Sun. May 5th, 2024

I just saw this article called Amazon Could Fuel Doctor Buyouts In 2023 If One Medical Deal Goes Through and it made me sad. I discussed One Medical in the past here:

This newest article predicts that this Jurassic DPC Dino will start eating up practices:

The already hot market of buying physician practices is about to get even hotter should Amazon’s proposed acquisition of One Medical win regulatory approval.

With Amazon’s backing, One Medical will have a huge financial war chest to expand into a primary care market that already includes well-capitalized hospitals and health systems that are buying up doctor practices along with the new retail rival entrants.

I do think that a lot of independent primary care docs who work in the fee for service system will sell AND still be miserable. But I get it. These are old docs that are ready to retire and this is their parachute. That being said, I am sure they have to agree to still work for a few more years.

But what about you?

If you are a DPC doc and sell then you are making a huge mistake. You still will have to work for One Medical/Amazon for a few more years. You will have no control over what you built. You have to start billing insurance again while raising your monthly fee to $199. You will have let your patients down. This whole thing smells of failure.

Don’t be a sell out.

Let this One Medical/Amazon DINO burn on its own. It’s a sh%ty model.

They cannot compete with pure Direct Primary Care.

159660cookie-checkDon’t Sell Out to Amazon!
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By Douglas Farrago, MD

Douglas Farrago MD is board certified in the specialty of Family Practice. He is the inventor of a product called the Knee Saver which is currently in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Knee Saver and its knock-offs are worn by many major league baseball catchers. He is also the inventor of the CryoHelmet used by athletes for head injuries as well as migraine sufferers. From 2001 – 2011, Dr. Farrago was the editor and creator of the Placebo Journal which ran for 10 full years. Described as the Mad Magazine for doctors, he and the Placebo Journal were featured in the Washington Post, US News and World Report, the AP, and the NY Times. Douglas Farrago, MD received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Virginia in 1987, his Masters of Education degree in the area of Exercise Science from the University of Houston in 1990, and his Medical Degree from the University of Texas at Houston in 1994. His residency training occurred way up north at the Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine. In his final year, he was elected Chief Resident by his peers. Dr. Farrago has practiced family medicine for twenty-three years, first in Auburn, Maine and now in Forest, Virginia. He founded Forest Direct Primary Care in 2014, which quickly filled in 18 months. Dr. Farrago still blogs every day on his website Authenticmedicine.com and lectures worldwide about the present crisis in our healthcare system and the effect it has on the doctor-patient relationship. Dr. Farrago’s has written three books on direct primary care: The Official Guide to Starting Your Own Direct Primary Care Practice, The Direct Primary Care Doctor’s Daily Motivational Journal and Slowing the Churn in Direct Primary Care (While Also Keeping Your Sanity) are all best sellers in this genre. He is a leading expert in direct primary care model and lectures medical students, residents, and doctors on how to start their own DPC practice. He retired from clinical medicine in October, 2020.

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