Lately, we have been very very busy with the virus and bacterial party that is going on around town.  Did you hear?   The world is full of influenza B, strep, laryngitis, bronchitis, pink eye, and a wicked sore throat viral infection that has been coming with a nice 2-3 week cough.  Yuck!  You may be one of the sick ones.  You definitely need to wash your hands fervently right now because the bugs abound.  

So what is the role of your DPC doc this time of year (and all year for that matter)? 

We are here! 

We are busy, yes, but we are not so overloaded that you will be sent to urgent care when all you need is a phone call.  When I worked in corporately-owned medicine, our clinic had 5,000 patients. We typically had 25-30 on the schedule on a typical midwinter day so we had to start sending coughs and colds to the emergency room or urgent care by 10 AM because we were already up to our eyeballs in visits. The emergency room is no place for a sinus infection. This was not effective care for anyone.  

This is what we do differently:

1) We know you

We know if you are prone to lung infections or sinus infections, we know that you are a person to get sick quickly and dangerously or if you never get sick and this is really unusual for you to call. We know if you prefer early antibiotics or none at all.  

2) We listen 

If you don't have a fever over 101, shortness of breath, a history of asthma or other concerning symptoms we can call you first and see if a phone visit will help us gather the information needed treat you over the phone. You might get a text message with details about your symptoms so we can make the right decision about a visit or a phone call even easier.  

3) We are your advocates

If you are not getting better with the plan we discuss at your visit, you can talk with us right away and see what adjustments need to be made. In the traditional model, you would be paying for another copay,  another visit, or moving on to urgent care. This is not necessary when you have a doctor you can trust to be there when you need it.  If you have to go to the emergency room because we are really worried we call ahead, tell them who you are and give details they need to know.  We follow up after you are seen and make sure we can see you soon as you recover.  

We have some people that see direct primary care as a bridge to when they have "good" insurance again. This is a limited way to see DPC services. I personally have had "good" insurance for 4 years AND my DPC doctor. Why?  Not because I am rich, lucky, or entitled. I pursued adding a DPC doc to my insurance even when I was between jobs and building this practice. It was a stretch on the finances, but worth it.  

Why? 

Once my daughter got super sick with a stomach bug when she was really little. She had vomiting and diarrhea for five days, much beyond the usual 24 hour bug. She had pain near her appendix. I was worried. Like most doctor moms - I thought she was either "fine" or dying of something major, like appendicitis. I called my insurance-based doctor. The phone tree led to a message. The message led to an RN. The RN read off an algorithm and told me to go to the ER. It was not that the advice wasn't sound or that the steps were inefficient. What I wanted was to talk with another health professional that treated me like a person, like the worried doctor mom I was. I wanted someone to talk to me about my rational and irrational worries and gather actual data from me on if it was important for my daughter to be seen immediately or if we could try some other options first. I signed my kids up for a DPC doctor then and never looked back.  

So if you hit the insurance jackpot, good for you! This will help you should you ever have a collision with the healthcare industry that requires some big time care - surgery, hospitalization, fancy drugs. But don't leave DPC, that would silly! We are your gas, your oil changes, and your day to day maintenance. 

We are the practice that knows you in the good times and the hard. We can be there by your side through it all. We know you, we listen, we care. There is no insurance, good or bad, that pays for that.  

Stay healthy and well!

Dr Brie ​

​It is that time again.  Time to understand Direct Primary Care Math and healthcare options for 2019.  

​When it comes to those already knowing membership benefits, may this serve as your annual reminder of why you are so smart.  It might even provide ideas on how you can save further. If you are looking at open enrollment like a deer in headlights, may this shed light on approaching your health care dollars differently in 2020.  If you are worried about your addiction to health insurance, you can read more here.  It’s not that we think you shouldn’t have it (you should) it's just time to give up the 1990s notion that there is such a thing as “good insurance”.  Get what you need to cover yourself in a collision with the healthcare industry.  For everything else, let our membership help you save.  

Every year, I go on the exchange and shop for my family of four to compare premiums, deductibles and learn the new insurance players on the market.   Turns out, again, we can save you money.  Here’s how it shakes out:  

The caveat? For one, our family is not in the age bracket that gets the astronomical rates, the 55-64 group.  If that is you, we are sorry, your rates can get close to the family of four for one person alone to get a “low deductible” plan. Definitely come and talk with us.  
 
Secondly, looking at deductibles and premiums does not tell the whole story.  When it comes to cost savings check out our article from last year, the same per visit, lab and prescription savings continue to apply.  In fact, our lab costs went down this year and we now include our basic lab panel after 6 months of membership.  
 
This year, like every other, we hear more about astronomical health care costs.  Shockingly, a local hospital charged $46,000 to our patient when we had to send him for symptoms of a stroke.  During his stay he was charged $16,000 for one MRI.  With our membership discounts, the MRI would have been $485.80, if it had not been an emergency.  Most of the time we can prevent these high cost visits all together.  If we can prevent you needing the ER one time, you save your whole year of our membership (just $900 for one person).  Good preventative medicine, a proactive team and your motivation go a long way to prevent emergencies.  
 
I am a small business owner, health care savvy and cost conscious (as many of you are).  So here’s what we did this year.  We looked at a health share option for our employees and their families.  Nextera Healthcare has been partnering their DPC with Sedera for over a year and they have had good experiences.  I have been wary of health shares in the past, but Sedera seems to know what they are doing.  Read more about their approach to medical cost sharing here.  Having a direct primary care membership gets you an even lower rate for Sedera.  Sign up with us, or if you are already a member, ask for our link to get more information.  
 
Oh, and did you hear?  Sesame Health, a cash based healthcare marketplace, is coming to Denver.  Check out their Kansas City page and search to see what it will look like when they launch their network here in 2020.  

​If you change your mindset and realize that healthcare is cheaper with cash, then Direct Osteopathic Primary Care + Sesame + Sedera is for you.  
 
Direct Osteopathic Primary Care covers primary care and preventative health.  Visits, labs, prescriptions, imaging and our unique holistic approach.
 
Sesame helps you find ways to stretch your healthcare dollars outside of our office - specialty practices, eye and dental.  
 
Sedera covers you in an emergency.  Sharing your costs if there is an accident or hospitalization.  ​Get on the direct primary care bandwagon, it just makes sense.

Please share this article for anyone who might need us.

This week, Dr. Brie and our Physicians Assistnt Torey Ivanic PA-C talk about Direct Osteopathic Primary Care's philosophy of the doctor-patient relationship.

​Fall is here
Change is among us
Leaves are dropping
Pumpkin Spice Lattes are back 

What happens to you this time of year? Do you go inside and begin the first steps of the winter retreat? Do you throw the last hurrah for the rays of sunshine that remain? 

In the face of changing seasons, when it comes to taking care of YOU, how can you bring the fun back?

So this weekend on 9/21/19 I decorated for Halloween with the kids. It’s a first, this early readiness. I usually dread the decorations as a working mom, feeling there is never time to do it but having unlasting mom guilt about not doing it big or bold enough every time. You know, those people that pull out all the stops—they have the skeletons and the talking heads and the fog machines and infinite fake cobwebs out front. That is not me. I hand 2-4 things tops and call it good. My kids are young, they think it is still great. 

This weekend, not only did they want to decorate, they wanted to pick out their costumes. Off we went to galavant around town to get our creative inspiration going. On 1st and Broadway (where the real costume shops were that they were not interested in at all) I found the wig section. Now my birthday is in January and I will be 40. On my 21st birthday I got an electric blue wig as a gift and it transformed the winter doldrums and became my good luck charm through the rest of college. I wore it through physics tests and even the MCAT to get into medical school. My 30s, however, have been a bit of a slog. I did three years of residency, working 80 hours a week. Followed by having two babies and opening two medical practices. It’s been, lets just say, busy. Sometimes I worry I am not as FUN as I once was. Which, of course, prompted me to get this lovely new purple wig. 

Sunday afternoon I got lost in a 2019 twilight zone. Suddenly, headed across town to a friend’s house I had not yet visited, my phone went on the fritz. It was completely unresponsive. Unusable. No reset possible. Just a death circle of lock and unlock and receiving calls that couldn’t be answered but no other functionality. As a doctor, on call often (and at the time) this was a nightmare. Not to mention, it rendered me completely powerless. I could not find my friend, nor call or text her my problems. I drove along the frontage road of a deserted I-70 (which was weird enough) and wandered into Northfield mall. I got out of the car thinking, I should take this wig off, I don’t even feel like wearing it. 

Then I remembered, this was exactly what the wig was for. Bringing light heartedness to the situation. I found a Verizon store and waited, and waited. The wig and I struck up a conversation with several other nice people patiently waiting for their new devices. They kindly let me have a phone, a link to the outside world to reach across the Apple casm and find a repair solution. I walked into Best Buy and said to the geek squad agent, wig and all. “This is my phone it needs CPR. It is completely unresponsive. I have heard you are a doctor.” He fixed it in two minutes flat. We all left with smiles (and I in wonder, if only humans were as easy as a ‘hard reset’ when you need one)! 

In the face of adulting, summer leaving and winter coming here we have arrived at fall. You can see the tidal wave of the holidays coming and smile or sink inside. You can thank goodness for the waning heat or lament its departure. You can dream of the coming snow or abhor it. At the end of the day, you can also choose to mindfully and fully dig in, right here right now. 

So close your eyes. Dig into the moment. Take a few deep breaths. Think of something fun. Something silly. Something that brings a smile to your face before you have even invited it. Breathe in that lightness. If you can’t think of anything, don’t beat yourself up. Think of me, traveling aimlessly around town in a bright purple wig, hopelessly disconnected and ironically, reconnecting. 

Happy Monday. 

Join Dr. Brie and Psychotherapist and Hypnotherapist Victoria Bresee of Technologies of the Self to discuss how to identify if your child is suffering from stress or anxiety related to school, and the role of mindfulness activities in helping with your child's back to school anxiety

Often this is the part of the year where we become self deprecating about unsung New Years Resolutions that have not come to fruition.  Ironically, it is also the time that we can  start getting outside again in Colorado.  The nicer temperatures are coming, sure to be dotted by snow and rain.  What does that mean for you?

This quarter we are going to have a DOPC Movement focus.  This isn’t to challenge you to one up your peers or become the most fit person in our practice.  The challenge is for you and only you.  Here’s how it works:

1. Think of your own movement journey.  How does exercise or fitness fit into the values that you were raised with? As a child was movement emphasized or avoided?  Did you grow up with guilt, shame or pride around fitness?  How did that change as you became an adult?  How have you shared the value of movement with your current family or partner? 
2. Think about where you are now with movement.  Are you where you want to be?  Take honest stock of what you are doing well and where you have work to do.  What are the barriers to getting movement into your life regularly right now?  We know the story, time time time.  Work and life juggling, this is often the culprit for squeezing out our own self care.  Some people are on the opposite side and need to back off a bit and schedule rest.  
3. Next set a movement goal.  Make it realistic.  Don’t climb Everest (unless that is your thing).  Understand where you want to be with your own fitness level and when you want to get there.  Then write 2-3 discrete steps that will help you implement your plan.  Be sure to think about what barriers you are up against.  Brainstorm creative ways to work within the structure of your life so that your goal can be achievable.  For example, if you are not a morning person, don’t plan to get up earlier to work out.  That might work for a few weeks but your night owl nature will take over eventually.  Instead, find a doable work out that can be done at night from home, fit in a walk over lunch or capture an hour between work and home to do a new exercise class.  
4. Send us your reflections on Elation.  Only if you want to.  This “publicizing” helps you to be accountable.  Sharing helps to put your weight behind your goals.  We are happy to support you on your health journey.  If you are feeling extroverted, tag us in social media with something movement related, a good idea to share, your favorite app or fitness class suggestion.  Tag it with #DOPCMovement so we can follow along. 

Each of our team members that wants to will share with you over the coming quarter.  
Here is mine: 

1. I grew up in Lake Tahoe.  Nature was our playground.  My dad taught me about skiing, hiking, camping and being outside.  My mom didn’t “exercise” much at that time. (She is an avid biker now, she caught that fire in her 60s and has more miles under her belt weekly than I do, ironically).  I started with organized sports outside of school in 8th grade.  I was an “athlete” in high school and college, primarily with track and soccer.  In college and med school I played a little club soccer and ran but that is when my movement journey started to take a back seat to my academics.  
2. As an adult my favorite activities are skiing, climbing and doing yoga.  Running seems to hurt my knees but I like it on the rare occasion that I do it.  I can’t seem to be regular with it.  I recently found barre and like it a lot.  I struggle with fitting in classes.  As a working mom I fall regularly into the “weekend warrior” routine and get at best 1 day of movement in during the week, both weekend days.  My husband being very typical “Colorado outdoorsy guy” gets us out most weekends and my kids love getting outside with us and climbing, camping, hiking or skiing.  
3. My goal since having kids has been to feel like I am “in the best shape of my life” by 40.  I am 40 next January.  I want to get back to a place where my cardiovascular fitness is strong.  There is a time in your life when you want to exercise and a time in your life that you have to exercise for your health.  Beyond 40 our bodies demand it from us.  My short term goal is to consistently get in 4 days a week and slowly work up to 5.  I think that if I can get in those movement reps, the sense of “fitness” will follow.  Here’s what I am doing: engaging friends to go to classes with me (our DOPC team is going to try a group Orange Theory class this month). I invited friends to a yoga class this weekend.  I am biking to and from work on days where the stars are aligned to so do.  I am looking to add other options that can help me get in a work out at home when the kids are in bed so I can work around my barrier of not having time that isn’t doctoring or mothering related.

I want to hear from you!  We are looking to share ideas so that people who need a tailored fitness routine can find a new one that works.  We are looking for suggestions on apps, online classes, favorite classes to attend in person, etc.   Email suggestions for our next newsletter or message them to us on Elation.  

​Cheers to #DOPCMovement!

This week our counselor and Licensed Clinical Social Worker Sarah Rasche joined us to talk about the concept of "self care".

Like mindfulness, diet, and exercise, self care has become yet another aspect of mental health that is the subject of paid classes, books, workshops, and special methods that all are aimed at making money off the fact that people are becoming more aware of their mental health.

​But you don't need to pay to take care of yourself. Watch our video to learn about the many ways you can give yourself the care that you need without pulling out your wallet.

Using essential oils in conjunction with mindfulness practices, can be a powerful tool in supporting emotions, focus, memory retention, and anchoring in new patterns and beliefs.

Today we talked with Midwife and Health and Wellness Coach Angela Seeling, who uses different Essential Oils in her practice to elicit specific emotions and use the power of our sense of smell to access deep feelings and memories.

Angela will be hosting a workshop on Mindfulness, Emotions, and Essential Oils at our office on Friday, March 8th at 5:30pm. We'll talk about aroma as a direct pathway to to the lymbic system in the brain, and the science behind how essential oils work. Participants will make their own emotional aromatherapy blend to take home, and incorporate into daily practices. Sign up here!

Announcing DOPC's focus for Winter: Mental Health. Following up on our fall focus of Nutrition, we are turning our attention to what can we do to feel good so that taking care of ourselves is something that follows more easily. Drab weather got you down? Did you fall off your New Year's Resolution wagon? Watch today's video to find out about the programs and events coming up over the next few months.