Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Tram Nguyen and Lan Pham.
Hi Dr. Nguyen and Lan, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Dr. Nguyen was actually my Sunday school teacher when I was 8 years old, and she was 16 years old. Something about her just resonated with me, and I admired her. As we grew older, we kept in touch, and she became a physician, and I went onto pursue my master’s in healthcare administration and Business Administration. We always knew that we wanted to embark on a journey together and create something together, but we were unsure on timing.
When covid happened, Dr. Nguyen’s company were unable to continue on with the business and filed for dissolvement. Dr. Nguyen gave me a call and asked for my opinion on what she should do next. She could not bear the thought of her patients losing her medical team and doctor, much less during a pandemic. Without hesitation, we decided to acquire the patients and business model and created what is now DPC Health.
Together, we have worked diligently to create a solution for the healthcare system by operating a membership-based clinic. Much like joining a gym, our patients pay a monthly membership fee to get all of our services. The services include unlimited 24/7 telemedicine access, unlimited clinic visits, comprehensive physicals, urgent care needs, and weight loss and nutrition management.
Dr. Nguyen acquired a total of four Board Certifications in Family Medicine, Obesity Medicine, Functional Medicine, and Aesthetic Procedures in order to ensure that our patients get the most value out of their membership. I have the privilege of handling all of our operations which includes creating all of our marketing in-house, handling customer service, informing patients about their memberships, networking, and building relationships with other businesses.
Our partnership is super fun because we value each other as individuals but also as colleagues. It has been an exciting time of growth for us, and we look forward to what the future brings.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
With every business, there are always struggles and obstacles along the way.
In the first year of business, Dr. Nguyen sacrificed her pay and worked for a lot less in order to sustain the business financially. Her team of two providers, ten clinical members, and a Board of Directors became just her, our medical assistant, and me.
We continued to work as hard as we could with our small team, and it was normal for us to work late/extra hours in order to meet our own goals and expectations. I oftentimes joke that I am “married to my work,” but it is true. Along the way, we had to learn, and continue to learn, that work should not be our first priority. We just love our jobs so much and what we do that we became blindsided by our true priorities: family and taking time for ourselves. I suppose this is a “good problem” to have. We value our patients and want to do everything we can for them.
But we are learning 🙂
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about DPC Health?
I already touched based on this, but here is my usual one-liner about the business:
DPC Health is a membership-based clinic that provides all your primary, urgent, and emergent care needs as well as weight loss and nutrition management.
We hear from patients all the time that:
– Their deductibles are too high
– They are waiting two months to get an appointment to see their doctor
– They spend more time in the waiting rooms than with the doctor
– The doctor only spends 15 minutes with them
With our membership, since we do not take insurance, we are in control on what services we can provide and how long we want to spend with our patients. We are very transparent with what our membership includes and its pricing so patients never have to wonder what additional costs they may see. If you are sick and need to be seen, we offer same-day and last-minute appointments so Dr. Nguyen can take care of you. And on average, an appointment with Dr. Nguyen is 30-60 minutes. All of our new patients spend a minimum of an hour with our medical team and doctor to establish care and truly build that patient-doctor relationship.
We are also very big on preventative care. All new patients receive a body composition analysis with our SECA machine that measures things like your fat mass, muscle mass, water retention, etc. Dr. Nguyen provides insight on how to build stronger muscle mass, especially in elderly patients, so that they do not need to rely on a cane or walker in the future. This machine also helps us with our obesity patients so that create a personalized plan for their goals.
Dr. Nguyen started off in a fee-for-service world and saw that a lot of her patients were obese. She went onto pursue her Board Certification in Obesity Medicine in order to help patients achieve a healthier BMI and to understand how she can help patients maintain a healthier lifestyle. With obesity, she learned that hormones can play a factor in your weight gain and went on to pursue her Board Certification in Functional Medicine. Now that her patients are healthy, happy, and have met their goals, she went on to receive her Board Certification in Aesthetic Procedures to provide minimalistic non-surgical aesthetic procedures to help patients build their confidence even more.
We are different from other doctor’s offices because we want our patients to be optimal in their health. For instance, you can do lab work and see that your labs are in a “normal range.” However, Dr. Nguyen wants to have you in the “optimal range”, so she goes the extra mile to provide medical advice to help you get there. Our goal is to get patients off of medications if they do not need it. And we listen. Dr. Nguyen listens to what our patients are saying and does her best to understand and treat based on how they are feeling. And even though we have a large panel of patients, we know them all on a personal level. Patients know us individually too!
Brand-wise, I am most proud of the marketing pieces that we put together in-house. When we started, we obviously did not have the funds to hire someone to manage marketing, social media, the website, SEO, etc., so I did everything that I could to learn these things and do them myself. I am not an expert by any means, but I am always excited but what we are able to post. All of our videos and photos are done by us with our friends and family using our phones the majority of the time. We are able to show our genuineness on the internet, and it allows patients to feel connected to us before even meeting us.
We are also known for our Mobile Clinic (a giant Mercedes Sprinter) that allows us to drive a tiny clinic to employers’ worksites that contract with us as their benefits plan. This allows employees to see their doctor on site without having to miss time off of work or not have continued care if they live far. We do this about quarter and pack everything up to see our patients! Some of our favorite employers are Meador Auto, Denton Rehabilitation and Nursing Home, and Symonds Flags and Poles.
Our tagline is: DPC Health, where Medical Care is Redefined, and we believe that wholeheartedly. We hope that we are redefining medical care in the best possible way to all of our patients.
What are your plans for the future?
We are excitedly building our building in Keller, TX! This building will have three businesses: DPC Health, Magic Touch MD (our medical spa), and our partners at Synergy Scripts (pharmacy).
One of the fun things that we get to promote is that our Magic Touch MD is truly an MD. The person that handles all our aesthetic services and is the only injector is a Medical Doctor, which sets us apart from so many other medical spas.
Synergy Scripts is fueled by DPC Health and has been the perfect solution for pharmaceutical benefits. We are building out a compounding pharmacy in the new building in order to provide cost-efficient compounding needs for our patients and other surrounding physicians that may need us.
And DPC Health just continues to grow! We love doing pop-up events and providing services off-site wherever there is a need, so we would love to work with people who believe in what we do and set up ways to meet new patients.
Pricing:
- $80/month for Tier 2 adults
- $225/month for Tier 2 families of two adults and two or more children
- $125/month for Tier 1 adults
- $325/month for Tier 1 families of two adults and two or more children
- $60 telemedicine-only plan
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dpchealth.com
- Instagram: dpchealthcare
- Facebook: facebook.com/dpchealth
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@dpchealth7536
- Other: https://anchor.fm/dpchealth
Image Credits
Andrew Nguyen
John Paul Nguyen
