How the DPC Alliance Was Started

I am very proud of the DPC Alliance. They have done some incredible work, and I think this most recent DPC Summit proves that. Many people don’t know how it started or the history behind it. Well, here you go.

In 2016, I came up with the idea, amongst a large group of DPC friends, that we need to create our own organization that truly represents Direct Primary Care. Not everyone agreed with that. Some were not interested or worried and didn’t want to go through with it. However, a bunch of us met again in 2017 to continue the conversation, and I pushed really hard to convince others that this needed to happen. It occurred at the Nuts and Bolts conference while we were all there and then again online, where we discussed how to grow Direct Primary Care and the movement. More and more of the group started to get on board.

I knew we needed an organization only focused on Direct Primary Care because I felt we should NOT have any one person or organization else speaking for us, that being the AAFP, which is now ironic. Here is another picture of the people who met at the Nuts and Bolts over the years to have those discussions.

Well, we finally got enough of us to make it happen and made the decision to go forward. We all put a good chunk of money into the organization out of our own pockets because the cause was too important. Though I was part of the founders who made it successful, it was really others who were responsible for where it is today. I had to work magic to get the best person to be the first president, that being Ryan Neuhofel, DO. He did not want to do it, but I begged him over and over again. And he was awesome. He worked his butt off to make the DPCA viable, and it is a shame no one remembers him as much as we old people do.

There are so many to name who did so much more work than I. I want to name the presidents (Ryan Neuhofel, Julie Gunther, Vance Lassey, Jeff Davenpor, and now Kelsey Smith) who did and are doing outstanding jobs in their own unique ways. There are dozens and dozens who were also behind the scenes (Amy Walsh, Shane Purcell, Jack Forbush, Mike Ciampi, Luke Van Kirk, Bridget Gruender, and so many more). These people were amazing and deserve a million times more credit than I do.

 It is no coincidence that we called it the DPC Alliance, and the symbol of the Rebel Alliance is still in the logo.

But we needed to get the word out, and we needed members. That’s when 2018 came around, and we decided to crash the AAFP FMX that year. Why the AAFP FMX? Well, that’s where potential members were going. Why the AAFP? Because they were a major part of who we were rebelling against. They represented the system. So, the plan was hatched and set for New Orleans in 2018. Here is a video and some more pictures from that time. We even got ZDoggMD, who was keynoting the FMX, to mention our little organization.

We had a great party, which we all paid for again out of our pockets, and it wasn’t cheap, but we got a ton of family docs interested, and the rest is history. Yes, we pissed off the organizers of the AAFP, though some of them (Shawn Martin and Bethany Burke) even showed up to see what the hell was going on. They were not very happy. But times have changed, and now Shawn is the Executive Director of the AAFP and loves DPC and the DPC Alliance.

From that moment on, there were thousands of hours of work done by others who ground it out each day to make the DPC Alliance successful. This post is to acknowledge everyone who helped, but especially to highlight the early ones who are forgotten. Cheers to all of you and a huge thank you again from the bottom of my heart.