8 Reasons Why

I left my job as an employed physician in September of 2025 and I started my own clinic. Here’s my “why.”

1. Motherhood: This one shouldn't need much explanation...if you're a mom, then you get it.
   
   I never thought I was the type of person who would fall in love with being a mom, but I did. With two little ones, it didn't make sense anymore to be away from home as much as I was. They change so fast, and I was missing too many important moments. My husband also runs a small business and we want to avoid our kids being in daycare 5 days a week.
   
   Running my own clinic allows me to:
   - be home more, and be emotionally present
   - set a schedule that works for my family
   - avoid rescheduling 20 patients 3 months down the road if I need to unexpectedly miss work because if a sick child
   - be a better mother
   - be a better spouse
   
   When I can be a better mom, I am a better doctor. I am good at more than one thing, and direct primary care enables me to fill both cups.

2. Diminishing autonomy: Most corporate jobs come with a similar complaint but I thought that because it was health care it might be different. It was, at first...but things changed over time.
   
   I didn't have control over my schedule. I couldn’t book my own patients or decline a new patient. This meant my panel kept growing so that it became nearly impossible for my existing patients to get in to see me.
   
   There were people dictating how I practiced medicine: metrics being measured that determined my pay, and they weren't necessarily patient centered. Regular meetings with a coding specialist to make sure my visits were being reimbursed to their maximum potential. There is no money in preventative medicine. There were days that I felt like I didn't help a single person because my job became more about checking boxes and perpetuating chronic illness.
   
   I got tired of being a cog in the wheel of corporate medicine. Running my own Direct Primary Care clinic allows me to:
   - spend enough time with my patients
   - decide how many patients I see each day
   - practice medicine on my own terms
   - measure success based on things that actually matter to my patients
   
   I'm a better doctor in this world.

3. My own experiences as a patient: They say doctors make the worst patients...that may be true, but nothing helps you empathize with your patients like being a patient yourself.
   
   When I had my two children I experienced some of the systemic issues with health care firsthand.
   - difficulty getting appointments with my PCP and primary OB provider
   - lots and lots of hold music when calling for anything
   - spending longer in the waiting room than with my provider
   - finding out months later just how expensive it is to have a baby at a hospital
   
   The care didn't feel personal, it felt transactional.
   
   We received good care from compassionate people. However none of it was immune from the problems of corporate health care, and I realized that I was working in that system, perpetuating it. If I wanted to create a better experience for my patients, I needed to do it elsewhere.

4. Differing practice styles: This one's totally a "me" problem because it's okay for doctors to have different practice styles. I tend to take a more hands on approach with my patients where we are more like partners on a journey than the historical paternalistic role of the doctor. We always have a plan.
   
   If my patient needed to see one of my partners I may feel like I would’ve handled things differently, or that we digressed from the goals we were working towards. This occurred commonly when my own patients were unable to get on my schedule because I was usually booked out at least 3 months in advance.
   
   In my new clinic, I'm the only doctor at this point. Patients don't get bounced around between different providers. I'm not opposed to working with another doctor again, but I'll get to be more picky about it since I'm running the business myself.

5. To provide better care for people with chronic diseases: It really felt like the goal was to see these folks one or two times a year and keep them "stable." But really, we were keeping them sick. I kept wondering, "what are we doing to get these people better?"
   
   I took care of plenty of medically complex patients with poorly managed chronic diseases...on a long list of medications with no stop date in sight. Some of the patients were fine staying on their meds forever, and others had no idea that things could be different.
   
   Things could be different in that we could potentially improve and/or reverse their disease.
   - how do we get off medications?
   - how do we leverage diet and exercise to get better control of these diseases?
   - how will we measure success?
   
   I got tired of pushing pills. Treating these people better meant I needed to work in an environment where I could see people more often, have more touch points, spend time on education, and work with patients who actually want to get better. That environment is direct primary care.

6. Middle men: What do I mean by middle men?
   Anybody standing in between you and your PCP.
   Insurance companies, pharmacy benefit managers, triage systems, schedulers, etc.
   
   I understand in a big system there needs to be protocols in place because of the high volume of throughput. I worked with many excellent nurses in my triage department at my last job. But "throughput" is not my goal. Quality care, reliable access, and robust relationships are my aims.
   
   My patients can reach me when they need to. The cost of their care is transparent and affordable. Their primary care has been simplified. Primary care belongs outside of the big health systems in my opinion.

7. Uncapped panel sizes: A peek behind the curtain of what it's like to be a PCP and an employed physician...
   
   I was not allowed to decline new patients. In fact, slots in my schedule were reserved for new patients because I was expected to always be bringing in new business. That's great for people looking for a doctor, but it's not so great for the people who are already my patients.
   
   Most primary care docs have a "panel" of patients that well exceeds 1000 people, many times several thousand. It is logistically impossible for that many people to get on my schedule to see me once a year, much less multiple times a year for ongoing issues. I think my patients deserve better care.
   
   At Fortis DPC, the panel is capped at a certain number so that my patients can see me when they need to. Your time with me is protected.

8. For myself: Leaving a well established practice with a guaranteed salary, excellent benefits, and a world class reputation was one of the hardest decisions of my life. The guilt of leaving those people behind still bothers me. But for reasons 1-7, something had to change.
   
   I am becoming the best version of myself, and this clinic is empowering me to do it. I'm a better doctor, spouse, mother, and friend because I chose this path.