Episode 4: Dr. Erin Kallock

In this episode, I talk with Dr. Erin Kallock, founder of Focus Health DPC in Tacoma, Washington. Dr. Kallock shares her journey from corporate medicine to direct primary care, including what finally pushed her to make the leap, and how she built her practice while raising three kids.

We get into:

• How COVID and family life influenced her decision to step out of the system

• The reality of leaving OB behind for better balance

• Growing slowly and learning without a formal business plan

• Creative starts (including a sprinter van that didn’t quite work out as planned!)

• Why “keep going” is her best advice for new DPC docs

• Practical ways she sets boundaries with patients while still offering personalized care

Her honesty about the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, and the importance of flexibility, is both refreshing and encouraging.

Resources mentioned:

• DPC mentors & books: Julie Gunther, Shane Purcell, Doug Farrago, Paul Thomas

• Communication tools: Spruce (send-later feature), EHR options like Cerbo, Akute, and Atlas

📩 Connect with Dr. Kallock: [email protected]
🌐 Website: Focus Health DPC (site update in progress)

👉 If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the podcast, leave a review, and share it with a friend. Reviews really help more doctors discover these conversations.
💡 Have an idea for a future topic or guest? Email me at [email protected]— I’d love to hear from you.

Building your own DPC practice? We've got you covered with tools built by a DPC doc (me!), for DPC docs:

• ⁠⁠⁠Harmony Ops Health ⁠⁠⁠helps you streamline operations and automate the tasks that eat up your time.

• ⁠⁠⁠DPC Ads in Minutes ⁠⁠⁠shows you how to get simple, effective ads running without the overwhelm.

𝗡𝗼 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻? 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽.Get the 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝟱-𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗗𝗣𝗖 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲 - your roadmap to launch with clarity, systems, and confidence.👉 ⁠⁠https://harmonyopshealth.com/dpc-confidence-course⁠

Welcome to the very first episode of DPC Life! I’m Dr. Anne Gonzalez—a family medicine physician, wife, mom, and now podcaster. In this episode, I sit down with my DPC partner, Dr. Rachel Kelly, to share the story of how we went from working as employed physicians in the traditional system to opening our own Direct Primary Care practice.

We talk about:

• How we first met and became practice partners

• Why the hospital system left us drained and undervalued

• The leap from “golden handcuffs” to building something better

• What we didn’t know (and had to learn fast) when starting a DPC practice

• Setting boundaries with patients and starting as you want to finish

This is our origin story - the honest truth about how scary, yet ultimately rewarding it was to make the jump.

Resources & Mentions:

• Spruce Health – for patient messaging and urgent vs. routine contact management

• DPC Ads in Minutes – helping independent doctors grow their practices

• Harmony Ops Health – tools and systems to support DPC clinics

  
  

  Building your own DPC practice? We've got you covered with tools built by a DPC doc (me!), for DPC docs:

  • ⁠⁠⁠Harmony Ops Health ⁠⁠⁠helps you streamline operations and automate the tasks that eat up your time.

  • ⁠⁠⁠DPC Ads in Minutes ⁠⁠⁠shows you how to get simple, effective ads running without the overwhelm.

  𝗡𝗼 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻? 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽.Get the 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝟱-𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗗𝗣𝗖 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲 - your roadmap to launch with clarity, systems, and confidence.👉 ⁠⁠https://harmonyopshealth.com/dpc-confidence-course⁠

Welcome to DPC Life ! The podcast that pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to leave the broken fee-for-service system and build a practice that fits your life.

You’ll hear stories from regular doctors who took the leap into Direct Primary Care—plus practical tips, tools, and candid conversations about what happens after you walk away from the insurance hamster wheel.

Even if you’ve already opened your DPC or you're still stuck in a system that’s burning you out, this show is here to help you take the next steps.

🎁 Want behind-the-scenes updates, bonus resources, and early access to new episodes?
👉 Click here to join our email list.

New episodes drop weekly. Hit follow to stay in the loop.

And wherever you are on the journey—your DPC family’s got your back.