Your clinician, on text. One flat price.
No copays at the clinic, no surprise bills for a visit, no ten minute appointments. You pay a membership and get a clinician who actually has time for you.
The reference program's model, as a patient would live it
A direct line
Text or call the clinician who knows your chart. Small panels mean they can answer.
Labs before the visit
Blood is drawn first, so your first appointment is about real results, not a referral for tests.
Free generic meds
Through ManifestRx, members can get 1,000+ generics shipped free, up to 6 shipments a year. Brand and controlled drugs are not included.
Sources: thedpclaunch.com curriculum; ManifestRx terms via Hint and NewBenefits.
Two tiers, against the national average
Matches the new HSA limit exactly, so it can be paid with pre-tax money if the clinic's terms qualify.
$639 a year. A lower entry price, with more paid separately.
From a 2024 survey of 465 DPC practices.
Keep a plan for the big stuff
DPC is not insurance
It covers everyday primary care. Hospital stays, emergencies, specialists and imaging still need coverage. Many members pair DPC with a high-deductible plan, which also unlocks the HSA.
On Medicare?
Ask whether your clinician has opted out of Medicare. A Medicare-enrolled clinician generally cannot charge you a membership for services Medicare covers.
Weight loss costs extra
Brand GLP-1 drugs now sell direct for $149 a month (Wegovy pill) up to $449 (Zepbound vials). Clinic programs usually add $100 to $200 a month on top.
Sources: NovoCare, TrumpRx and Lilly self-pay prices as of October 2026; clinic program fees from cash-pay clinic listings.
Why a patient might say no
- You pay twice: the membership plus an insurance premium for everything DPC does not cover.
- A small practice is fragile. If your clinician leaves or closes, your care relationship goes with them.
- HSA eligibility depends on the clinic's terms. Extra billing on top of the flat fee, or bundled prescription drugs, can disqualify it.
- Compounded GLP-1 weight-loss drugs face tightening FDA rules in 2026, so a program built on them may change price or stop.
- Some functional medicine tests on offer, such as DUTCH hormone panels, have limited support in mainstream evidence.
Six questions to ask any DPC clinic
- What exactly does the monthly fee include, and what is billed separately?
- Does your membership qualify for HSA payment under the 2026 IRS rules? Can I have that in writing?
- How many members does each clinician carry, and how fast do you answer a text?
- Have you opted out of Medicare? (If you are 65 or older.)
- What happens to my records and prescriptions if the practice closes?
- Which add-on programs cost extra, and what are their prices?
Own your panel. Set your price. Skip the coding.
A membership practice pays you for access and judgment, not billing codes. The catch is time: the money arrives in years two and three, not month one. Here is the model, with the levers you control.
Three-year owner earnings for a solo clinic
Pre-tax profit before paying yourself, against the median PA salary. Prices come from the reference program; costs are benchmark estimates you can see in the method note.
| Year | Members | Revenue | Costs | Owner pre-tax |
|---|
The reference program's claim, next to the model
Years one to three, self-reported in the program's community. It reads as revenue, not take-home, and nothing independent confirms it.
The model's base case revenue for the same three years. A solo clinician hitting $1M a year would need about 550 members, nearly all on the $150 tier.
Average pay for a full-time DPC family physician (AAFP, 2024), including salary and bonus. A sober target for a mature practice.
Twelve weeks, in the order it actually happens
- Weeks 1 to 2
Set up the business
Form an LLC, PLLC or S-Corp, get an EIN, bank account and malpractice cover. Pick the name and an EMR. Set up e-prescribing, labs and a pharmacy partner.
- Weeks 3 to 4
Set prices and systems
Write SOPs and scheduling. Design the tiers. Model break-even by panel size. Keep staff payroll near 30% of revenue.
- Weeks 5 to 6
Build patient flow
Labs first, then the consult, then a scripted membership offer. Run a 30-day founding member campaign.
- Weeks 7 to 8
Turn on marketing
A content loop, keyword-to-booking automation, a landing page. Hire in order as revenue grows: assistant, then MA, then a second clinician.
- Weeks 9 to 10
Add hormone care
Functional medicine visits and HRT or TRT protocols, sold as add-ons. Needs a DEA registration for testosterone.
- Weeks 11 to 12
Add weight loss
A structured 20-week program. Check current FDA rules before building it on compounded GLP-1 drugs.
The legal checks that decide whether you can do this
- State DPC lawAbout half of states explicitly exempt DPC from insurance rules. Some of those laws cover physicians only, not PAs or NPs.
- Scope of practiceIn Arizona a PA needs 8,000 certified clinical hours to practice without a supervision agreement. Most states require a supervising or collaborating physician.
- MedicareDecide whether to opt out. Charging Medicare patients a membership for covered services while enrolled carries real penalties.
- Controlled substancesTestosterone is Schedule III. DEA telehealth prescribing flexibilities run through Dec 31, 2026; plan for in-person visits after that.
- HSA termsTo stay HSA-compatible: a flat fee of $150 or less, no extra billing on top, and no bundled prescription drugs other than vaccines.
- Coding and superbillsBilling every first consult as 99215 invites audit unless the notes support it.
- OwnershipCorporate practice of medicine laws in many states stop non-licensed people from owning a medical practice.
What launch coaching costs
| Program | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| The DPC Launch | $997 a module, ~$11,964 for all 12 | Playbooks plus a 1:1 call per module |
| Plum Health course | $69, or $369 with coaching | Self-paced course, one coaching hour |
| ACLM DPC Launchpad | $99, free for members | Startup toolkit |
| Hint Launch Bootcamp | Free for Hint customers | 10-week cohort; Hint software from $290 a month |
Why a clinician might say no
- Year one usually pays less than a job. The average panel took 21 months to fill, and that figure counts only practices that got full.
- You become the marketer, the bookkeeper and the IT desk. Burnout from billing can turn into burnout from running a business.
- The highest-margin add-ons (hormones, GLP-1 weight loss) carry the most regulatory change in 2026.
- Your income depends on staying healthy and present. A solo panel has no backup clinician unless you pay for one.
Sell the launch, not the clinic.
Every new DPC clinic has to build a brand, a website, a booking funnel and a founding member campaign. Clinicians are trained for none of it. A launch studio sells that work to clinics, repeatably.
A few thousand buyers who already pay for help
US DPC practices: the DPC Frontier map count and the DPC Alliance estimate.
Monthly retainers DPC marketing agencies publish today, on top of setup fees of $3,000 or more for a site.
What clinicians pay to learn how to launch, from a self-paced course to the reference program's full module set.
A done-for-you launch kit
Launch package, one time
Name and brand, a booking website, a lead-to-booking funnel, a founding member campaign, and one photo and video day at the clinic. Delivered in the six weeks a launch course spends teaching clinicians to do it themselves.
Growth retainer, monthly
Ongoing content on the five-post loop the courses teach, funnel upkeep and a monthly member-growth report. Recurring revenue from clinics that are already live.
What one year could look like
Illustrative only. Prices sit between the published agency and course prices above. Change any input.
| Line | Units | Price | Revenue |
|---|
Share of all US DPC practices this implies: of about 3,172.
Where the first clients come from
- Course operatorsLaunch programs teach clinicians to build their own funnels. A done-for-you partner is an upsell for them. The reference program has 74 members in its free DPC group and 179 in a second, patient-facing group.
- Software cohortsHint runs 30-seat launch bootcamps for its customers. Each cohort is a batch of clinics about to open.
- DirectoriesDPC 411 and the DPC Frontier map list thousands of practices with public contact details.
- ProofEvery finished launch is a portfolio piece that sells the next one.
Two changes in 2026 make the pitch easier
HSA money can pay for DPC
Since Jan 1, 2026, members can pay up to $150 a month from an HSA. That is a new message clinics need to market, with rules they need to get right.
Add-ons are in flux
GLP-1 compounding rules and DEA telehealth deadlines are moving. Clinics will need to rework offers and messaging, which is repeat work.
Why an investor might pass
- The market is small. About 3,000 clinics in total, and nobody publishes how many new ones open each year.
- Buyers are lean by design. The reference program sells the idea of launching for under $1,000.
- It is a services business. Margins stay tied to people's hours and do not scale like software.
- Healthcare ads have rules: FTC claims, state medical board limits, and HIPAA consent for any patient photos or testimonials.
- Platforms can bundle it. Hint already gives its customers a free launch bootcamp.
What to find out before putting money in
- How many DPC clinics open each year, and how many close?
- How many clinicians actually buy a $997 module, and how many finish all twelve?
- Will a course operator refer clients, or see a done-for-you studio as competition?
- What does a launch cost to deliver in hours, and how much of it can be templated?