Kudos to Rebekah Bernard, MD for writing this article in Medical Economics. She was responding to a recent report from the New England Journal of Medicine, which showed that female primary care physicians generate 10.9% less revenue from office visits compared to male physicians in the system.
You can look at her 6 ways physicians can close the gender pay gap when you read the whole piece but it was the part about DPC that you will love:
Here’s the good news: This is one type of gender pay difference that is easy to fix. Female physicians can either opt out of a broken health care system that rewards short visits and high billing codes and enter into a direct primary care (DPC) model, or they can invest some time learning how to work the system to their advantage. As a female family physician, I’ve done it both ways. Although I advocate for the former (DPC has been a life changer for me) I was also able to out-earn many of my male colleagues in traditional practice by learning how to outsmart the system.
Thank you Dr. Bernard! I love how she snuck the DPC part subtly in there.
DPC is a life changer for doctors. And though no studies have been done there have been no complaints (that I have heard) about gender pay differences. Why? Because you are your own boss. You pay you and you eat what you kill. I know that sounds weird or harsh but the freedom to work at your highest potential and make your business wildly successful is a great feeling.
In 2016, Dr. Bernard opened Gulf Coast Direct Primary Care, a new and growing type of health clinic that provides high-quality primary care for a low monthly fee. Dr. Bernard is the author of three books: “Patients at Risk: The Rise of the Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant in Healthcare,” “How to Be a Rock Star Doctor” and “Physician Wellness: The Rock Star Doctor’s Guide,” co-written with psychologist Steven Cohen. She is a national speaker on physician wellness and practice management.