I don't think they will pay

Dr. Tea:     0:01
Owners of a direct care practice are more likely to experience higher job satisfaction than the insurance based practice. And it's no wonder why direct care is independent of insurance. Patients pay the doctor directly for their expertise. The doctor gets full autonomy in how they care for patients and how they get paid. We've chosen this path for the love of medicine. This is the direct care way.

Dr. Tea:     0:26
By listening to this podcast, you may even start to believe you too can have a successful direct care practice. Come listen with an open mind. As I share my personal journey on how I pivoted from an insurance based practice to direct care, right in the middle of a pandemic. And the valuable lessons along the way. This podcast may be the very thing you need to revitalize your medical practice. I'm your host owner of a direct care podiatry practice. Dr. Tea Nguyen.

Dr. Tea:     0:54
I'm so excited to share this episode with you, Episode 19, I don't think they will pay. This is one of the biggest misconceptions doctors have about patients willing or wanting to pay for medical services. In my private Facebook group, I put out a question, which was what would you charge a patient who wants to come in for a diabetic foot exam? It was a multiple choice plus an open answer question. People responded as I had expected, the price range from $100 to 250. And then I followed up with a question and asked, How would you feel if I told you, my patients pay me $450 For this appointment? I practice in California, my office is in a community where the medium income is $35,000. So I'm not living in a Bougie busy place. This is a small town. Within these posts, I got a really great answer. Someone wrote, I would feel guilty charging that much. And you know, I lead with curiosity, because I'm a researcher at heart. 

Dr. Tea:     2:19
So through more questioning, this person revealed they considered themselves as somebody who is extremely frugal, and wants to ensure that they get the most out of what they're paying for. And I was like, hey, that's me, too. I want to know that what I'm paying for is going to be worth it. I'll tell you what's not worth it. $50 piece of cheese. That's the size of my fingertip. Yeah, I paid for that. I went to this Michelin star rated restaurant and was like, hey, there's some cheese. I like cheese. Let's try it. The smallest little thing was $50 and I ate it underwhelmed. Not worth it. Also, I'm not ever going to get my money back. So what spent is spent right, versus $250,000 for a medical degree, and hey, look, look what I'm doing now. I'm practicing podiatry, foot ankle surgery, I'm saving feet, saving limbs and saving lives. So it's a big deal. So the trade off is in the value of what you put in putting a piece of cheese in my stomach just enveloped in the other hole, no value, right? Just a temporary sense of pleasure. Still not worth $50 versus investing in myself to getting that degree to getting that experience to connecting with other people. That is invaluable.

Dr. Tea:     3:56
So yeah, I spent a lot of money for my medical degree and those experiences, but it's worth it. And maybe somebody out there is going to say that's not worth it. So they won't pay for it. And that's fine. Everyone has an inner value of what they are willing to spend money on. And that's fine. So I dug a little deeper about this feeling of guilt for quote over pricing, which in reality, the price difference is not that significant, from 250 to 450. And this had a lot to do with feeling that they didn't believe they were even worth that. That they were lacking the confidence to believe that they already have the skills and the solution that patients are looking for. So let me help.

Dr. Tea:     4:47
First off any money judgments you have, be cautious that you're not imposing your beliefs on others. It's really not nice to do that. Imagine going into a nice store with the intention of buying something, you have money in your pocket, but the employees look at you, and they judge you without even knowing you. And they don't even bother trying to speak to you, or to offer what amazing thing that they have. Because they already made the judgment that this person probably won't even pay. Doesn't that feel awful? And yet, we are constantly doing that. When we say, I would feel guilty, charging that much. What we're really saying is one, I don't think they will pay. And that's a judgment. 

Dr. Tea:     5:43
And or number two, I don't feel confident offering that price, which is a self perceived value. The good thing is, these are two things that we can work on. Right in this episode. The mind has a funny way to tricking us in believing everything that we think. But let's be smarter than that. So let's break it down. Number one, I don't think they will pay is a huge misconception. Almost everybody has, especially if you never had retail experience. So first off, who is they? This is really important because you need to know who you serve. So you need to define who they are. Are they the person who doesn't value their health enough to go to a professional? If so, they are not your people to serve. 

Dr. Tea:     6:39
No matter what you do, they will find a reason to bicker at any price you offer. There are people who pay nothing and complain the most about their medical service. I believe it was a Babe Ruth comment that says the loudest booth comes from the cheapest seats. So keep that in mind. So what about focusing on the person who needs you, there are somewhere out there looking for you and are willing to pay. They are upset with a traditional insurance based practice where the doctor only spends five to seven minutes with them. But they're facing the computers the whole time. And then they quickly write them off a prescription. And then you just move on to the next appointment. That was the person that I was helping. Recently, this patient called my office for an appointment, but didn't want to pay. So he didn't schedule the first time. When he finally came back, that was when I saw this note in that chart. It said he wasn't ready to pay at this time and will consider in the future. And he came back. He had the chance to schedule either a 30 minute or 60 minute appointment with me. All my prices are transparent. It's on my website. And people self schedule. So he chose a 60 minute appointment, which was an indicator of how much time he really wanted to spend with me. 

Dr. Tea:     8:12
And his appointment, I took x rays that's just part of the package. I reviewed his medical history. And I spent the entire time listening to him. He had several foot issues. He was concerned about being diabetic for so long. And he wanted to stay active, but he developed this new foot pain. But he couldn't figure out what was going on. He had gone to his primary doctor who wrote them off. In his words, he said, I felt like my doctor got tired of me and stopped listening to me, and just gave me a drug that I'm really hesitant to take. So to this patient money no longer became an issue. He knew what the insurance offered. And he he found that it wasn't sufficient. So I knew what the market offered, and I filled the gap. These are my people, these are the people I can help and I want to help.

Dr. Tea:     9:12
They value their time, their health, and they respect expert opinion. So he is my perfect patient. And that's who I choose to focus on. And you should also choose who you should focus on. If I spent all of my days thinking about people who won't pay, What good will that do for me? That just ends up being a mind filled with people who aren't going to pay. And so my ego is going to try to prove myself right. So my brain will keep showing examples of people who won't pay for people who don't even want to pay their copay. For example, these people show up every day in our regular practice, don't they? But now that I'm aware of how I self sabotage it You can do as well. And you can change that narrative and actually show up to serve your people.

Dr. Tea:     10:07
Listen, you cannot possibly serve everyone. You're a specialist, you do feat. You don't have to serve people who don't value you. Did you know that you could and should discharge disruptive patients, when it's no longer mutually beneficial for both parties. You all need to move on. So that you can focus on your people. The process I have, in my practice, self selects for people who want to be in my practice, and those are the people I focus on. Are there people who don't have a lot of money, but still show up? Yes, because I don't ask for people's income. When they come to see me. They just show up, they have a problem, and I solve it for them. Easy, right?  

Dr. Tea:     10:56
Number two, I want to break down this confidence issue. It's actually my favorite topic. So confidence, we all have confidence issues in one form or another. Our entire academic training is so competitive, we compete for school admission, residency programs, even fellowship, even when we apply for jobs. So when we try to match ourselves to others that can make us feel really small. When we're constantly comparing our face and our lives to those that we see in social media. That can be a little disheartening, right. But I want to assure you, you made it through podiatry school, you have your DPM degree, how many people can claim that according to the AAA CPM, 11,000 students graduated podiatry school in 2021. And just think about that, in numbers, there are 329 million people in the US, you are less than 1% of people who committed to becoming a podiatrist, to be the expert of foot and ankle, you should be proud of yourself. 

Dr. Tea:     12:13
If not for you, then be proud of yourself for the people who are behind you, who are looking up to you to be where you're at. And show up for the patients who you can serve, who wants to spend time with you, and who are so willing to pay for your time. If you think what you do is easy. That's actually more reasons. To charge more. You're the expert, this is something that you do every day, probably could do it in your sleep. You are the expert, don't undermine yourself, because you think it's easy. It's not easy for somebody who didn't go into podiatry school, who didn't go into residency. There are so many professions where all they do is listen. And they're charging way more than we do. They don't even touch the patients. So this is a matter of perspective, and it's malleable. 

Dr. Tea:     13:12
Our thoughts of how we think about ourselves can bend and still be true. So why not pick a story that pushes you in the right direction, rather than putting you on that hamster wheel where you never really get to progress out of your business. So it may be true that you don't feel confident. But it's also true that people want whatever it is you have, and will pay for it. So you might as well show up confidently knowing what you know, and charging for it. So if you want to focus on those who will not pay, you're gonna find yourself back in the hamster wheel of charging really low of running a volume based practice, and some people will choose this. But if you want more freedom in your time, produce higher quality care, find an in depth way, in your medical practice, you're going to have to dig deeper and not put your money bias on other people show up how your ideal patients needs you. Now, is that going to be the confident version? Or is it going to be the timid version? You can decide? 

Dr. Tea:     14:32
There are so many misconceptions around charging patients directly as a medical practice. And that's because the insurance based practice has shielded us from this essential skill. We've been habituated to charge so low. Medicine is being disrespected at a level that seems irrepairable but if you've been here long enough, you know that I'm here to fix that with that direct care way. The is to restore the patient physician relationship. And I'm doing it one episode at a time. Oh yes, I forgot to announce my group coaching program is now live. That means if you enjoyed this episode, and you want more of it, and you made it to the end of this episode, you are my kind of person. 

Dr. Tea:     15:22
If you're a woman in podiatry, who wants to start developing the confidence to build your direct care practice, so that your business can be in a totally different place one year from now, dealing with less insurance hassles, having freedom in your schedule, and loving the practice of medicine again, come join me at coaching with t llc.com. This is an application process for a 12 week group coaching program where you will be with other like minded business owners looking to make a drastic change in their business and in their life. So the link will be in the show notes. I'll see you on the flip side. Take care. 

Dr. Tea:     16:05
Thank you so much for being here with me today. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, please like, share and subscribe so more people like you can have access to another way of practicing medicine, that direct care way. Let's connect by my info in the show notes and send me your questions. It might be the topic for future episodes.

Dr. Tea:     16:25
And lastly, if you remember nothing else, remember this. You are in control of your life. See you next time.