopeful outlook on the future of primary care. THE ONLY AAFP PRESIDENT-ELECT CANDIDATE THIS YEAR who actively sees patients and has seen both insurance and non-insurance driven models IS DR. TERESA LOVINS. CONTACT YOUR AAFP DELEGATE, TELL THEM WHY YOU NEED THEM TO VOTE FOR DR. LOVINS AND HELP ENSURE THE FUTURE OF FAMILY MEDICINE HAS DR. LOVINS AT THE HELM ADVOCATING FOR THE FUTURE OF FAMILY MEDICINE WHERE ALL MODELS OF FAMILY MEDICINE ARE CELEBRATED.

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Transcript

Dr. Maryal Concepcion: 0:55

Direct Primary care is an innovative alternative path to insurance-driven healthcare. Typically, a patient pays their doctor a low monthly membership and in return builds a lasting relationship with their doctor and has their doctor available at their fingertips. Welcome to the my DPC story podcast, where each week. You will hear the ever so relatable stories shared by physicians who have chosen to practice medicine in their individual communities through the direct primary care model. I'm your host, Marielle conception family physician, DPC, owner, and former fee for Service. Doctor, I hope you enjoy today's episode and come away feeling inspired about the future of patient care direct Primary care.

Dr. Teresa Lovins: 1:43

I want you to know that direct primary care is the best way for a family physician to create a relationship. It is the relationships that we have with our patients that gives us joy. That joy in medicine is very important. It keeps us from burnout. It keeps us happy, it keeps us practicing longer. So DPC is the way to do that. To have that relationship to create that that power to the two of you together. I am Dr. Theresa Levins of love in my health, DPC, and this is my DPC story

Dr. Maryal Concepcion: 2:25

Dr. Theresa Lovins, MD, FAAFP is a nationally recognized family physician and current member of the American Academy of Family Physicians Board of Directors, and today is a physician owner of Lovin My Health Direct Primary Care in her hometown of Columbus, Indiana, Dr. Lovins has been a lifelong advocate for patients and family physicians serving as past president of the Indiana Academy of Family Physicians. Trustee for the Indiana State Medical Association and delegate to the AAFP Congress of Delegates for the past eight years. She has dedicated her career to advancing family medicine and improving healthcare access. And now she's running for AAFP President-elect, bringing her passion for innovation, leadership, and advocacy to the national stage. We are almost two October people, and October is the big month where the Congress of Delegates is going to be congregating doing their thing and voting the next American Academy of Family Practice President and I have. The fantastic Dr. Theresa Levins. I even like, even in preparation for this interview, I was like, she already has her entire campaign written out for her with a jingle and everything. And I kept on singing to my kids like, da da da, I'm loving it. And so, I am so excited to have you on the podcast running for the American Academy of Family Practice. Presidential slot to elevate what you are doing as a physician to elevate what we are all doing as DPC physicians and what we are doing as family medicine physicians. So welcome, welcome, welcome to the podcast, Dr. Levins.

Dr. Teresa Lovins: 3:54

Thank you. I appreciate it very much. So,

Dr. Maryal Concepcion: 3:56

when we think about. You being in the place that you are at the spot of running for the National Organization of Family Practice Physicians that most of us know about, most of us. How have, at some point in our career, been a part of, if not, we're still a part of since medical school? I'm wondering if you can just bring us back to the start of your family medicine journey.

Dr. Teresa Lovins: 4:18

I, only ever knew a family doctor growing up. Ironically this space that I'm in for my DPC practice was his first space in town, so I'm back in my hometown. Wow. And so I really got to know what family medicine was all about. And when I went off to college, I really thought I wanted to be a high school science teacher and some interesting person in the class sitting next to me said, Hey, you know all the classes you're taking for that you could get into medical school. And I went. Hadn't thought about it. But then I actually started looking into it a little bit more. Got involved with the medical, actually was an interest group of college students looking at medi medicine and started doing some research in the medical school lab and then decided to go to medical school. It was really interesting in medical school. Every single rotation that I went through, it was like, I wanna do this, I wanna do this, I wanna do this. And I finally realized, duh, that's family medicine. And so, from that standpoint, I got involved with the family medicine interest group here in Indiana. Got very active in the Indiana Academy as a student, and then again as a resident, and have been active since that time. In, in. Organized medicine

Dr. Maryal Concepcion: 5:37

That's great. And I'm, I'm wondering. Fast forwarding a little bit because you are running for the president of the A A FP, what do you see right now when it comes to people who were, who are in the shoes that you were once in as a student, as a medical student resident attending who are actively making waves in the issues with accessibility that we have in primary care.

Dr. Teresa Lovins: 6:03

I, I think that a lot of the interest in students and residents is trying to figure out where they're gonna fit into being a part of the family medicine movement. And so it's very important that we make sure that they're aware of how variety the career options are in family medicine from anything to everything. When I. Initially started my practice. I worked with a great big group. There were 10 of us in the group and we did full spectrum family medicine with ob and I really had never thought about anything else than that. And so, making sure that those students and residents know that they have. The ability to do what they wanna do when they leave residency is very important to me. And I think if we can keep them interested in family medicine, then we're gonna keep them as physicians and we're gonna keep them being able to see patients in the communities where they're, where they're serving.

Dr. Maryal Concepcion: 7:02

I will say keeping people interested is, is like the understatement of the the need thing that we need right now at this time in this country's healthcare journey because we know that the baby boomers are needing primary care. We know that. People who are young and are going to be losing access to Medi-Cal Medicaid benefits or going to be needing to prove that they're working to access certain benefits. Primary care where we deal with 80 to 90% of everyday issues for everyday Americans is so needed and it is so rewarding of a career. I, before we started recording, I mentioned that this has been the most DPC days of DPC days for me. And, I, I will. Say that in another in another recording. Deep dive into my, not even 4:00 PM Pacific time right now, but for you, I'd love if you can tell us about your practice because I do think that there's going to be people listening who are sort of aware of what DPC is, but they're also people who are saying, but I thought it's concierge medicine. But I thought it's for rich people, but I thought that people who have Medi-Cal or Medicaid can't access it. So tell us a day in the life of Dr. Theresa Levins at Love in my Health. DPC.

Dr. Teresa Lovins: 8:18

So I come into the office significantly before my first patient is scheduled just to make sure everything is ready because I am a micropractice. I don't even have any staff here, and so I try to make sure everything is ready to go when I get here. Today I've done a well child visit with vaccinations. I did a physical on a patient who hadn't had one since her child who's 12 years old, had her last. Physical done. I have taken care of warts today. I've taken care of some skin cancers. I think let's see, what else have I done? I mean, it's just been a very day. I mean, just anything that walks through the door is just something different. This particular practice of mine is now five years. I made the lucky honor of having decided to do this during COVID and got it started and it's grown just like I've wanted it to, which is kind of slow, which is okay for me. That has allowed me to be active in the A A FP and do the advocacy that the they needed, as well as what they needed at the. State level. I have a colleague who's here in town you, you've interviewed her Dr. Dorn Feld. And she assured me that anything that I needed, we could share. And so we do we share vaccines, we share equipment, we share supplies. So it makes it very convenient to have somebody kind of right here in town who can be here for me and then. Just moving through the practice. I, it's not concierge. I, yes, I have patients who have quite a bit of money, who have good insurance, but they've chosen to come see me because they like the access, they like the ability to just talk to me and to. Spend a little bit longer time with me. Or when they bring in their child with a rash, they wanna talk to me about their menopausal symptoms. It just makes it easier. I also have patients in my practice who don't have insurance who either have a Medi-Share kind of coverage or actually don't have any coverage at all. And so I work with them to try and help them find medicines and just. Any way that I can to help them save money. And then there's that whole group of patients that have those high deductible plans. Seems like there's a lot of those in Indiana. There's a lot of employer sponsored insurance that's all self-funded. And so that's how they come up with their pricing. And so the ability to try and help navigate the healthcare system, keep them in my office as long as I can before they have to go. See the specialist or get the diagnostic tests done it all gets done and it all gets done by me and I love it. It's a part of I think just being involved in that part of medicine that when I was doing corporate medicine, it wasn't. It wasn't things that I was asked to do, but things that I was interested in. And I think there was a time when I had an office manager who was a little scared because it seemed like I was asking the wrong questions to her. And and it became a little animosity to it. But I love what I'm doing now. This. Was probably the best thing for me. Been married for over 35 years and my husband said I'm a much happier person now, he's not in medicine. He, he laughed. He told me he's an accountant and accountants by nature are risk adverse, and he said, you gotta do this because this is just what I had when I grew up here in town with my family doc. And you've gotta do that if that's what you wanna do. Part of my campaign, my campaign for the A A FP is looking at joy in medicine. And I think I just got so burned out with corporate medicine and being employed that I was looking for something and I had heard about the DPC movement before. But it really was just more of a off. Hand comment out there. And when I started looking at it more, it became so much more intriguing to me and it just, it came at the right time for me. And I am so ecstatic that I've done it. When patients ask me, well, why isn't this concierge medicine? And I'm like, well, I don't. I, I deal with insurance to help patients get their prior approvals to get their X-rays, but I don't bill insurance. And so, that is the big deal for me about the difference between DPC and concierge care. One of the first concierge cares or at least they call themselves concierge. I was here in Indiana. It was a big one in, in Indianapolis, and that's what was known through the area. So introducing DPC. I actually was the first physician, DPC practice in southern Indiana, which is a, a decent size area. There's an interstate that goes across the middle, which is U which is Interstate 70, and. Basically anything south of 70 down to the state border is considered southern Indiana. I'm actually at the very center of that southern part of Indiana, and there was no DPC practices. There's many more of us now, and I, I, I'm glad to be a part of it, we have our own DPC Facebook for Indiana. And so it's fun to be able to share things and to talk to people who are setting up and, and knowing the laws and knowing how to do things in Indiana has been helpful. So that made it easier and I, I love being able to share that knowledge with them.

Dr. Maryal Concepcion: 13:34

That's fantastic. And I, I think so many things when you're sharing about your clinic, when you're sharing about your journey transitioning. State of joy that you have now compared to what, you described as burnout prior. And one of the things I think about when people do hear about DPC a, a very common thing I hear from people who are learning about the movement is, but Dr. Lovens, aren't you always on call then? Like, don't you, do you ever get to sleep? So what would you say to those people who are, concerned about burnout because DPC is another. Is another way to be a, a family doctor in this, this time in our country's history that is moldable, but that doesn't demand that it's going to come with burnout if you choose to not have it come with burnout.

Dr. Teresa Lovins: 14:19

Well, I think very much so. Setting boundaries with the patients is helpful, but honestly, because it's a relationship between me and the patient, they get to know me too. And so they're not calling me on the weekend. They're not calling me in the middle of the night. I had a patient who texted me at at 5 0 5 and she realized it was 5 0 5 and she said, I don't expect you to answer me till tomorrow. I'm like, it's 5 0 5, I can answer you. So I really think there's a piece of it that because the patients have that relationship with me. They're less likely to interfere with those boundaries. When I was in that big practice, you didn't know who was gonna call you, you didn't know who was gonna be on call. And so I feel like those calls were significantly worse than anything I've ever had in this setting. I get maybe one or two texts on the weekend and answer it very quickly. Have told patients that if I'm available, I'm willing to see them if they need to be, but. That's happened twice in five years. So, and they were babies. I mean, you just, you, you can't not see a baby if they're sick. So yeah, I, I don't think that. I don't think that I've become overwhelmed by the patient interactions. And definitely burnout has not been an issue for me in, in this setting. I, I get that myth of, of people who are like, oh, how can you do that? How can you do that? Well, the difference is 500 patients versus 2,500 patients. And I know these 500 patients and it's really interesting. I, my. My phone tells me who it is that's calling, but most of the time I know their voice. And because we've just had that kind of relationship I had a patient come in today. She goes, you just have such a laid back kind of office and, and I just really like it and I'm like. That's me, so that's okay. I, I put out some pillows today that are Halloween pillows, and a little girl came in and she was just hugging them and having fun with it. It, it's just, I, I feel like it's a home for them and, and I want it to feel very comfortable. That's, that's my goal in DPC is to make people feel comfortable approaching medicine and getting the care they need. So.

Dr. Maryal Concepcion: 16:27

I love it and I love, the, the description of relationship-based medicine. This is what I think, especially family medicine doctors, primary care doctors really go into primary care for, and I love that you are delivering that. one thing that you mentioned is myths that you hear. And so I would love to hear what other common myths do you hear about direct primary? Direct primary care? Because I have my list that I commonly hear, but I'd love to hear yours.

Dr. Teresa Lovins: 16:52

Well, I think the biggest one that I hear is people are worried about the future of family medicine and the ability for us to see patients. But so much through what I've seen, and even in my own case, if I had not have found this, I probably wouldn't be in clinical medicine. And so. I'm seeing 500 patients that if I had not done this, I would not be seeing them. So there's this myth that we're not gonna have enough doctors, but if we're all getting burned out and we're all quitting the profession, we're not gonna have enough doctors. I think that's probably the biggest one that I see from my advocacy. C with the A A FP is people are worried about that. But when I reassure them that there are so many DPC docs who have been through that burnout and have made that conscious decision to do DPC versus quitting medicine that's a significant number of physicians that are staying in medicine, and I think that's important. I think the other one is that whole myth about, well, it's only for rich people. I guarantee you. I, I live in a town that has a decent per capita if you want. But the people that are coming to me are the people who can't afford insurance or who work at a small factory who need help and care and those people who don't have insurance. So it's, it's not for the wealthy. It is definitely not for the wealthy, and I love that my patients come to me, even if they have insurance and they're like, Dr. Levins, you can provide me with medicines cheaper than I'm gonna get at the pharmacy. Do you mind writing my, do you mind filling my prescriptions? I'm like, no. That's what I'm here for, is to make things cheaper for you. Or drawing blood on patients and making sure that we can, save them money from that standpoint is very important to the whole philosophy of DPC and I, and I love the fact that I can do that for my patients.

Dr. Maryal Concepcion: 18:47

Amen. And I, I cannot echo that enough because literally when you get the freedom to practice in the way that you need to for your patients, and every patient is going to be different, and you're able to be creative because that's what you get paid to do, you're literally working for them. It is, it is a completely different. Game. And I will say absolutely those myths are very, very common. And I'm glad that you address'em because I do think that this is where more and more people are becoming aware that these are myths. More and more people are choosing DPC, like we saw, I I wanna say two years ago. I, I wanna say that the. The data that we got at the DPC National Summit that the A A FP co-sponsors was that in one year we had gone from like 4.5 to percent to over 9% of A A FP members identifying as DPC and I, I'm like. Also, I wonder what's under the hood of the people who are planning on DPC who are aren't identifying as DPC yet. And so I'm so excited to see you and see Dr. Tom White at in Anaheim. So definitely, if you are a DPC fan, come find one of us and talk more about DPC. We love talking about it when it comes to practice scope. This is another myth that I hear, and I mean, even today you're like, skin cancer and warts and all the, all the things. I, I would love to hear your perspective on does DPC limit your scope of practice, or how does it work for you in terms of enabling you to be the doctor you need to be for your patients, which could require different skills on different days?

Dr. Teresa Lovins: 20:21

Many years ago the A A FP brought forth this package of this basket of services that family medicine should be able to do. And when that came out, it was way in the two thousands. But when that came out, I never understood. What that basket meant, because being employed, I was kind of dictated to what I could do, how long I had with patients. And so I made lots of referrals for patients and, and because I couldn't do the things I wanted to do for them in the practice. So then they got referred out to the specialist and the specialist took care of all of that. Well, I really feel like my DPC practices allowed me to open back up my specialty and the services I can provide. Because I have the time to do it and I can spend the time to do the workup. I don't have to send them right to the cardiologist for blood pressure that's not under control or troubles with their cholesterol. I can work with them because I have a much more close relationship with them, and it's not time to, to a five minute visit or a seven minute visit. And so I, I, my favorite is when I get a new patient. They are scheduled on my schedule for an hour and a half. They don't know that. They just know they have a new patient visit and the clock for them is behind them in my office. And I love it when I get to about that 25, 30 minute point and I'm still asking questions and trying to get to know them and they're looking around for a clock.'cause they know they gotta get done. They gotta get done'cause they're just, I'm like, I, and about that time I say, it's okay. You've got more time. If you've got the time. I've got the time. And so it's just really such a different atmosphere, even interacting with the patients and giving them that time that they really do need has been a, a, a, a wonderful thing. I think the other piece for me has been, the whole process of learning how to run a business. Mm-hmm. That was my favorite line that I've told people is You went to medical school. You graduated, you finished residency, you can run the business. Don't worry about that. And if you don't wanna run the business,'cause there are people that don't find a practice that's looking for a partner because there's lots of those set settings where you can do it. But I love that part of it. I love it Sounds really silly. I I don't mind taking out the trash. I don't mind cleaning the toilets. I don't mind doing the inventory. That's a piece of it that I am. So happy to be able to do, and it's been a really fun experience learning all of those things too as part of this.

Dr. Maryal Concepcion: 22:54

I love that. And that's, that's perfectly. Dovetailing into what I wanted to ask, because as you are a micropractice clinic, you are the, the, the, you are the physician and the, the hat wear, as you just described, of many different hats. Tell us about how you administratively manage your day. Because we heard about how, like the patients that you saw today, but how do you mix in the administrative back office, so to speak, part of your clinic so that you are able to, not use a waiting room for waiting. That's a very classic thing in DPC that we joke about.

Dr. Teresa Lovins: 23:27

Yeah, absolutely. So I figured out very early that if I set aside time in the schedule, so. I have it to do that paperwork or to do that inventory, it gets done. And so I literally I, my, my schedule is Monday through Friday. It is scheduled nine to four 30. I see patients before that. I see patients after that, depending on what they need. But I set out a two hour time block for meetings, for time to do the administrative things. And it just really made it easier for me because I know that. Every Thursday I'm gonna be able to, to set up a meeting if I need to do that with somebody, or talk to a drug rep if I need to, or just do the inventory. VaxCare wants a inventory every week, and so it's very easy to do that with that. That, that timeframe. So, that's how I did it. I think, in the first couple of months it, because my patients were very far between, I was able to do it between time, but as I got a little bit busier, some days are a little bit more full. And so I just wanted to make sure I had a set time to do it and, and that's how I chose to do it.

Dr. Maryal Concepcion: 24:37

And I think it's so important here to mention that this addresses another myth in DPC that you know it, it's not for everybody because. You're gonna get lonely. You're, if you open and you're by yourself, like where's the, the, the bunch of residents who share the same computer room or whatever. So tell us about how you, tell us more about how you remain part of a community of active physician entrepreneurs.

Dr. Teresa Lovins: 25:03

I, I, I appreciate all of the different social media outlets to be able to interact attending the summit getting to know people from the region which is the Midwest region and just being able to reach out literally reach out to anyone I've never had. A single other DPC doc say, I don't have time for you right now. And so that's been very, very helpful. I think, again, we have a nice social group on, on social media for Indiana. And so being able to share that information where'd you find this, where'd you find that? How are you doing this? And it's been, it's been a nice piece to be able to use those resources for me to set up the practice. Yeah.

Dr. Maryal Concepcion: 25:46

I love that. And it's, it's ironic that you and I are recording this on Physician Suicide Awareness Day. I I, I actually dropped an article on so many docs this morning about. Going out to our colleagues in direct primary care and the direct care space. But I'm wondering if you can talk to us in the lens of the people who might be considering taking their own lives leaving medicine how do you think DPC can contribute to a person's psyche when it comes to, the mental health that we too often put aside when we're, especially in primary care. Yeah,

Dr. Teresa Lovins: 26:21

it I, I think it's very important to know that in one of my situations, in my previous life, I had panic attacks going into work. I had anxiety. I had that whole scenario of all of the mental health issues that were just overwhelming me. And so I see that this has calmed all those things down and has just been such an asset to me personally. But I also think there's another piece about DPC that, that we sometimes forget because I'm not associated with a hospital system. I have lots of patients who come to see me because I'm not associated with a hospital system. And so that's even better from a physician standpoint to be able to. Say, Hey, listen, I'm, no one's gonna see your chart. It's just me. And there's especially for the physicians in town. And so, that piece I think is important. We had in our littler community, it's, it's a decent sized community, but we've had three or four physician suicides in the 20 some plus years I've been here in Columbus. And so it's a, it's. It's a very personal thing for me because I'm very open about my mental health issues. I've had depression postpartum started. My oldest is 30, so that tells you how long I've, I've had a, a diagnosis. But when I got into that. Career. That job that was just overwhelming me. I knew I had to change. I tried a couple other things in the meantime, but this is what's worked the best for me. One of the things that I posted about today about physician suicide was the Lorna green foundation. She is an emergency room physician who. Got COVID and then had mental health issues from her COVID. She was having mental health slowing. She got depressed and she committed suicide. During COVID and her family put together this wonderful foundation that is supporting physicians and their wellbeing, all healthcare workers and their wellbeing. It started with physicians and they actually are the underlying force behind many states changing. Their licensing requirements to ask you about your mental health. And so I, I find that a very wor, worthwhile foundation to continue to follow. I think suicide is, is important and I think physicians I, I. I think physicians need to know that it's okay to ask for help and that it's not a fault of yours, it's a fault of the system, that it can't take care of us to keep us healthy. Yeah, there's things we can do. We can be better way, do more exercise, eat healthy, sleep well, but I think the system sets us up for failure and not our failure. And so I think it's important that we talk openly about suicide and suicide prevention.

Dr. Maryal Concepcion: 30:36

And I will say, if you haven't heard from someone in a while and they're very dear to you, check on them. I definitely would will say that it is so common in primary care, especially because, it's our faces on the billboards. It's our faces on the, the, the corporate whatever advertisement marketing campaign, and. It's our souls that choose to go into family medicine, primary care of any sort and specialty care. It does feel very personal because most of us are going into this because we want to help others. And then, when we. Conveniently are groomed to not remember to take care of ourselves. I will say that if you know of a person who is, is in that realm, check on them because you can call that out because especially from colleague to colleague. We've been in the trenches, we've all been in different residencies, different, night calls. The pages have been going off and we know what it's like. And so who best to check on someone, but your colleague who has been there and done that. So yeah, so important. Thank you so much for mentioning that resource and I'll make sure it's in the show notes. So my next question here is how do we. How do we change the landscape of access to amazing healthcare like you're delivering at your DPC? Because I think about, as I sit on the strategic committee and the education committee at the California Academy of Family Practice chapter that I, I feel sometimes like. I'm banging my head against a wall when I talk about anything other than a 9 9 2 1 3. Let's put that 25 modifier on guys. Like we can't forget that. Yeah. 80 to 90% of the family medicine residents in California go into employed medicine, but it's also more and more that the. People in first year and second year residency are planning on going into direct primary care. So I'm wondering if you could tell us your thoughts and what you're seeing from where you are at the A FP as to how we can change the landscape to get people to know what family medicine can be and to love family medicine and to choose it for their career.

Dr. Teresa Lovins: 32:39

I think part of our issue as physicians in training as a resident, so many of our residencies are tied to hospital systems, and so those hospital systems want to keep the primary care doctors. They're a great referral service, right? They know what kind of money they, that. Primary care brings into their facilities, and so they don't offer the opportunity to learn about other options. So I think as, as DPC doctors, we need to get out there to the residencies and really let them see and know about DPC and what independent practice looks like. Because that's, that's another piece of it. I mean, even if you don't want to do this model, if you want to be out and be in charge. Then independent practice is what is a way to do that too. So I do think that there's been a lot more social media. I think there's been a lot more interactions with residencies in Indiana there's, there's several on our state board who are DPC doctors, and so we've been going to the residencies and kind of teaching. I, I have a message from a residency wants me to come and talk sometime. Soon they said, and I'm like, Hmm, I have a little bit to do in October. But but I think it's very important that we show them that there are other options. That being employed is not the only option. It was very convenient even when I was in training, because that was the point in time where you know, knowing how to code, knowing how to get money, knowing how to do the billing and, and collections was. Was very much not taught to the physician. And so they couldn't be the director, the director of their practice if they didn't know those things. And so now that it's much more open and there's so much more ability to learn that information, we really have to be able to support them in that. And I think that's a big part of. How we get those residents to continue to want to do DPC or how we get those physicians to realize we're not the enemy in DPC, we're just taking care of patients a different way. It's no different than somebody who's doing sports medicine or somebody who's doing, addiction medicine. This is just a different style of family medicine. But it's still medicine and it's still taking care of the patient and in a way that I feel much more comfortable taking care of a patient.

Dr. Maryal Concepcion: 35:01

Amen. And I love that. And I do think that, especially for the listeners out there, if you're like, oh my goodness, I would love to have a DPC doctor come talk to my community, whether you're a resident, a medical student, and attending, whatever the heck it is. I definitely echo Dr. Levinson saying just literally Google your town, DPC, whatever you got, and you'll find one of us out there DPCs in all 50 states California, we have our cali dpc.com. So if you're in California, reach out to us. The Indiana crew has already created their Facebook, it's like there's community. Where you don't know that it's there. So I definitely will say it's, it's as literally as easy as dialing one of our numbers. I joked, I called Dr. Lauren Hetty one day before her recording on the podcast because I knew that she was going to answer the, the voice message and not some assistant because she's like, you a micropractice. So I love that. So, let me ask you here in terms of, you. Not only being a DPC doctor, I also wanna talk about, how like, like we, we were talking about seeing and learning about DPC is so important because it can change your trajectory as to what you think family medicine can be. And so I'm wondering if you can talk to us, because I have my biases about this very clearly, but it's like. What is the importance of somebody who is living the life of a physician who is seeing patients running their, their, their practice as a physician entrepreneur, why is it so important that somebody like you be in the presidency of the American Academy of Family Practice?

Dr. Teresa Lovins: 37:02

Well, I think twofold. There are three candidates who are running and I think it's very important that we keep on that board. Physicians who are doing clinical care and taking care of patients and being in an independent setting. DPC is a form of independent family medicine, and I think it's very important that we continue to keep that. Yes, I know, I know the statistics. I've seen'em, it's 11% now. But I, I, I, I think it's very important that that board, that executive team, those officers includes. Someone who is a minority in the style of medicine that they do. And so that's what I want to present as an, as a president-elect, is the ability to speak for those that are in that minority and, and to really. Amplify the signal that it's okay to do this. You can survive. You, you are not gonna be overburdened, you are not gonna be overwhelmed. And so moving into that position I think is very important for allowing other family docs to see that. Private practice, independent practice, clinical medicine is still important. And this is one style that works very well. It may not work well for a hundred percent of them. I don't expect that, but I would hope that we would see that that 11% keeps going up. Especially as we're seeing the, the, the residents. Being much more involved and much more interested. I had a great time at the DPC summit. It was the biggest one I've been to and I've been to for and I was ecstatic about just the number of people and the way they had to change the, the the lecture hall because there wasn't enough seats. And I'm, I'm excited about that. How do I wanna describe it? I would describe it about the enthusiasm. The enthusiasm of our membership and doing DPC.

Dr. Maryal Concepcion: 38:56

There's so many ways that we describe it, like drinking the DPC Kool-Aid, taking the red pill, all of the things. It absolutely represents the enthusiasm that we have as physician entrepreneurs because we are doing so much change in our communities that we've always probably wanted to to be a part of it least. And we couldn't necessarily do that when we were, back to back Medicare physicals asking people if they wear their seat belts. Right, right, exactly.

Dr. Teresa Lovins: 39:22

So, or, or asking'em a hearing screen and then not being able to afford hearing aids. So why, why do we screen for that if they're, if Medicare doesn't pay for the hearing, hearing hearing aids. So, yeah,

Dr. Maryal Concepcion: 39:33

makes complete sense to me for sure. So I would love here if you can give us some examples of like your most DPC days of DPC days, because already you've described your day today, but I'm wondering if you can. Leave us with some other examples of only in DPC could I have achieved this.

Dr. Teresa Lovins: 39:53

I one of my days involved actually I was heading out of my practice for a meeting and a mom called and she said, my kid, he fell, his hand hurts. I don't know what's going on. He won't move it. And I actually. Stopped by their house on my way to my meeting and spent time with mom, walked'em through it, gave the little child, it, it was just a contusion. It wasn't anything big, but it was the event that I could go and tell the mom, this is what. You need to do and how to do it and take care of him at the same time that I'm heading to do advocacy at the state. And so that, that I think was the epitome of the two sides of my practice. My busiest day up until about a year ago was. I wanna say it was nine patients. And I, and people are like, oh, DPC nine patients, what are you talking about? And I go, well, seven of'em were from one family, so it wasn't so bad. But that I think is a little overwhelming when you're trying to get'em all into one space. But yeah, I. There's just so much that I can do in here. I have an EKG machine. I draw blood, I have medicines I do dermatologic procedures. Ironically, I am next door to a dermatologist. So, and, and it's just like today, the patient that I treated today for the skin cancer, she'd actually gone to see the aesthetician at the dermatologist office, and she missed some lesions. She's like, can, can you just. Take care of'em while I'm here. I'm like, sure, why not? She'd come in to talk to me about weight loss and we got into freezing some, some scaly lesions on her hands. So, yeah, it's, it's been an interesting experience. Love my kids. I love my kids. But you know, sometimes even the elderly patients that I'm bringing in the back door, because that's where the handicap ha handicap. Ramp is, and my, my exam room is right inside that door. I love that too. I have a patient who brings her dog. He's been here probably more than my dog has been here, but I do sometimes bring my dog to the practice. And so yeah, he, he comes right in, comes right down the hall, comes right into my office and lays down at my feet. So that I think is the epitome of A DPC practice is the ability to say, Hey, you know what? Bring your dog in. It's okay. And, and just to be that it's, it's her companion and she needs it. And so to me, it's a wonderful way that I can make my practice accessible to her.

Dr. Maryal Concepcion: 42:17

I

Dr. Teresa Lovins: 42:17

love it.

Dr. Maryal Concepcion: 42:18

So my last question is regarding the new legislation that has become law in terms of the Primary Care Enhancement Act passed as HR or as part of HR one and the big beautiful bill where DPC memberships can now be paid for by. People who are funding their HSAs. And so I will say, especially if you are, already on the DPC train if you want to be, but you're not there yet. If you have patients who are looking for ways to solve their healthcare access problems, issues fill in the blank after the beginning of the year. I'm wondering if you can speak to us, to the, the people who are wanting to talk about people wanting to talk to people in their community about how to maximize HSA benefits and getting a DPC membership at the same time.

Dr. Teresa Lovins: 43:05

I think I, I have a small company that I work with and they offer just basic insurance. Really it's catastrophic insurance, but not by that label. And so they are able to put money into their HSA. But up until now it was iffy on. It depended on. Across the city. It depends on who's administering the HSA, because some of the HSAs they went through just fine. But now to have the actual law that says that you can use your HSA to see a DPC doctor I have already seen patients that are excited about this and hey, I'm gonna increase the amount of money I'm putting in my HSA because I know I can use it for this. And so to me that's. That's a huge asset. I know the Academy has been working along with the the coalition to try and get to this. And yeah, they had to put a price limit on it. I understand that piece. But I think a lot of, patients, especially those in the marketplace who are gonna be probably dropped off the marketplace'cause they can't afford it. This is a way for them to be able to get catastrophic insurance and still have a DPC doc because now they can still put money in their HSA and, and. Pretax dollars for anybody are pretax dollars. Right. And so the ability to, to use that for their healthcare, I think is very important. And then the fact that I can do 80 to 85, 90% of their care right here, they, they know exactly what their cost is gonna be. And, and that is I think also very helpful for them. Yeah. So yeah, I think it was a great thing. I'm glad it went through. I, I think and, and it's indexed, I think that's the other piece that it to talk about for inflation. Yes. Like$150 a for a person and$300 for a family. But they actually wrote into the law that it's indexed for inflation. Correct. So we're gonna see that number go up every year too. Yeah. Which I think is important.

Dr. Maryal Concepcion: 44:55

I will say just calling out your own membership fees on your website zero to five years old is$30 per month with a paying adult, and it just is increasing by age group. So$50 per month for ages six to 17,$60 per month to eight from for ages 18 to 40,$75 per month, ages 41 to 64 and a hundred dollars per month, ages 65 plus. So I wanna make sure that we're also mentioning those prices because for those people who are really learning about DPC and trying to make that distinction between concierge.$40,000 a year plus billing insurance like they do in the Bay Area in California. That is not the thing that is happening at your DPC so when you index for inflation, it definitely it, it's, you, your, your lens is different than a concierge doctor.

Dr. Teresa Lovins: 45:41

Yeah. So, and then I have, I have a, a maximum fee for families too, and it works out to right about, depending on their age, but about four people is where that, that comes in and it's still below that$300 for the family, for HSA. So. Yeah.

Dr. Maryal Concepcion: 45:55

Amazing. So where can people find you to connect with you after this interview, but also in Anaheim when we get to see each other in person?

Dr. Teresa Lovins: 46:03

Yeah, yeah. Well I will be around everywhere. But you can connect with me. I have a website. It's love my health dpc.com. There's an email on my, my website that you can email me, that'll go straight to the email that I'm the only one answering. So, obviously you're gonna get me I have an office number. My office number is 8 1 2 9 0 0 2 8 8 3. And that humorously rings to my cell phone that you sent messages to me. And so I have two lines on my phone. So I get text and, and phone calls on the same phone. And the. Anyway when we get to Anaheim if you want to meet up with me, text me and I'll try to figure out where we can meet. Another place that you can get to know me, to meet me is there's a hospitality room for all the candidates for A A FP officers and I will be in there and I will be proud as a DPC doc. Because I do wanna talk to people family docs about being the president-elect. And I, I do wanna talk to people about DPC, so I think it's very important that we continue to nurture those that are interested.

Dr. Maryal Concepcion: 47:15

Amen. And I will say if you are there and you're a DPC doctor, I've already had a few people reach out and say they're gonna be there. We are going to be doing a my DPC story, live event with Dr. Tom White and doing a live interview, but also I'll be going around with my roving mics and you can't miss me. So I'm so excited to see you. I'm. So excited that you are running and you definitely have my vote. I am not a congress of Delegate delegate, but I am still voting for you with all that I can muster. So thank you so much Dr. Levins, for sharing your DPC story today. Thank you for listening to another episode of my DBC story. If you enjoyed it, please leave a five star review on your favorite podcast platform. It helps others find the show, have a question about direct primary care. Leave me a voicemail. You might hear it answered in a future episode. Follow us on socials at the handle at my D DPC story and join DPC didactics our monthly deep dive into your questions and challenges. Links are@mydpcstory.com for exclusive content you won't hear anywhere else. Join our Patreon. Find the link in the show notes or search for my DPC story on patreon.com for DPC news on the daily. Check out DPC news.com. Until next week, this is Marielle conception.