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 members
• How to talk to patients about DO vs MD, and OMT vs chiropractic care
• Why HSA-funded DPC memberships became a major enrollment driver
• Her tech stack philosophy: cohesive over fragmented, patient experience first
• Non-negotiables: charting without juggling windows, automated patient communication, CSV file portability
• Working directly with employers without middlemen
• Pairing DPC with health shares for catastrophic coverage

Resources

• True Insight Direct Care blog
• mydpcstory.com Learn page: free business plan, BAA, and EHR rubric
• Dr. Feneisha Franklin's episode on acquiring a DPC practice

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Transcript

1:00

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. showing up as a DPC doctor for my community means. Being that approachable physician that people can rely on and ultimately get the care that they deserve and they have always deserved and not really gotten from the traditional system. I'm Courtney Barrett with TrueSight Direct Care, and this is my DPC story This month on my DBC story, we're focused on the tools that actually shape how A DPC practice runs day to day. Not the flashy ones, the ones that matter when patients are walking in the door, when labs are coming back, when your spouse is at home with the kid, and your staffing. The front desk yourself, Dr. Courtney Barrett, founder of True Insight Direct Care in the Raleigh, North Carolina area, opens the month with a conversation that covers the full range of what tools means in A DBC practice. Dr. Barrett is a do who brings osteopathic manipulative treatment to her membership, and she walks us through how OMT becomes both a clinical tool and a front door to the practice. She shares how patients often join for a single full body treatment and stay for primary care and how the reverse happens. Just as often we get into her tech stack philosophy, how she vetted EHRs by asking the same questions of every demo so she could compare apples to apples, why patient experience optimization mattered and the non-negotiables she landed. On. We also talk about her board work with Hope and Vine, the local nonprofit supporting young women aging out of foster care, and how DPC gives her the bandwidth to actually show up in her community. With that, be sure to vote in our battle of the support stack running all month, discover support tools that are non-negotiables to those support tools that you could possibly pass on. Now here's the first episode of the month with Dr. Courtney Barrett. Welcome to the podcast, Dr. Barrett. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. We were talking a little bit about your locale before we started recording, but I will say, yes, you are in Raleigh. Yes. DPC is known in the Raleigh area. However, there's only one Dr. Barrett. And so this is so important to have your story on the podcast because your patients are finding you. And that's what happens with every DPC practice there. Our patients are finding us and not the system. And so, I think it, it, it very much feeds into my first question. When it comes to your clinic. Tell us the name of your clinic, please. And how did you come to name your clinic the name that it has? Yeah, absolutely. It's funny because everyone, they dream about having their own office and what do they call it and how do they go about that? And for me, it was very much having my personality reflected in the name. And so true Insight direct Care came about because. I wanted folks to kind of understand that I knew both sides of the stethoscope, so I was a patient long before a physician, and I feel like that gave me a great insight to what they're dealing with, whether it be a similar situation or something completely different. I know for a fact that I've struggled getting my voice heard in the system, even as a physician. So, if I could bring a little bit of insight or advocate for patients or let them know that I understand that side, I figure it's all the better. And I would say. Frustratingly, especially for physicians, because I hate being a patient myself, but like we are always patients and so I think it's, it always is definitely a way that we have insight into the user experience of healthcare in general. So I love that. And I just wanna highlight here that, yes you are, patient side and, and stethoscope side fine. But to enrich that a little bit, I just wanna say you graduated summa cum laude from Florida Southern College. You are also a paramedic. And so I'm just wondering in terms of those particular experiences what, what would you say to those people who are earlier on in their medical career, like medical students or people who are even an undergrad, would you, would you recommend, doing things like being a paramedic doing phlebotomy, other things, if you're dreaming about DBC in the future. Absolutely. It's funny that you asked that question because recently I had a meet and greet for my clinic that actually just, I assumed it was a patient looking to join and it was actually a young lady who had finished her undergrad, gotten her master's and then was lo or working at a local dermatology office and was interested in learning about DPC and things like that. And so that wonderful little half hour block turned into an hour and a half discussion because it was one of those things where I just felt compelled to, hey, if I were in her shoes at this point in my life, things would be so different. I mean, I went to medical school and, when I first went to school, in undergrad for instance, things were kind of starting to phase out of. Paper records when I was in medical school, electronic health records came about, and then in residency it was full electronic. And so I kind of lived through that, but I also lived through almost that transition of, the system going fairly well and then deteriorating very quickly. And so I was able to give her a little bit of that insight and I pretty much laid out the path that. The system's very different than you imagine going into medicine and to really truly understand what you're getting yourself into and really, rotate with a variety of practitioners. And I welcomed her to rotate with me as well and get a feel of how the difference is working in the system and outta the system. Because if you can make DPC, your priority from the start, it opens up so many things. And it's funny because I found myself getting almost a little pessimistic about the sy the system, but in the same sense, I got very emotional on the flip side saying that, working in a DPC arena gives me that ability to truly connect with people. And I had to pause and, kind of back my eyes for a moment because I, I do, I value that, that connection and that true relationship where I feel so invested in my patients and it's so rewarding and you just can't develop that on the same side even though you want to so much. Working for the system to be able to do it on the deepest side is so refreshing and, and just just. A great partnership. No, no arguments from me. So I think, oh my goodness. I, I will say that, as we're focusing on the, the tools and tech to make a great practice, I think that that's really, an awesome call out is that DPC is a tool for, for amazing patient care delivery and also having tools that you have even before you go to medical school, I think are, that's a great call out also. So I think that, yes, you can think of Tech Stack as tools, but these are tools that we have that we, aren't necessarily naming tools. So something so food for thought. So let me ask you this now, because then you got your osteopathic medical degree, and I, I say that specifically because we're gonna be talking about MDs and dos, both of whom are doctors. But you did. You did a residency where you were also exposed to direct primary care. So tell us about your residency and how did that even come to be? Yeah, so I, at the time when I went through residency, you still had the split of MD and do residencies and one, mine was one of the few left that was dual at the time. And along that line we had various kind of, I mean I don't know if they even call them DPC at the time, but you know, more cash pay clinics and things. And I saw them succeeding just on do therapy alone. And so that definitely opened up my eyes and I love the fact that I saw. So many awesome techniques to be used for a variety of circumstances. And one gentleman who was a professor at the time, who's actually my PCP and my husband's PCP, and did an NMM or neuromuscular medicine fellowship for a year. So he had techniques that he'd even kind of, turn from the traditional into kind of his own methods and things like that. And he was known in town for being the doc to see for OMM. And I knew I wanted to integrate that into practice. So I even did it when I was in the system, but it was a little more difficult. But I saw that people valued it so much that when I had the opportunity to go DPC and really plug it into my practice, I knew I was going to, and in fact, I rotated with him twice as a student and actually again, as a resident and actually called him up before my opening day being like, Hey, am I remembering your techniques the right way? Like how you go about things, the order in which we do it all, and everything like that. So it was, it was great to have that experience for sure. So just going on a little, a little road trip to the side here for a second. But when it comes to you talking about you have a mentor, you are then opening your practice and you reach back out to your mentor and you're like, Hey, like you are the go-to person, but like also I wanna incorporate this in my practice. Tell us about, was there, don't pee on my territory, type of interaction there. Or if not, absolutely not. If not, yeah. If not, why not? Because I think that this is also something where that competitiveness of don't take my codes. It's different when you don't take codes anymore. Yeah, for sure. And, and even on that same, you kind of outlined it almost set it up for like even the DPC community alone, having that osteopathic community where, everyone kind of develops their own, approach to it and how they go about certain things for different conditions and things like that. Just kind of getting the feel of what works best for you and kind of pulling from all the different resources out there and finding what fits. Kind of the same way the the DPC community works is, we're not all like, this is mine, this is mine, we're, it's the exact opposite as you see online, it is like. Hey, here's what worked for me. Take it and run with it. Make it your own. Here's, here's the framework for it. And I think that's what's so awesome about this community. You, you don't feel like you're competing with each other. Even in setting up my practice, I mentioned earlier that Amy Walsh helped me kind of, this is what worked for her and how she went about things. And, and so I use her as a huge resource in town, even visited her office and she gave me my husband a tour and how they had things set up or how they went about things. And, and all of that is just so beneficial because not every DPC or I would say each DPC is very different. We all have a little niche or what we might specialize in, or what we offer and how we go about things. But it all has that same concept about saving people that relationship, saving people, that frustration or the cost of healthcare. So the basis of, it's all the same, but we all have, different nuances or different techniques that we know, for instance, like in town here. I might do osteopathic bibliotherapy, and another one does endometrial biopsies. So we can mutually, send a patient here for that procedure and they'll send'em back kind of thing. So it's that great network that works out so well for, for all sides. Awesome. And even within the same clinic, I do not like doing toenail procedures that my husband does. So Amen to that. Yep. And I love, and, and I will, I will put a note here. If you are looking for tools absolutely you can find a, a bunch. We have a whole learnPage@mydpcstory.com. We have a free business plan business associates agreement for you to download. So definitely take a lot, take a look at our free resources, especially our magazines. They're fantastic, but also have a ton of amazing articles for people at all stages of their DPC career. So when it comes to the, the idea of. Actually going out on your own and opening your practice. Tell us about, tell us what was going on in your life that made you finally take the, take the leap it's interesting. When my husband and I first moved to the Raleigh Durham area, it was because he had family in the area and it was kind of that, nice location, all four seasons, the whole nine yards. We both grew up in upstate, snow territory kind of thing. And I did residency in Michigan, so that didn't help out too much. But with that it was interesting when I first started at the corporate office that I started at. I had heard stories of, Hey, these two docs just left. They're so happy. They're so happy, they're so happy. And then shortly thereafter, one of the family med docs who was rotating through the urgent care downstairs came up to meet me and we became friends maybe four or five months later. It seemed not even that. That she went off and started her own DPC and she was like, come to the other side. Come to the other side. I was like, I can't really, right now I'm the primary breadwinner. My husband stays home with the kiddo and, and we always wanted to have that primary parent at home kind of thing and obviously student loans and everything. So I was like, I can't really swing it at this point. And then, fast forward a couple years, I went to private practice and even then you're still under insurance, so you have a little more autonomy, but you still can't do as much as you really would like to. And I had my own medical leave for a couple years and when I returned at that time, I started with a startup company for longevity medicine, very preventative health focused in the triangle. And that showed me essentially that yes, you really do want that hour with patients. You truly want that connection to be able to actually educate that education piece that I never had time for despite my trial as hard as I could, didn't have time for and just. The time that you have to discuss lifestyle that's so important and often ignored in the system that drive you nuts. That was great. And, and I, when that contract with that company ended I went home to my husband and I was like, Hey, so this is happening at your job and this is happening with a kiddo and this is happening and we've always kind of wanted to go on our own and what do you say we do this? And he literally looked at me and was like, okay. And I was like, oh, let's go. And we literally hit the ground running that it was like winter, it was like November. We just went right through the winter and just hit every opportunity for business education because they don't teach you that in medical school. The business education, the, the small business associations, all the networking and just hit the ground running. Essentially, chugging the fire hose, not of anatomy and physiology when, med school started, but the fire hose of business school and just ran with it and then opened in that May. So it was just, hit the ground running and. Stuck with it, we wanted to set that date. People say, set, set a date, or you'll always put it off. And so that's what we did. We set that date and we just stuck with it and, and went forward. And I'm wondering, in terms of just organizing yourselves for the, the, the idea of actually opening this clinic and making it, ready to see patients on day one what are some helpful organizational tools that you may have used?'cause most of us have, like Google or, Google Workspace. But in terms of like things that helped you from pens to paper, to tech what were, what were some things that helped you? What organize and follow through with the things that you needed to check off your list. Honestly getting one of those checklists. You have one Actually North Carolina has like an opening medical practice checklist as well. So I kind of brought all those together and filled in the blanks where, it doesn't apply insurance based versus DPC and things like that. And really just started checking the boxes. I, I literally had a binder and as I'd check off this or that, okay, what do we still need to do? What do we still need to do? And then just tackling resources like the Facebook group online was huge for resources. Seeing what worked for people and what didn't. And then just talking with the folks in my community, what has worked, what didn't, who's used for supplies? Who, who do you go for this? Or, why not this and why not that? And things like that. And just kind of took all the advice, saw what maybe I would like to use or to work with or maybe didn't apply to me or my personality or style and things like that. And kind of just. Use that and adapted it. There wasn't any one resource. And I'd probably tell people that's the case. Don't use just one resource. If you, if you just use, set your, your sights on one, you know how to you're gonna miss out. Now let me ask you, your husband joined full-time in August, so a couple months after you guys had, started that buildup of your practice opening. Yeah. And I'm wondering in terms of his background also, and you have this on your website, but he's, I think about you mentioning how you have insight from different aspects of your, your your life coming into your practice. He also has his different insights from public safety, emergency telecommunications. He was in 9 1 1 dispatching. And so definitely be just thinking about the acute experiences that are out there in your community. I'm just wondering in terms of. The, the way that his insights have shown up in your workflows or your onboarding experience. Give us some examples because I think that this really highlights that these practices are ours and whether it's your partner or your mom in some cases, or your sister helping out insights from other people or getting insights, asking other people for their insights is helpful when you're building your practice. Just like how you're saying, don't focus on run one resource, don't focus on one person giving you advice. Yeah, definitely. For sure. It's funny because, he having the, the dispatch and, understanding my perspective as even when I was in residency, being on call or not and things like that, that kind of schedule always worked. So he understood me in that regard. And then also he, he has that technical side, he has that, he can figure it out and, learn the tech process or be able to multitask at the same time, despite him thinking he can't, he does a great job at it, he is self, self-critical. But always like thinking behind the scenes or what might be needed or how to organize something. It's interesting because even in organizing a med cabinet, I was like, yeah, you know, Tammy was doing this and doing that, so I think I wanna do that. And so before I knew it, everything was reorganized and all alphabetized and things like that. So, he, he's always kind of. In the background, and almost before I realize it or mention it, it's already happened. So when I go to say, go grab something off the printer, he's already at the door handing it to me and things like that. So, I think the, the biggest thing is really just seeing each other's strengths. Even doing like a personality test or like those work strengths or weaknesses and, and really understanding the communication and what each person has to bring to the table. Because if you're both the same, it's probably not gonna work out well and you need to think, outside of that and, and get that, that alternate perspective. But he's very hands-on and very methodical about things. So he kind of balances mind let's do this or and we're, we're both very, very similar on the, thinking in the future kind of aspect and, and what might that might look like now as we prepared things. But he's always, kind of thinking about things from the. The admin kind of side more so because he was always doing the same thing when he was in dispatch. He was always anticipating what the officers might need. And then bringing that to them before they even asked. So he brought that the same way in the, in the business for sure. Yeah. That's, that's so cool. I, I think about, you know how I think that this is where when you're working with other people people who are. Either new hires, like a virtual assistant, or if they're an in-person person. If you're getting this type of interaction with them, you're like, oh, you're feeding off of each other or something where like someone's, you know, speaking up to say Hey, what about this? I think those are great relationships to lean into. You might have a medical student who then wants to shadow later, or just you have this, the student who, you know you're, you're welcoming to shadow in your clinic. I think these are the things that that really help when it comes later down to when it comes down to who are you going to keep at your clinic? Clearly you, you, you have your husband, like I have my husband. They're not going anywhere anytime soon. So that's a little, that's good there. When it comes to your practice, I wanna ask you mentioned the triangle area. You mentioned, Raleigh Durham, but. How, like where can you describe the locale in terms of what type of neighborhood setting are you guys in? Are you in more of a suburb? Are you in a, a very urban location? And how close are you to the, near to the nearest DPC? So, unbeknownst to us, we're actually right down the street from another DPC that we did not know about.'cause he's a little more maybe part-time and kind of not building and things like that. But we, we researched the entire area and came up with as many that we could find out about. And there's even been more coming up as we even have established. But at the time if you think of Raleigh just as a, a central point on the map the kind of like Southern and, western side was kind of covered. And then like the Chapel Hill, Durham side was pretty heavy. And even, like into Raleigh itself, but like that Northeastern side kind of toward Wake Forest essentially is where we're located. And, and that was also a gap. So it was interesting when I had eventually decided to like plant and that was kind of where we were gonna do it and things like that. When I contacted Amy for some advice, she was so excited. She's like, oh, we oh, we need to go in that area. There's nobody out there. This is perfect. And, and things like that. So that's kind of our, our niche there. But we actually have a DBC down the road that one of our network friends actually had joined, initially before he, before we came about and things. And so I think overall we're not too close, but even in certain neck of the woods, like some folks are, a street or two away, one of our DBCs actually sublets to another DBC. And so it's so funny because people will be like, isn't that a conflict of interest? But the demand of value is so absolutely there that when people find out, and again. With that relationship, you want that personality and that that style to be yours too. So two different people work well near each other because if they're two different styles and their approach is slightly different, they're gonna attract different clientele as well. So it really is about that balance and kind of supporting each other really along the lines of everything. I love that. And when it comes to your practice, talk to us about the day-to-day in terms of, like on a, on a typical week in your practice, because you opened in the fall of 2025, we're recording in the spring of 2026 your day-to-day, how, what it, how has the setup and how has it changed since opening day? So I would probably say like we kind of did a, a soft launch, if you will. Like officially, we opened in May but we didn't push really hard as far as I wasn't able to because my husband was still working his previous dispatch job. I was joking the kiddo home from the summer, off, off break and things like that. So at that time, we were acquiring customers but we weren't pushing all the time simply because we couldn't really with the kiddo on board and, and the timing and things like that. So when he came on in August, as you mentioned, that's really when we started kind of amping things up. So before that, and even on days where right now he might be at home with the kid doing school because we have a blended program for him, he's kind of hybrid where he goes two days and homeschools the other days. So some days my husband will might stay at home with him and then I just go in and I kind of man the front desk and sit at the front desk until my patients arrive. And bring it back. Kinda like the same micropractice that some people do all on their own. Bring them back and kind of, do my thing. Send'em on their way, change over the sheets or whatever that had needed to be cleaned and things like that, and be ready for the next. But then when he's there obviously when he is home, he's also multitasking. So he'll answer the phone when he is home and kind of do that, that um, virtual assistant if you will, type of aspect. But then in the office he will also, he's phlebotomy trained so he can be there and help with that as well. But then he's the one kind of turning over the rooms, doing some of the cleaning, spitting some of the labs, taking care of, the centrifuge and, and sending out labs and ordering the lab pickup and things like that. Where it's, when I'm in house I'll multitask that a little bit, but then I'll sometimes task him or text him, Hey, take care of this, take care of this. I need this ordered, or something like that so that I'm going on the next person. So, it's definitely transition in that regard. I'm looking forward to the next transition where he's. Full on all five days. Because I know sometimes even in, in today when I try to balance some of that it can seem a little more scattered where. I don't feel like I'm on top of my notes or things like that. And that's just a, a fact of growing and kind of having that balance with the kiddo and what making that transition with our family at the right time as well. Absolutely. And in terms of the, the number of days and the number of hours that you spend in clinic, what's that like during the week and has that changed as you've gotten more patients? Yeah, absolutely. So I was very sporadic during the summertime last year and even into the fall a little bit. So much so that my, ribbon cutting gift of an orchid. Almost hit its demise, but I brought it back to life. I recently got a bloom on it just this week. But yeah, so I was in, you know, on a Thursday or like a Monday or, I try to like maybe group a couple patients next to each other because I'd be in and out for an hour or two. And the way my practice is set up, I like to give people a full hour's worth if they need it. So I booked the appointment for 45 minutes and I put a 15 minute window on it. So, it's, it's always there. People need it, and that way they don't have to feel like they can't finish, what they opened up, talking about or something of that nature. And so now it's to the point of, I might come in at eight and, stay a full day. Might have some gaps in there, or I might come in a little later at nine, see a couple patients. Have a lunch hour and maybe see a couple more. I have still a lot of trickling new patients, so I block my plate, my new patients for a two hour slot just so I have that window, not only to document, but in case it does run over if they're more convoluted and, and things like that. More complex. But it generally lasts about an hour, hour and a half-ish, give or take.'cause I'm getting information, not just medical information, but knowing who they are, their background and all the important stuff that goes into DBC. That makes it so valuable. Yeah. And you also, I, we, we highlighted already that you're a do, and again, we'll get more into that, but I just wanted to call out here that you also have, in addition to your DPC membership, the option for OMT treatment for people in the community who are non-members. And I'm wondering if you can talk to us about this as a tool of getting people exposed to Dr. Barrett and potentially Oh yeah. Dr. Barrett also has new patient availability and how they become DPC members because of getting exposure through the non-member OMT treatment. Yeah, I would probably say that one of my, my folks I can know off the top of my head be like, yep, he became a member just for the OMT. And that's been a great tool because in this area we have Campbell University nearby that's a DO school. But that's more recent. And so the history of the area isn't really strong in a lot of dos. There are many, many dos now, but definitely not a lot that actually practice. OMT, I'd probably say. Being a, a Lecom Erie grad, you have plenty of folks in that area of town and in North Pennsylvania and things like that, that, you could find anybody in town to give an OMT treatment. But it definitely has made me more of a niche kind of person in that regard because there's only one other gentleman that does like a full body head to toe that I'm aware of for OMT treatment. Some people might integrate, some adjunctive treatment here or there, a little technique. But as far as that full whole body treatment that definitely is something that sets me aside. I actually had a patient when I was in corporate medicine who actually traveled, from the other side of town, probably about an hour to see me because she was pregnant and wanted the OMT treatment for relief of like sacral issues and things. So, that's definitely been a, a key in kind of bringing folks in. And I actually had to temporarily put the membership on hold just for a little bit because of the fact that. And the only reason it's not included as its own membership. And because I would just only have about 20 people,'cause everybody wanted to come every week for a full mt treatment, because once you've experienced it, it's oh my goodness, how did I ever live without this? And so I can't make it as like for, all inclusive, for every patient kind of thing, or else I would not be able to sustain myself just in the physical effort of it. But then also in the time just seeing patients just for that, pretty regularly. So, now the way the membership works is that they get, an o mt a full body OMT treatment each month as part of that membership. Wow. And talk to us about the differences in workflows because you have primary care patients, coughs, colds, rashes, preventative stuff, and then you have a person coming in specifically for OMT when it comes to the when it comes to the workflow of seeing a patient for primary care versus OMT focused and then also the after visit. What, what would you say are tips and tricks that you found are really helpful in your workflows so that you can have both workflows going at the same time, but still have the details that you need that are, that are unique to each workflow? I'd probably say the biggest thing for me is to not stack up a bunch of OMT treatments in a row simply because of the physical aspect of me when I'm doing something like muscle energy where I have to resist someone's force and things like that. I need to be able to do that repeatedly, and hold that, that course for folks. And so I just kind of space'em out right now for the most part. My, my longstanding folks who've done OMT they'll schedule their own appointments at that monthly kind of interval, but oftentimes I'll schedule them before they leave for the next one. So I'm kind of in control about where I spaced it in the schedule. And then otherwise, I, I don't have my schedule completely set for like certain appointment slots yet, simply because it's, I didn't wanna make that restriction off the top, but I just had the morning set for labs and then the afternoons pretty much ad lib. And they kind of, thus far I haven't needed to, because, the way people have scheduled, I, I haven't had, four full physicals in a row, or, MTS in a row or things like that. So I'm kind of letting it naturally kind of play its course and, and then kind of adjust from there, depending on how things go. And that's what's kind of nice about DBC is that because as you build the practice, you can see what's working and what's not and kind of just tweak things. Versus having a whole panel that you're inheriting from someone who left a practice and you're just going in there with 3000 patients and a certain schedule and it may or may not work. And if you have not, I definitely would say Dr. Fania Franklin, who came out in March, take a listen to her episode because she purchased a DPC from Dr. Carter, another DPC physician. She's an md she doesn't offer OMT treatments, but I will say to hear the experience of coming into a practice that's already a DBC membership based practice great story to hear. Looking at. Structurally how your OMT visits are set up and what and how many you have per day. But I'm also wondering in terms of like how you set up your actual visits for those people who are doing OMT or who are looking to add OMT services in their DPC. I'm wondering, what, what is the time allotment that you have and what is the workflow, especially if you're doing full body OMT, that other people can learn from. I think for me, I just wanted every visit to have that same allotment of time. So I've kept every visit with that 45 and 15 leeway. And so, and I only have one room, so we did not wanna spend the gobs of money to renovate the space. And and so we left the space as is. So I have one exam room, my office, and a break room. And then the front area is split between waiting area and front, reception desk, so to speak. And then the bathroom in the back. So the way we did the one room is it's a rather large room, so it's not a small room, but it's a rather large room. And so I have some cabinets, like our medical cabinets down the side, my traditional exam table for OB care and things like that in the, in the corner and on the upper other corner, I have like my lab draw area. With the chair next to that and then our OMT table. So literally with the OMT table folks don't, aren't aware, the mobile ones, at least they do have mechanical ones, but they're super expensive. The mobile exam tables, I can just bring that out from the wall and put it in the middle. And then I'll use if I'm sitting on a stool and doing some adjustments, I can just swing the stool around the table and take care of things. And so I just pull it out as the patient's walking back with me and I'm like, Hey, hey, and they're taking off their sneakers. I'm pulling the table out and then I'll have them lay down and, and get to town evaluating and treating and things like that. And then on the, the contrary of it if it's a standard physical or things like that I'll have the, the room ready to go. And generally speaking, the room's ready to go as is. Um, And then even when it comes to having a gown and things like that, as I'm talking with the patient and explaining like, Hey, I'm gonna have you change and do X, Y, and Z and I'll step out. Don't sit down yet, just holler when you're ready. We'll get your height and weight before you even sit down kind of thing. So I have that same flow, and I'll just grab, turn and grab things right outta the drawer. Make it easy. So like, I almost have a little mini office within the exam room kind of set up. So my stool, my exam table that I do like my vitals at, along with the blood draws and things like that with a cart with all the supplies right next to it. And I spin around and the exam table's right behind me. And so the table. For the OMT table is right on the other side of the chair that someone might sit in, put their stuff down, have their labs drawn and vice versa. So it kind of all is situated around that same area. I love that. I will say here, I, when I went to Dr. Angela by Masters's Clinic in San Jose healing Grove, she's also been on the podcast to take a listen to her story. But she had this amazing phlebotomy chair and a a, a foam triangle for a person to help to help a person extend their arm for phlebotomy. And then I was like, oh, I wanna get one of those. How much does that cost? When I wanted to start phlebotomy in my clinic and it was like 115 bucks for this foam pillow. And then I was like, man, okay, I got a dental chair that I can raise. I got. Pillows from Target, and I got Chucks. Let's see if I can make this work. And sure enough, but I always, and, and I will tell you this, this is just a random side note, but I tell my patients, I'm like, I'm just a physician. I'm not a phlebotomist. And so they, my, my lovely patients will, will self-select when they're like, oh, hell no, you're not drawing my blood. Or the people will be like, oh yeah, you can, anytime you wanna practice, you can practice on me. And so that's how I like, if you are out there and wanting to add phlebotomy to your practice, as you hear Dr. Barrett talk about phlebotomy in her clinic, as you hear about my clinic, that's a way to, to confidently narrow your patients down to those who are not going to freak out on you if you try to draw and you don't make the, and you don't get the stick the first time. So just a random absolutely set up there. I'm, I'm one of those people who, even though I had the experience as a paramedic, so I can drop a line super easy, in left and right. But it's interesting going from, doing an IV line, someone will think that phlebotomy is just the same and, and for whatever reason, even when I was in medical school, it was just a little different when we learned it. But that practice really, kind of like holds tight. And for some people, like if I'm not feeling a good vein or if they're like a larger obese person might have a really deep vein that maybe I can't access with the needle that I have and things like that I will honestly be like, you know what? I'm not seeing a good option. You're probably better off gonna LabCorp or something of that nature. So, being honest with them, they, they value that. And then some people just, happen to go to LabCorp just because it's closer to their off, closer to where they live and they're gonna get fasting labs anyway. So instead of making the long drive to me or vice versa. So that's super, it's a, it's a great point to do. So, the experience, you don't have to feel like you have to have a ton of experience to start it. You can easily, work it in as, as the flow goes if you will. I, I will say also that in terms of that, in terms of just putting numbers to what experience did Marielle have when she was starting this? I would say about 23 patients. And thank you to Dr. Vima and her patients for volunteering to help train another physician. So it is definitely possible, and it is not it's not the end of the world if you don't get it.'cause Absolutely, you can always say like, Hey, I didn't get it, which I say like, probably 30% of the time still, and they have to go to LabCorp, but it's not the end of the world. So, so let me ask you this, because we've alluded to this, but I, one of the things that I'm noticed on your on your website is your blog and the, the blog is a great tool that we all can access in terms of building a presence on the web building, SEO. But one of the articles that stuck out for me, and I think this is a great tool that I, it was sort of like, wow, it's, it's interesting that a physician still has to put this, but the, the difference between an MD and a deal, you had a blog post specifically about the difference. And I'm just wondering what are the things that you're hearing from patients and how did this blog help your community understand? One, you're a doctor and two, you're a doctor who has way more skills than I do when it comes to OMT. It's interesting that you ask that because when I was first as a student and things like that, and you compare that then, and versus now I feel like that question, like what's a do was way more prominent even up in Pennsylvania where there's plenty of dos and things like that. And now I feel like I don't get it as much. And maybe because when Campbell University came local to the Raleigh area, perhaps there was more information about that. And so now it's not necessarily like, oh, you're a doctor. It's more so can you explain the difference?'cause I wanna know more. And so I like that change of mentality. And there's a lot of MDs yourself, probably one of them that is always is there a course I can take to learn this? And things like that and so when I talk to patients and kind of explain it, it's interesting because. You gotta simplify things. You gotta see what they're coming from or what they know and things. And so often I bring up chiropractic and I say, I educate them like chiropractic actually came after do so do started, and then chiropractic kind of took the spine. But we do similar things like the popping, cracking, but a lot more outside of that. And not just the spine. So not just the spine, not just the bones, but the muscle and the fascia and the entire body. Whereas chiropractor is more narrowed down to HVLA techniques and the spine. And so that kind of outlines things for folks. And I really kind of delve in there after, depending on, their interest or things to identify like. Even explaining what fascia is. Some folks aren't aware what fascia is and explaining that and like lymphatic techniques and different vessels that, you can help out and, and different things that can be used, not just in bone manipulation, but even when it comes to like sinus issues or lymphatic techniques. I even cite a case with my kiddo where I was like, he came down with the worst cold in the world and it was, when I was setting up the clinic, I was like, buddy, lay down, do some lymphatic techniques, did some sinus drainage, and the kid was like, whole new kid and the next day and I was like, I don't know if that was everything or what, but, and so those accessory techniques are things I think that folks are initially drawn to and kind of the, the inverse of. Hey, I joined the practice because I was seeing you for OMT. I also have the inverse, like I joined the practice and now hey, can we set an OMT visit? And so you get the reverse of that as well. I didn't even think about that, but absolutely. That's fantastic. Before I got myself a DPC doctor. I'm, I'm self-treating, trying to drain my ear and like watching on YouTube, like how do I do this? And I texted one of my co-residents and I was like, Hardeep, this is what I just learned. And she's just. Started laughing, just laughing. And she's I'm glad it's working for you. That this is the type of stuff that we do and more as dos. And I was like, oh my God, I'm so, I'm so like, not jealous, but I'm like, I am so, in awe at, at the, the change I made and clearly I'm like YouTube trained, but just needing relief. Oh my gosh. It was. So powerful. So, I think it's, it's awesome that it also is something that your community is not questioning as to questioning to the extent that it was before. Back in the two thousands, people were like, are you a real doctor? It's yes, yes, a hundred percent. I'm wondering though, if you have any advice for specifically those dos who are doing DPC in terms of talking about OMT with their patients? Especially if a person hasn't experienced OMT because, in terms of marketing and in terms of the, the language that you find patients really understand or find that they're attracted to that makes'em actually follow through and make an appointment with you. What has helped your community when it comes to do specific copy? I would almost say even just your current patient population, talking to'em about it or even, you can talk about it all you want, but even just, I call it accessory or adjunct type of treatment. So not everyone's gonna get a full body, but if they're dealing with back pain and I can be like, actually that's not your back, it's your rib. And I put it back in a place and they're like, whoa. So even just those small treatments with, you know, I'm having hip pain, the classic folk might, you know, think of X-ray or even traditional medicine, x-ray, NSAIDs, see ya have a good day kind of thing. Getting more information, taking that time that we have in DPC, getting little more information and being like, you know what? This might not be your hip, it might be your SI joint. This might not be your hip, it might be your lower back or vice versa, because obviously the interconnectedness, translates so far. And even likewise, I had a patient recently who was having this, really bad hip pain, almost like in your groin, almost was shooting through her hip being quite severe. She was already working with physical therapy and things. And I said, why don't you, why don't you come in? I'm gonna check you out, kind of thing. And again, not a whole body OMT, but I started the same way, started at her feet, worked up her, her legs and things like that. Her pelvis was all off. And so you had the two halves of her pelvis, the an nominates kind of, rotated and things adjusted her. And then did the final technique in that sit set that I have. And in that last technique she heard, and we both heard like a gigantic pop which essentially was her pubic synthesis readjusting after, the torsion and the shearing and things like that, when everything was reset and you do that final thing to make sure it kind of holds. Moving down the line kind of thing. And and her pain was gone, the next day I was like, Hey, how's it going? She's I am so much better. Thank you. Wow. And those are the folks who are like, yeah, that made a huge difference. Let me, let me see what a whole body thing. Because whole body is not even taking, like an, an ailment or a symptom that they know they have. It's almost like starting from, from the scratch. Like they might be like, yeah, my knees bother me here and there, or My hips bother me and my back is kind of outta whack. But then you start, evaluating and treating each little segment, and then they are like, wow, that was awesome because I didn't, I even joke around about it, even when I saw my OMT doc when I was in school. You go into the treatment and you're like. I'm feeling okay. My back's kind of tight. I've been studying a lot, and then you walk out and you're like, I didn't know. I couldn't breathe before, but now I can, like I can actually inhale and I don't feel so restricted and things. So some, sometimes it's not even the before as much as the effort, how much you notice. You notice that, wow, there's a lot of dysfunction going on before, and now I feel a lot more free in, in how I'm moving and breathing and just walking and everything. So as we talk about the, the power of. OMT You also had mentioned chiropractic treatment. And I also think about, we're talking about doctors versus non-physician providers when people are, going out for what they, which, you, you use a term like cracking and popping, which my patients absolutely use a lot. They like talk to us about the difference between a chiropractor and a do because I think that there there is some and one I think it's impacted by, in our area, there are not a lot of dos. I don't know anyone who does OMT in our area. Mm-hmm. But when it comes to like adjustments, I guess people will go to chiropractors by default. And I see chiropractors having astronomical prices for things versus a do who has medical training and who can do OMT. So talk to us about What do you think is helpful for, for us to know as physicians to talk to our patients or talk to them in general about the difference between a chiropractor and a do? Absolutely. I would probably say, honestly, the biggest thing I find is that we really evaluate each, each specific level, very specifically. I've rarely talked to either chiropractors or, I do actually have my own chiropractor and my husband does as well. But he's very much almost like a pseudo do because he truly actually evaluates each level and looks at, everything and doesn't just, one size fits all. Pop, pop, crack, crack, that kind of thing. And so one thing as far as the training is concerned is that, we're not just looking at one segment and adjusting one segment. There's the. Evaluation, the treatment, the reevaluation. Okay, let's move on here. Reevaluation, let's move on. So it's, it's not just pinpointing one particular spot. And I think that's almost why chiropractor, they don't get the full effect for some folks folks will go to a chiropractor and when they're just looking at the spine and they're popping you and cracking you and, and you're getting all that treatment, guess what? There's a whole other body outside the spine. And so that's where, I think that comes into play so much because we're, we're looking way beyond just the spine and we're really adjusting far beyond that. So the adjustments either hold better or the adjustments, are more complete so that you're actually getting the relief. Awesome. So I mentioned the blog that you had for what is a DO versus an md, but also you have a blog that is on HSAs and I think that this is a really helpful tool that you have on your blog as well, just because that I was really shocked at the people who got really excited about the HSAs now being able to be funded as well as cover DBC membership. So talk to us about the utility of having a blog post about HSA and what, talk to us about the utility of having that for your practice and your community. Absolutely. I think it was huge, especially in the turn of the year. Interestingly, even online in our group even and things like that where it was always a gray area. Okay. F-S-A-H-S-A, like if you looked at the wording of the law before. It made sense that HHSA would apply, but then people said it didn't, and it did, and it didn't. It was always so gray. And honestly I was kind of one of those people that was like, I don't know what car you put on file, to be honest. But it was nice to have that law change where I could actually advocate for folks and say, listen, you are not only gonna get a great program, low cost, very affordable with tons of things included, but then also get that at a huge triple tax benefit so you're not expending that, in, in income tax and things like that. And you are able to really make it work for you and, and not only in just your membership, but then in your labs or your medications that. You might be paying good reps, you might be paying copays that are higher than we can get in, as as practitioners and being able to have that availability, I have tons of people switching over at the first of the year and even tons of people now that, still putting that word out there and getting that word out there. It's a ever changing kind of environment and always kind of reemphasizing that. It's been huge. Even one patient and her, her son actually were waiting to get their HSA card so that they could enroll. It was like, any day, no, it's HSA card so I can enroll'em, kind of thing. And so it's a huge benefit. Any, any benefit that you can get for saving money in the healthcare realm is huge. So it was, it was a huge plus to have that be an official law. I was like, it was always great before, but now it's official. Go at it, and I definitely would say, throughout the, the, the journey to, to passing this, we've done interviews with Dr. Leski as well as Jay Ke of the DBC coalition. But I definitely would say familiarizing yourself with the language. And then also having something on your own website, your own blog, I think is a really great is a really great and easy way to add some SEO into your clinic's presence. Just because people are looking up HSAs, especially with the changes in, January and how much healthcare costs these days. People are really looking into HSAs a lot more as a tool to help them. And then now that you can fund an HSA and, and have DPC, it's wonderful. But I think that in general it's, it's something to have just in case there are patients that don't know you exist, but they find you through looking, ab looking for healthcare access and HSAs. So something to keep in mind. Yeah, for sure, for sure. Yeah. Because, they might not even realize DPC is a thing. And so a lot of folks even, they have a, eh, HSA and they're accumulating it, but they sometimes don't even know how to spend it or, they're like, okay, if I need it for something, it's there. But you know, right now it's just kind of money in a pool. And, and then they're, looking to spend it on something and, and then we pop up and it's wow, I didn't know if this existed. This sounds awesome. Is this too good to be true? And often the, you know, the, the question we always get. And so it's nice that they can do that. I wanna ask here about your tech stack, because we talked about your, how you had a checklist and what helped you go from planning to opening. What do you see as the role of technology in A DPC practice? Because there's versions where tech can get too overwhelming from the patient's perspective, and there's tech that can be underwhelming from the patient perspective. Mm-hmm. And I'm wondering, like when you were building your practice, what did you, again, what did, what insights did you lean on, you and your husband to make sure that your tech stack was, was backing up the pro, the, the the experience that you wanted to pro provide for your patients? I think for us, because I'm a not a tech person, even when it comes to the darn printer, like the printer doesn't wanna work with me, just fix it and make it work. That's why I'm relying on that other half for sure. And when it came to, like EMRs for instance, I didn't wanna have. One thing for this, and I have a patient, I have to add this app for that and this app for that, or, I didn't want it to be fragmented. It's probably the general theme of how I came about it. So when I was looking at different EMR systems, I, kind of narrowed down based on either recommendations or what I read about and things. And then I did a demo with each of those and literally just had the same and call it OCD, but the same questions for each one where I can literally, compare apples to apples across the board. And so I just jotted notes like crazy during demonstrations and asking the questions so I can compare apples to apples or, or see what was missing from other ones. And then, really just looking at it from the patient experience. So, what stood out to me on some versus others was really optimizing the patient experience versus I think some of'em tend to optimize. Just the physician experience and really seeing that optimize the patient experience because like a receptionist, that's your first view. That's that face person's first interaction, even just that signup from being online. So that's their first interaction. So I wanted that to be as seamless as possible because that's essentially the face of the business, just much as the receptionist that is good or bad as the face of the business in a traditional setting. And, and so really kind of seeing what works and what is most important to the practitioner.'cause we all have a different practice style. And so I think that comes out in tech as well. And so, if you're not a person that likes to juggle different things or, you don't trust yourself to be able to like, carry the message from one thing to the other or all of those things is kind of what I, I valued when I was looking at different items to add or not. And then cost, starting out listen, minimal cost, minimal cost, I just didn't, I couldn't just delve into spending a. Big amount on something even as fancy or as awesome as it looked, or even even things that I came across at, different conferences and things like, Hey, I could have all this information and all this access, but was it really all that imperative for what the cost was and things like that. Absolutely. And I will say if you're in the search for an EHR, you're looking to switch EHRs, definitely. There is a free download for basically helping you choose an EHR, but it has basically pillars like, what is the membership and billing experience, what's the lab and orders experience, what's charting and workflow, et cetera, et cetera. But then it also has why like what have other people said about it? And then it also has a column for like, what do you feel about it? What do you think about it? And so, if that rubric could be helpful for you, definitely there's a free download just for choosing ehr@mydpcstory.com. But yeah, I definitely would say that that those are great tips in terms of thinking about it, in terms of how. You, your brain works with tech. In terms of the'cause that is, that is calling the kettle black right there. The whole like, well, if I have one more step for sure, I'm going to forget that that happens with multiple things in my life. But then also when it comes to, being mindful of a practice, especially that's opening thinking about that expenditure and how to cover that overhead, how many patients do you need to cover that? So I think those are great things to think about. Have you experienced any, any portion of your tech stack where a patient was like a little bit, confused or unsure as to what to do? And how did you address that? Uncertainty with, from the patient experience. I think pretty early on we wanted to make sure that people understood, like when they're enrolling, they had an initial thanks for enrolling. And the email code that went so that the patient could download the app that went along with our EMR. So they had that direct interface. And one thing that we started probably Midsummer was like, we're gonna send a our separate, very own welcome email. So it was that general, welcome to the practice, this is what you could expect in these situations. This is what you do, for your first appointment, this is the one you should schedule and things like that. If you're having trouble with the app, please x, Y, or Z. And so outline that. So they always knew that they weren't just kinda like hanging out. We didn't want folks to sign up and then be like. Well, I haven't heard anything, what's going on? And so we wanted to kind of close that loop, if you will. Otherwise we've had different snafus here and there. You know, Like at one point the scheduling wasn't working out and there was a true glitch at one point, and then I thought the glitch had continued and it was how I had something set up and a button essentially that I didn't have set up correctly and things. So, always reaching out and, and having even an MR system that you can get ahold of I think is probably the, the most important thing. If you have a system that it's hard to get help with, that's ugh, I think that's opening a can of worms type of thing, but just having, certain steps in place to turn that ugh moment into an aha moment. It was funny because I, I kind of took that from a previous company that I worked for, taking those small moments that can be frustrating for people and making them into, oh wow, that was smooth and I didn't expect that to be smooth. And then it was,, anticipating certain things, but then also taking random even bits of feedback. Mm-hmm. You mentioned this and pull that out of them, what could what was the issue there kind of thing. And I think that, this is something where whether you are by yourself or whether you have a team, just having a repository of these are the comments that people said, and, reflecting on them throughout your journey. It might be weekly, it might be monthly, it might be quarterly or annually, but seeing if oh my gosh, the same comment was coming up because that's, that's definitely one way of, of getting user feedback without necessarily asking directly for it. And then also we do a newsletter and I actually recently added give us feedback on the newsletter so that they can add in just from that newsletter. And then when people have different random, small little issues. For instance, one gentleman, he went through all the steps in scheduling, so he thought he had the visit, but he didn't actually submit the final one. So he had come in unfortunately a day when I was just ready to see the next person, and I couldn't like, scoot him in like with an opening. But I took that and I was like, all right, that needs to go in the newsletter. Hey, when you're scheduling, make sure you do this and you'll know, because you'll get an instant text confirming your appointment. So if you don't find that instant text, you didn't complete it all the way. And just reminding people, if you're not getting a reminder, there's not an appointment. And so, those, those little things just remind people, Hey, this should be happening and if it's not happening, something's awry, let us know. Touch base with us kind of thing. And it's definitely okay if, if you have snafus, like these are not 4,000 people who are pissed off about the snafu. This is like hundreds of patients. So it's definitely, th this is something that, if, if a snafu happens, it has happened to all of us, including yours, truly you'll survive. It will be okay. I wanna ask here about the, the, the operational side of things. You, you talked about how Jeff is, more than the tech person, fine, but when it comes to, the, the translation of medical follow through into tasks that don't have to be necessarily done by a medical professional. How do you, how do you build your workflows so that labs get, sent and labs get processed once they're in, and patients get notified? Because these are things that are workflows that, as physicians we don't have to do, like today, there was a reminding my husband you, you don't need to call urgent care. We have somebody who can help with that now. Yeah. Which was like, he was like, so ready to just keep doing. And I'm like, that we can actually ask for help with this, this task at this moment. For us, it's definitely been something where, for instance. When we, in our system, when I order the labs, whether or not I draw'em in house or not well, I should say if I'm not drawing'em in house, then I'm not printing anything off. So he knows that if the printer goes off and I have a lab order, boom. And it's something for me. He puts in the file, he were hit by a bus tomorrow. Someone could step in and take care of that as well, at least minimally at that base kind of thing. And then on that same line, if things come back when it comes to you had mentioned labs and I, I touched base on that, but like even faxes, because some of the faxes are for prior authorizations, and so even in DPC, we still have to tackle the prior authorizations. And so he knows to start launching the prior auth. And then, between visits, he'll be like, Hey, I need X, Y, and Z information. And I'm like, use this, use that, use that. This is the code. Those kind of things. Or even after the end of the day, he'll have everything set to go and he needs two things from me to finalize it. So I'm not, busy prepping and doing the, the pa he's doing all the legwork on the pa. And so same idea, he might call an insurance company and get a peer-to-peer set up and things like that. So all those kind of nuance things and that daily flow that are coming into the EMR, he's going through all of that. Or on the same sense, if I'm getting really distracted and I'm seeing patients and he's oh, by the way somebody messaged, you gotta get back to those, there's certain messages that are more, more high, need for the day versus can wait until, end of day when I'm just kind of run through'em kind of thing. He's always kind of. Keeping up on that for me. Do you guys deploy automations to help with certain tasks that are repeatable and expected with, pretty frequently I would say, I mean, it's hard to think of things automated that are just part of the EMR, for instance. So like when things come into the chart, a lot of my EMR has it automated. So, like we don't get faxes through a fax machine and then have to scan'em. Things come in directly to the EMR, so, which makes it nice. I'm not wasting ink and paper for garbage. And along that same line, patient scheduling so these are certain things that I, I look for in the EMR. So sometimes for me to think about it is wait, hang on. Because it's not something I added on. I, I look for it with the EMR. So patient scheduling is one of'em. Scheduling their annuals and things like that. That's one thing that I have sent a reminder to myself, but. It's coming down the line for our MR system to have certain things automated with reminders pop up for us, or reminders pop up on the patient side even so that we don't even have to send a message and automation pops up on the patient side based on what we set in the system. And then also, the automation with the faxes, so I don't have to assign'em to charge very rarely. If it was like an add-on lab, maybe what might come in without a name on it, but otherwise that part's automated. And then even when it comes to some of the imaging and things like that, imaging returns or different referral returns or stuff of that nature automatically pair up with the, referral that went out. And so that's kind of all set to happen so that it's, linked and looped the, the loops re you know, complete kind of thing. And going back to how you have in your newsletter you added, hey, if you have any, suggestions or comments let us know when it comes to. You. Then the other thing I'm thinking about is how you mentioned not only are you are your OMT patients then becoming DPC patients, but vice versa. Do you have a way of nurturing either one of those avatars in terms of like, Hey, you know, we also offer OMT services, or we also offer DPC services that you've built into your workflow. For that aspect. Folks that come in the door just for OMT or just for an accessory thing, like for instance, we do body comps in the office as well. I always let them know about what we do in general and how I always lead it into the conversation so that they get some type of exposure about DPC while they're there for X, y, or Z. Same thing with I've actually gotten some referrals for OMT from outside facilities, one of which was like a sinus center or like a TMJ center that was like, Hey, we can't really help this person. We think it might be more cervical. And we've tackled that there. As for the reverse with patients looking for OMT or patients that are already patients going into OMT, we have different like information out in the office as far as consider OMT. In addition, you know, things about even our body comp scale. So we're always advertising the additional services that we have that aren't included in our membership because our membership really includes a lot of things, but there's just some ancillary things that they might not know about or be aware of. And oftentimes even in that first visit with patients, I'm talking to them about what a do is, and that we have those services and then that's one of their benefits included. You know, that adjunctive treatment that goes along with just routine care. I hope that that is super helpful for people just to think about, their DPC in terms of if they have both services or if they want to split those services or if they would like to keep them together. Just some food for thought. So I think that's amazing. Now, you are a physician in your community, but also you're getting involved with, things outside of the walls of your clinic. And so I wanted to ask about your serving as a board member for Hope and Vine, because that is for those of you who are not in the Raleigh area, a nonprofit supporting young women who've aged out of foster care. It's a huge testament to. Again, true insight as as the name of your clinic. You're going to have very different insight when you're talking to people who have lived through foster care and who have aged out, so to speak, but they still need community and they still need support. So tell us how you got involved there and how your role as a DPC physician helps you in the role of being on board there. I love the fact that you asked that Marielle because. When we first started, I was not even aware of that organization, nor was I in a networking group of how I found out about them. It was women in networking that I found out about that nonprofit in the area. And before that we just had a bit at the office for food donations for the local food pantry. And so that was kind of our initial year round type of give back to the community type of effort. And then when I learned about Hope and Vine and they were actually looking for new board members and to not only replace folks that were stepping away, but then also to expand the, the depth of their board, I was like. I don't know. I just, I felt called to it. It was just that instantaneous, like heart talk, heart pull and my involvement there on the board, um, has been incredible. I, I stepped on in the transition of the year in January, and it's been one of those things where not only do I give back directly to some of the women, um, just as a part of my like pro bono type of care that I know a lot of DPCs are involved in. And I encourage everyone to, if they haven't considered that, but then also to really have, um, that ability to mentor them. Because a lot of the involvement, um, and a lot of the programming for them is just those life skills. And a lot of them, because of their history or because of trauma that they've experienced, don't trust the healthcare system or don't even know how to advocate for themselves in it. And so my involvement with them, not only by being an active board member and doing my role in that regard, but then also in the mentorship that I'm able to do directly in the girls programming. I am wondering if also being that you are a mentor who is a physician, if that opens doors for these women to think about and, go after medicine and healthcare differently because they have somebody who is with them who is also a physician. I hope that's the case for the simple reason that. I've always tried to be a very approachable physician, whether it be, you know, I mean, just in the general, in the office, you know, I've never put myself on a different level. In fact, I've had patients in the past say to me, well, you're the doctor. Just tell me. I'm like, no, no, no, no. Like this is a partnership by all means. Like, don't just take my word for absolute, you know, perfection and truth. By all means, ask me questions. If something doesn't sound right, please ask me. And, and clarify. And along that same line, I didn't come from a background of a lot of physicians and, you know, elite family members and things like that. My parents were very low middle class. Um, I had to pay my own way to undergrad and things. If I didn't get a scholarship, it wasn't gonna happen kind of thing. And so I feel like. As approachable as I can be and still represent someone who's achieved a lot despite their background. I hope that that can be an example for them, even though I might not share that exact background with them, but to give them an opening to know that it's possible and that you don't have to be limited by your past and can really set yourself up for whatever you want to do in your life. I really hope that that comes across to them. Thank you so much Dr. Barrett, for joining us and sharing your story. I'm excited for what the future is gonna bring for your practice at True Insight, and I am excited, that other people are hearing your journey as a do doing DPC as an internal medicine physician during DPC, and as a person who's so involved in their community bringing this amazing practice to your community. Mariel, thank you so much for having me. It's been a true pleasure. I appreciate it.

Maryal Concepcion 1:07:12

Thanks for being here for this episode of my DPC story. Whether you stumbled across DPC for the first time today, or you've been in practice for years, these stories are here for you, wherever you are in your DPC journey. And that's exactly, have a start here. page@mydpcstory.com is built now. It meets you where you are new to DPC and learning the fundamentals. There's a path for that already practicing or in the planning stages and looking for practical tools. There's a path for that too. Ready to go deeper. That's covered. Head to the start herePage@mydpcstory.com and find your starting point. If you have a question or challenge you want to hear addressed on the show, go to the contactPage@mydpcstory.com and leave me a voice message. And if this episode moved you, please leave a five star review on Apple Podcasts. It's one of the best ways to help other physicians find these stories when they need them the most. For commercial free episodes and extended conversations, check out our Patreon. There's a free tier and a paid tier, and both help keep the show going. Follow us. On socials at my DPC story and find everything from episodes free resources, the DPC Toolkit Magazine, and more@mydpcstory.com. My DPC story is created and hosted by me Maryal Concepcion A huge thank you to the team that makes this show possible. Chief Growth Officer, Keira Hanselman, head of Marketing and Strategy, Nathalia Highland and Chief Operational Officer Alexander Gobble We are all in your corner. Until next time, this is Maryal Concepcion