Transcript:

 

Dr. Tea  0:01  

Practicing medicine without insurance is possible. Imagine a private practice where you get to see your best patients every day, providing medical services you truly enjoy, all without the hassle of insurance. My name is Dr. Tea Nguyen, and I'm a recovering specialist who was completely burned out from insurance based medicine. I pivoted into direct care, where patients pay me directly for my medical services, and have never looked back. If you're a private practice owner or planning to become one who's looking to be free of the grind of insurance and you're craving it, simplicity, efficiency and connection with patients, you are in the right place. This podcast will help you map out your exit plan and uncover the mindset needed to thrive in today's economy. Welcome to the Direct Care Podcast For Specialists. 

 

Dr. Tea  0:53  

Today's episode is going to be really fun, because I've got a guest who is going to talk about her years of experience in medicine, a little bit about direct care and a different path she's taking now that she has total control in her time. So this episode is going to be a little bit different, because we are going to be highlighting somebody who is exiting clinical practice and the value that direct care has on your life, and maybe some of the other ventures that you've been kind of putting on the wayside, and I aspire to be just like Dr. Susan, being flexible with my time here and choosing to do what really speaks to my heart. So let's see how Dr. Susan here, who is an internal medicine physician with over 30 years of experience, she stepped away from clinical care and into the virtual medical advocacy arena, founding myMDadvocate in early 2022 she now offers medical consultations and advocacy support for patients. Medical entrepreneurship, business coaching for physicians. Continues to enjoy writing, blogging, speaking and presenting in a variety of national venues. Welcome to the podcast. 

 

Dr. Susan Baumgaertel  2:09  

Oh, thank you so much for having me. I'm just delighted to be here with you today. 

 

Dr. Tea  2:14  

I forgot to ask you how to pronounce your last name.

 

Dr. Susan Baumgaertel  2:17  

Oh, yeah. So it's Baumgaertel , and for 30 years, patients called me Dr B, which was okay in my office, but you know, when they hit the ER, it's like, Dr B, like, which Dr B?

 

Dr. Tea  2:29  

Oh, yeah, we met. I don't remember exactly how we met. I think it was through other physician oriented groups. And I was just so intrigued with how you practice clinical practice medicine. At the time, you had said that you don't take insurance because you offer more guidance counseling to your patients. Can you describe a little bit about that practice? MyMDadvocate and what that looks like for the patients who come to you for care.

 

Dr. Susan Baumgaertel  2:59  

Yeah. So it's, it's a virtual consultation and Advocacy Service, virtual, meaning it's telemedicine, and it's exclusively for patients in Washington State. That's for people who don't know. It's quite expensive to get licensure in all the different states across the country. I think that's one thing that would be great to change, in terms of, from a national policy perspective to allow physicians to consult with patients in different states and not have to get medical licensure and pay all that money. But that's neither here nor there. I really, you know, I was practicing at one place for 25 years, full time internal medicine, hospital medicine, outpatient medicine, eventually, with the hospitalist movement, mostly outpatient, I just kind of would visit patients in hospital for fun, but not to take care of them. And, you know, I had a variety of different types of practice styles, but I really, like many of my colleagues, kind of stepped away at a point when I was just, you know, literally approaching burnout and definitely absorbing a lot of moral injury, and we can talk about what that means. And what I really wanted to do was create a platform that patients could access me and my expertise. But I wasn't like a doc in the box. I wasn't just going to prescribe a bunch of antibiotics or pain pills. I wasn't just there to do referrals. I was there to have a dialogue, to talk with people, and to listen to them. And I think that's really what most people listening will probably nod their heads like, yeah, that's 80% of what we do. We listen. You know, that's part of what we're doing when we're healing and we're helping people. And so it became clear that helping people navigate the system, the healthcare system, and to kind of, you know, tiptoe through a myriad of medical problems or decide kind of how they address, you know, new diagnosis like cancer, maybe caregiving issues and all those kind of mishmash of things that I did every day in my practice. I felt like I could pull that onto an online platform. So that was really the nutshell of what I set out to do. And it's been three years and counting. So I'm really pleased with how things have turned out.

 

Dr. Tea  5:02  

What was your practice like in your first 30 years?

 

Dr. Susan Baumgaertel  5:07  

So in my first 25 years, I had several different practice styles. So yes, I was an internal medicine physician. Yes, I did primary care, outpatient eventually. And I would say 21 of those 25 years was what I call a concierge late. So it was kind of a concierge type practice, but I did insurance billing, which is different than most concierge practices. So there was kind of a combination of, you get a bunch of free, freebies and benefits and perks, kind of like an access fee, but then I'm still billing insurance. And along the way, I created other programs that kind of dovetail in terms of what I did. I ran a weight management wellness program for seven years. It was called many for change. It was just great. I had a lot of different types of specialists that work with me. I paid their salary and got a lot of complimentary type medicine, acupuncture, naturopathic, dog nutritionist, sports physiologist, psychologist. It was really just wonderful. And then I also did, just before the pandemic, I kind of did this pilot program, which was like a telemedicine version of care that was still within my practice. And so it was just with my patients. So I'm not not with new patients. So that was, ironically, really good to have done just before the pandemic, when everyone across the country was just kind of hustling to try and figure out how to care for people and how to get telemedicine kind of up and running. So it was, it was great to have those different styles, but, but the the meat and the potatoes were caring for people and and providing 

 

Dr. Tea  6:43  

Has medicine changed in the last three decades of you practicing from when you started practicing internal medicine to the tail end of when you were exiting?

 

Dr. Susan Baumgaertel  7:00  

One of the biggies is, and that's just my opinion. I think medicine, unfortunately, has become very transactional. When I went into medicine, it's probably like what we all do, we're healers, we're care, we're carers, we're caregivers, we're altruistic. We want to be there for someone. We want to help them get well or prevent illness and and along the way, you just you sprinkle in all the things that we're frustrated by, be it the corporatization of health care, the consolidation of health care workers, the insurance industries, the scams that every single person who's a patient on the planet knows, At least in this country, you know, all that stuff, the regulatory problems, the politics, the divisions, the pre authorizations, the denials, I mean, you just go on and on, the things that that prohibit us, the caregivers, from actually caring for people. And so I say transactional, because I think that so many patients know they're just kind of like, you know, they're being processed. They know their doctor, assuming they're getting a doctor, is just checking a box. And I'm not trying to be negative about my colleagues, who are, in general, just fantastic. I think very few of them love to be box checkers, but many of them have just, you know, kind of given up in a way, like, well, this is the way it has to be, and this is the way I have to work, and this is the way, you know, if I want to get a paycheck so that all that negative, you know, I'm just a spinner. I like to spin something and make it more positive. And I feel like many of us do a good job at this individually, and I think we do less of a good job collectively, because we all have our own opinions. I love what you're doing to bring you, know, in direct care into the spotlight. In many ways, there are people across the country doing this, but what you're doing is, is profiling this and saying, Hey, there's a better way. So even though I'm not clinically diagnosing and caring for people in the same way that I used to. I still kind of see my practice style, in a way, as direct care. It's just a different type of care.

 

Dr. Tea  9:11  

Just a quick unsponsored note, in case you found yourself feeling overwhelmed by stress, self doubt or negative thought patterns. I know many times doctors are just not ready to make a change, and it's most likely because of those noisy saboteurs that live rent free in our brains. So here's how I want to help. There's a button down in the show notes that says, take the next step. Complete this Google form for a free strategy. Call in the bottom, you'll find a positive intelligence assessment link that you can complete, and I'll show you your noisiest saboteur. Listen, we all have them. I want to know which one tortures me the most. It's the restless and the high achiever. Not so shocking, right? I've been going through a program, and it's something that I want to share with you, because it's helped me make huge strides in my business. And personal life, and I know it's going to help you too. So if you've been wanting to work with me, but you've been hesitating, here's the opportunity to see exactly how I can help all for free. You take the assessment forward to me. Schedule a free call to review it, and that's it. Don't wait on this one, because I can only take a few doctors at a time for this one on one opportunity. I can't wait to help you discover your own genius so you can finally have the life you've worked so hard for. Okay, back to the show.

 

Dr. Tea  10:37  

Yeah, I wanted to ask you about some of the legalities you had helped me through this understanding this in the past, I really love being able to consolidate information for patients, because it's one thing to type in Google what my symptoms are, but another thing to comprehend what's on the web, or, you know, what's worse, misinformation. And so I don't think what you're doing is that different from clinical practice, you're being a sounding board for patients, their fears and their concerns. But yeah, because you mentioned that you have exited clinical practice, what is the delineation between you advocating for patients versus you holding the hat as the care provider or the physician?

 

Dr. Susan Baumgaertel  11:16  

Yeah, I would say there's some very concrete differences. I don't have my proverbial prescription pad. I know it's electronic now, I'm not prescribing drugs and I'm not ordering a test, I'm not ordering an MRI or blood test, I'm not doing that actual referral to XYZ specialist and those. That's all inherent in functioning as someone's primary care physician, but I'm doing all the rest, like you said, and I think that that's where the power, and that's where the satisfaction, I guess that's a better word, comes from my end knowing that I can draw upon those, you know, years or decades of experience and still be of service to people in ways that that the system. And I know the system is just, you know, we are the system, but the system doesn't really make time for this. So many of my colleagues are stuck with 15 minute slots, 10 minutes slots, 20 minutes slots. And imagine you're a patient going in, and you were just basically going in for a blood pressure recheck and maybe a refill of your medicine, but you tripped and fell. Your ankle hurts, and by the way, he had chest pain last night. No, yeah, your mother died. It's like, oh my gosh, you know, these are things that I would talk about and work through, but you can't address all that lovingly, carefully, thoughtfully, in a 15 minute visit when you're doing a refill and so, you know, I mean, it sounds like an egregious example, but that's so classic, and it really, people are human beings. They don't just have neat little problems that fit into neat little boxes. And so many people who now see me in this practice style that I have now, just like the fact that I have time, I have time to listen, I have time to dialogue with them, and, boy, that's that's beyond valuable. 

 

Dr. Tea  12:59  

Let's talk about the logistics, about how you came to create this type of business. We can't call it a practice, but still, you're still with people who really need what you have to share. How do people find you find out about what you do and what are they really craving when they come to you,

 

Dr. Susan Baumgaertel  13:22  

I'd see the vast majority of patients who see me now are former patients of mine. So they just googled and were like, Oh my God, she's alive, even just two days ago, I had two patients who reached out. I haven't seen them in four years, and voila, they're just tickling this paint to connect with me. So again, word of mouth, personal referrals, my marketing budget is next to zero because I don't really need a marketing budget. I think that obviously wouldn't fly if you're a brand new doctor, hanging up your shingle and no one knows you. But that's where I'm very grateful for my past. And I guess they see me for so many different reasons, probably a third of them, I'm guessing maybe just a third are, you know, they see me as like, oh my gosh, you know, where do I find doctor, X, Y or Z, you know, like, I need a cardiologist. Who do you recommend? Or I, I've been through four primary care doctors since you left. What do you do? You know? So they want me to be a referral resource. And usually after that, and that's, you know, not too difficult, because it's just a matter of, kind of, where do they live, what's their insurance? Where are they willing to drive? What kind of services do they need, you know, who's taking new patients? And I kind of know people in the area, but more often than not, the conversation then turns to something else. And it's often like, Oh, my God, I had a recent scan, and I have no idea what it means like, okay, so, you know, I'm very grateful that I'm still an active staff member at our local, regional, large medical center. So I can get into the electronic records called Epic, and I can get into their records when they're with their permission, and I can look at stuff. So I can pull up their MRI report or CT report, and we can go line by line, and we can talk. About what it means, not that I'm taking away from their connection to whomever ordered it, because that would never be. My intention is to kind of undercut their treating physician, however often they can't connect with them. Or, you know, there's been a delay in terms of their follow up six weeks out and they're panicked. Or, you know, I truly have seen both sides, where the portal can kind of be death by 1000 cuts for physicians, and they're just, oh my god, we have 45 messages. And I just did 22 minutes ago, and now they're 80 more. I mean, it just, it's kind of, it's gotten out of control. But the bottom line is, the patient wants to know results, and so I can sit there and I can actually affirm what maybe someone has told them already. Or I can say, well, this is a reason you do need to reach out. Let me maybe give you some tips on how to do that. And so it's partnering with my colleagues in a different way. And it's, it's telling the patient, look, I'm a safety net for you, and I can kind of, kind of fill that gap temporarily. And I think that's a win, win for everybody.

 

Dr. Tea  16:04  

I wanted to know how your colleagues took to this. When they do they refer directly to you, or do you speak directly to them when patients have confusion, things like that.

 

Dr. Susan Baumgaertel  16:15  

I think it's a variety. At first three years ago, I, you know, I didn't really know how to market myself, if that's the right word, you know how to explain myself. And so I was just kind of assuming my patients would relate to their doctors. What I was doing, not a great assumption. So I really kind of had to reach out and say, hey, you know, I'm here to support you. Like, here's an example, a cardiologist who would put a patient on maybe a statin, and the patient's like, oh, take this medicine. And I'm thinking, like, okay, let's log in. So I look at like, wow, there's like, five good reasons this cardiologist was exactly right in putting on this medicine. And here's why. They just maybe didn't have time during that visit to go through everything with you, perhaps. And you know, this is a great drug, choice of drug, and here's why. And yeah, they should see you for follow up and do this, and, you know, this lab and so forth. And so I'm kind of reinforcing their treatment plan, and the patient's like, Oh, good, thank God. I wasn't even going to start. It's like, No, you should start. So, I mean, that's just one example, but it's a way of, if kind of like at the back end, saying, yeah, there's a reason your doctor is doing this. I can see it, and I definitely support that on rare circumstances, you know, I would see something like, wow, it's not exactly how I would approach, but that's life that is no different than me practicing for the past 25 years in an office where, you know, maybe someone had seen three different orthopedic docs, and two wanted to do knee replacement, and third one wanted to do injections. And here I am kind of either the tie breaker or kind of explaining why maybe you should consider this or consider that. So it's just, it just requires tact. It requires respect for colleagues, and it requires an explanation to the patient that this is a team sport, so to speak. So I think that reinforcing that got easy over time the more I did it, and I do have a couple of docs who refer patients to me every so often, but yeah, it's just, it's, it's, it's, it's nice to kind of fill a lot of little gaps. 

 

Dr. Tea  18:14  

I feel like you bring up such a good point, because sometimes doctors perceive another doctor providing information as undercutting, you know, it's a threat to some folks. The medicine as it is is dogmatic. It's what I tell you. It's just how it is right. They don't give patients the space to breathe and to comprehend or even to make a decision that works for them. Because, let's face it, old school doctors, even young, younger doctors who are trained by the old school doctors. It's my way, or you get out the door. Because I gotta say, the next 100 coming through. And I hate that kind of medicine. And I did my fellowship in that type of volume where we're either going to cut it now or it's going to fall off later. And I, you know, it made me crass for a long time. It made me really insensitive. For a long time, we just got really desensitized and how we spoke to patients. And I really despise that version of myself when we're practicing within the confines of insurance, we're limited by time. We're limited by resources. And you know, when the system is built in that way, we really don't give patients a chance to digest and understand and what looks like resistance is fear, because we didn't educate them long enough. Seven minutes certainly is not an appropriate amount of time to connect with people who are at their most vulnerable. So I'm wondering for you, you know, it seems kind of like, as you're describing, what you do for patients, it's really not that different from being their doctor who has time, but it's very similar to what we have now, nurse navigators, where I'm contracted with a nurse navigator, I'm contracted with a nurse navigator who does bill insurance because they're working on behalf of the insurance company to help patients get to the right referral. Network. Are you familiar with that at all? Nurse Navigator 

 

Dr. Susan Baumgaertel  20:02  

I am, yeah, yeah. A lot of cancer centers, a lot of major medical centers, a lot of different types of facilities have nurse navigators. But, and this is not by any means, a point of arrogance, but I think the difference, one of the biggest differences, is that I've been a doctor for 30 years, and so an example, great example, would be someone who was living in a remote area, would have to take a plane or a series of different types of vehicles, including a boat, to get medical care. And when I was chatting with her, she just seemed off. And as a physician, you know your spidey sense is going on. You like something's going on. And in just a couple of minutes, I asked her a couple of very, very key questions. And the first thing, I think, I was like, Oh my gosh, she could be having a pulmonary embolism. So I said, you need to go to the ER now. I know it's going to be heroic to get there and hang up. Now, she eventually got to an ER. The ER doc called me and said, Oh my gosh, she saved her life. She had a pulmonary embolism, a saddle embolism, which is even worse. And so, you know, a nurse navigator is not going to have that depth and breadth of experience and expertise. I've diagnosed PE probably 100 times or probably more than that over the years. Again, this is not a bragging point. This is just a statement of fact. Why do people get care from a physician? Why do people see a doctor? My medical assistant was very smart, but she's not a doctor. He wasn't a doctor, you know? So again, I think that systems like hospital systems and clinics will pay for someone to kind of help people navigate their path to get care. That's different from having, you know, decades of clinical experience. Again, I'm just saying there's always going to be people who are fantastic and incredible, but I think that's the benefit from why I kept my MD behind my name, and why kind of working as a physician in this capacity made a lot of sense to me. 

 

Dr. Tea  22:07  

Do you have patients resisting the idea that they're going to have to pay out of pocket for your kind of services?

 

Dr. Susan Baumgaertel  22:13  

Not really, I mean, by the time they have located me or remembered that, you know, hey, oh my gosh, she's here, it's a desire to reconnect. And I think that, you know, at first, it's a very unnatural feeling to think, Oh, I'm charging this person for my time, but I just decided to do what attorneys do? You know, attorneys bill for their time, and I've utilized a number of attorneys over the years for all good reasons. And you know, if they do a 10 or 15 email, minute email or phone, phone chat, you know they're billing you for that. And I think physicians and doctors everywhere, historically and even currently, don't respect that they should be paid for their time. And we've let this happen to us over many years and decades, where, you know, everyone talks about pajama time, when you're charting late at night, and you know you're not currently but in my previous capacity, I did that too, you know, late at night where you're just you're constantly working. And I made a joke one day, I think my husband was talking about something or other at the hospital, and he's not a physician, and I said, like, Yeah, I think they're janitor. I know they're taught different words for that job, but at that point I was saying the word janitor. I janitor work is getting paid more than just because thinking about the time. And I kind of said it as a joke. And then I felt like, Oh my gosh. I got my calculator. I sat down and thought, holy crap, all the work that I'm doing not getting paid for it. Yeah, I'm lucky if they get minimum wage. I mean, that wasn't even, that wasn't even, you know, I'm dead serious, and so learning to bill for your time, not to apologize for it, understanding that this is not the solution for everyone, but understanding that this is part of the system, and this part of the system is actually wanted by many patients. So, yeah, I've had, you know, occasionally, all the people who ask, Well, do you take insurance? And what's that phrase not as a full sentence, you know, depending on the circumstances. I don't want to be very clear, but I would often explain. I would talk about the true cost of health care or the hidden costs. I would talk about the rat race, especially insurance rat race of denials and fire offs and deductibles and costs and all that that's half of it's hidden. And so, you know, people spend money on things. People buy new cars. People buy a new raincoat. People buy, you know, Taylor Swift tickets. People buy a lot of things that they don't for a second they don't even think of because it's meaningful to them. But there's that kind of full stop when it comes to health care, like, oh, I shouldn't have to pay a dime for this. Well, in. Area, yeah, that's probably right, but our country, unfortunately, is not running that way, so paying for a a way to get better care is valid, and assuming that you're you're an honest business person, and you're not that you're actually following through and giving them, giving them appropriate care.

 

Dr. Tea  25:21  

So there's a doctor who's listening, and they're probably wondering, how can they incorporate this style of business in their practice? Maybe they're looking to exit. Maybe they're just looking for a new, refreshed way to practice their you know what they know in medicine. How would you advise that doctor to move towards the direction that you've got going on here with telemedicine?

 

Dr. Susan Baumgaertel  25:44  

Yeah. I mean, I just launched a new service line in my own business. So I do help physician colleagues kind of navigate, there's that word again, navigate their journey, kind of really from the high end up. I mean, there's different ways of looking at this. If they have a vision and a passion in a direction, you know, then it's just kind of helping them nudge along. I say the vast majority of people I've worked with are exhausted and they're overwhelmed and they're just kind of, like a chain gang. They are. They they have lost their creativity, kind of like I did, because their current position is just sucking the lifeblood out of them, and so honestly, me talking to them is not going to serve any role until they've stepped away and they've kind of had a chance to breathe and to rest and to kind of, you know, re engage with what they're excited about. So I think you know, each individual person is going to have to figure out what that means for them. That means for them. Maybe it just means a change of location, like going from clinic a to clinic B, or maybe it means, maybe it means a different city, or maybe it means a different type of medicine. So maybe it's not clinical work, maybe it's research, maybe it's biomedical or biopharma, maybe it's writing. Maybe there's so many other kind of facets that they could use their skill set for, perhaps, and they just are not sure what to do. So I think it's such an individual track, such an individual journey. I think I love that front end work with people I'm I'm certainly able to share some of the nuts and bolts. So, you know, I'm not a professional business advisor in terms of, you know, I don't run workshops, and I didn't go to business school, but I think having done some of this, I kind of chuckle. The other day, I was thinking like, oh, remember back in med school when they said, See One, Do One, Teach One, you know, like you see an appendectomy, then you do one, then you can teach one. You know, there's kind of a little bit of that flavor. Hopefully, doctors listening are chuckling, because when you've gone through something yourself, then you can kind of learn from it and put it into that bigger context. And I think that does have some value for people. 

 

Dr. Tea  27:51  

It's funny you say that, because just like residency, surgical residency, would be the second year teaching the first year. And it's not like there is a vast deficiency in education, it's just the fact that they've done more so they're able to teach the younger, even if they're not. Yeah, and it's funny, because I think a lot of us are perfectionists, where we're like, oh, we need to have 30 years under our belt to qualify ourselves to be good at something. And the reality is, you just got to do it. You got to put in the reps, did I do the numbers?

 

Dr. Susan Baumgaertel  28:21  

Well, I think the other thing too is, I'll just briefly mention that I've worked in a number of different business models, and I think that gives me a lot more comfort in talking about different options. So of course, the academic world, which we all worked in when we were training, but you know, I had the large group, primary care, private practice, both hospital outpatient for a long time, and I was an owner, shareholder. And then I was the founder of my medical weight management wellness program, and that did a lot of combination of insurance billing plus patient pay. So you know, flat rates or monthly fees. And then I developed a complementary medicine program. And so that was a very different learning curve for me, learning how to bill for complimentary medicine, be it acupuncture or nutritional support and so forth. And then, of course, my telemedicine platform, which is again, patient pay, but I do super bills for people who want to submit to their insurance plans, as long as it's not Medicare, and then if they have a health savings account, they can put that there as well. So learning all those kind of nuts and bolts, I think, gives a little bit of street cred to what I'm doing, and perhaps what is inspiring to some people who are considering those types of Bucha, 

 

Dr. Tea  29:36  

Since you brought up Medicare, I ran into this quote within the Medicare guidelines, and I want to read it because it's ridiculous. Here goes care that seeks to prevent disease, promote health, and prolong and enhance the quality of life, is not considered medically necessary, and I can put their reference down in the show notes for those of you who are like she's making. This up? No, I'm not. Medicare said this. They have it printed in black and white. You can Google it. And so what they deem as medically necessary is so different from how we physicians deem what is medically necessary. And you're, you're proving a point. You're you don't have to prescribe, you don't have to diagnose, you don't have to be within the network to still be helpful and use your medical knowledge to help fill in the gap that we know exists with insurance. And I think that is such an aspiring way to live your life. Through the evolution of what we see medicine, we used to think medicine was 80 hour work weeks, and then you die, you retire, maybe that's it, but you're really showing all the different colors, the different avenues that one with the medical degree can take if they choose to do so, whether it be part time or full time. So for you, did you know you were always going to leave clinical practice for something else? Or was just this kind of sudden, a sudden evolution of where things were headed for you?

 

Dr. Susan Baumgaertel  31:00  

Well, it was, it wasn't sudden, but there was a domino effect. I think that that happened over time, but at the end, very quickly, and it was just kind of like a release valve. I thought got to get out of here. And, you know, it's just, unfortunately, where I was working, they didn't handle the departure announcements as well as they could have, that's the polite version. And, you know, I think, honestly, patients of mine thought I was dying from COVID. Nope, haven't died. And so, you know, I think that, I think sometimes, and I've seen this around in other professions too, but you know, the writing's on the wall, and then there is some sort of tipping point where you just feel like, gotta go, and I think that's different for different people, and it's not something that I really planned ahead of time, because I was still working on doing a bigger and better program at this very moment, at that very moment, and I just realized I just pivoted 180 degrees, which I think shocked everybody. But it was, it was, it was the only way to go. No, that Medicare quote is, you know, I think scary at best, or just nauseating. I mean, it's, it's pathetic actually, to think that I thought that was going to be a Medicare Advantage quote. But, you know, Medicare Advantage,

 

Dr. Tea  32:19  

Well, Medicare Advantage just takes advantage. It's totally different

 

Dr. Susan Baumgaertel  32:23  

Medicare disadvantage. But I truly think that that's unfortunately where physicians have not learned how to market and brand what they do and explain what they do in a very holistic and supportive way, coming from a place of respect and kindness and caring perspective. Other industries are good at that, and I think that we just need to understand that the general public is not used to a doctor promoting themselves, when actually that's probably the best person to be explaining what they do. And so perhaps as this movement gets bigger and and patients realize that they're unable to get care in the way they really want, until they go into direct care model, or these kind of, you know, versions of I, you know, I sure hope that that it's supported as we go forward in these very uninteresting times our country. And I really hope that patients always have a choice, because I think that's the bottom line is we should always feel like we have a choice.

 

Dr. Tea  33:35  

We are living in many, many unprecedented times in this generation. Every few years, something is unprecedented, and it's like another jaw dropper. I just leave my jaw wide open because I'm like, what else now? We're living in a in a in a trail of trauma, and it's like, okay, well, it's better we choose to do something now, then wait for, you know, the next, the next thing to blow us over, because it's certainly trending in the same direction decades after decades as far as healthcare goes. So any last words to the listeners who may be pondering or wondering what life might be like without insurance. Is it a thing to do? Should you not do it? What do you think 

 

Dr. Susan Baumgaertel  34:16  

I really love it, but I would never project my love on someone else. You know, I love it. For me, I love it from where I've come, and it's the right time in my career. I could retire, but I don't want to, and I probably never would have done this right out, right out of the gate, out of residency. I think this fits a certain style and a certain need. When patients are perhaps at a certain point in their career, when they're they they've kind of been doing something, but they're wondering what's right around the corner, and they're not sure. But really, I think if whatever decisions we make as physicians coming right back to that center, why are we doing this? We're doing this because we care about people, and we want to maintain that connection. With patients that are valuable, that's trusted, that's sincere, and, you know, not all environments support that, so I love working for myself.

 

Dr. Tea  35:12  

Yeah. Me too. Thank you so much for your time. If people wanted to connect with you, what's the best way? 

 

Dr. Susan Baumgaertel  35:21  

Yeah. So my website is myMDadvocate.com, and my email and phone content information is right there, and I'm delighted when people reach out. I'm always happy to chat.

 

Dr. Tea  35:35  

If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a review and share it with a friend so more doctors can learn about direct care. Let's keep the conversation going on LinkedIn so we can help more doctors escape insurance and thrive in private practice. Thanks for listening. I'll talk with you next time. Take care you.