It is getting crazy out there. More and more businesses are calling themselves Direct Primary Care or are being called Direct Primary Care by the media. And you should be worried! Why? Because it will end up trickling down and being associated with you. When the media only focuses on the big DINOs then that is what potential patients read about.

Let’s look at this NPR story, for example. It’s titled One Medical Employees Say Concierge Care Provider Is Putting Profits Over Patients. How does that grab you? Does it give you that warm, fuzzy feeling about your livelihood?

To be fair, it did say “Concierge Care Provider” but this story came up when I Googled news about Direct Primary Care. One Medical is somehow becoming synonymous with DPC.

The story originated on NPR so you can listen to it as well. Here’s the problem: “One Medical has a reputation for being a high-end health care provider, and it typically charges its relatively affluent clientele a $199 annual fee — before members use insurance or pay out of pocket.” One Medical is a DINO and not an authentic Direct Primary Care office like yours but no one will know that from reading this.

Here are some nice quotes from the NPR piece:

• Dozens of One Medical employees are trying to unionize as a response to what they say has been mismanagement of the organization’s COVID-19 response, poor working conditions for staff and, they allege, a declining focus on patients.
• Still, employees point to several changes in company policies that, they say, place profits over patients, including requirements for shorter doctor visits, less time to respond to patient concerns at the company call center and rushed schedules for laboratory employees.

There’s a ton more in the article. Go ahead and look at how things have changed once the suits got involved.

Listen, I do not know why the media can’t tell the difference between One Medical and DPC. I try to contact the reporters when I can and maybe a story will come out about the DPC grassroots movement. That being said, One Medical doesn’t help when they put this on their website:

One Medical is a membership-based primary care practice on a mission to make getting quality care more affordable, accessible, and enjoyable for all through a blend of human-centered design, technology, and an exceptional team.

Maybe the media thinks all membership-based practices are DPC? Probably. And they surely can’t tell the difference between DPC and concierge medicine.

We need to get the DPC voice out there to make sure there is no confusion. I believe the DPC Alliance should be part of ithis but please do your part. Use this article from NPR and send it to your local paper and tell them you want to show them the difference.

DINOs should not be your representation to the public. Ignore this at your own risk.

Don’t be fooled by copycats. Get the original and most popular DPC startup book here.