The Small Business Physician in the Age of AI

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When I graduated from residency in 2021, AI was something most people only talked about in science fiction movies. In a few short years that has completely changed. I now use AI tools every single day. I have automated tasks for my clinic, built custom medical dashboards that keep me updated on pertinent medical topics, and have even found myself speaking with software companies about how they can help build the future AI tools of DPC.

AI integration is coming whether we like it or not. The real question is how we use it.

As DPC physicians we wear a thousand hats. We are the doctor, but we are also the business owner, the marketer, the billing department, the IT department, and the person who orders the paper towels. Every hour spent on those other hats is an hour not spent being a physician. That is where I believe the pioneering field of DPC benefits most from AI. Used correctly, it gives physicians more time to be exactly that. Physicians.

I am genuinely excited about the power a small business will have. Tasks that once required a staff, a vendor contract, or a hospital IT department can now be handled by a solo physician with the right tools and a little curiosity. For a model built on independence, that is a big deal. It levels a playing field that has been tilted toward large corporations and health systems for decades.

But I do have reservations. There is a deep disregard for regulation in how AI is being developed, and a relentless pursuit of AI more capable than human level thinking. As physicians we are trained to weigh benefit against risk before we act. I am not sure the industry building these tools is doing the same. Moving fast and breaking things is a fine philosophy for a tech start up not a multi trillion dollar industry.

How we strike that balance for the future is a question worth pursuing. I want the tools that give me back my time. I want them built responsibly. And I want physicians, especially those of us in DPC who already chose a different path, to have a seat at the table while that future is being built

About Daniel Dvoskin, DO

Dr. Dvoskin, known to most patients as “Dr. Daniel,” was born in Ukraine and immigrated to Brooklyn, New York, where he spent his early childhood. Fluent in English and Russian, he earned a Bachelor of Science in Biological Science from Florida International University and a Doctor of Medicine from William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Dr. Daniel launched his pediatric medicine career at Baylor Scott & White McLane Children’s, where he completed his residency in 2022. He worked with Texas Children's Hospital until he started his current direct pediatric primary care practice. He has a passion for forming relationships with patients and watching them grow alongside their families. When not seeing patients, Dr. Daniel enjoys spending family time with his family: his wife, an optometrist in Hutto, and their daughters. His other hobbies include creative writing and automotive sports. Community outreach is important to Dr. Daniel, and he looks forward to planting roots in the Taylor area.