Why is the direct primary care (DPC) model gaining so much popularity? And what does it actually take to scale a direct primary care practice - from a single clinic to an 11-location organization with nearly 30 providers?

Dr. Kyle Rickner, co-founder and chairman of Primary Health Partners, joins Jakub Grajcar to share the full story. From the decision to leave the fee-for-service world, to the very real operational challenges of multi-site growth, to what it takes to build a practice genuinely centered on patients instead of billing codes.

We talk about:

💊 Dr. Rickner's #1 tip for growing a sustainable practice - on the importance of planning
🏥 The three core tenets of direct primary care
🔥 "Moral injury" vs. burnout - why the volume-based model doesn't just exhaust physicians, it puts them in conflict with their own oath
🤝 How Primary Health Partners went from two doctors to 11 locations - and the business partners who made it possible
📈 The EOS visionary/integrator dynamic for founders
⚠️ Why the third location is always the hardest - and the stacking complexity that breaks practices trying to grow
🧑‍💼 What to look for in a great operator - and why doctors neglect to ask for this kind of help

👤 Guest: Kyle Rickner, MD
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-rickner-md-353986111/
Organization - Primary Health Partners: https://primary-healthpartners.com/

📚 Books mentioned:
Who Not How - Dan Sullivan
Traction (EOS) - Gino Wickman

🎥 See how Talkie.ai works - AI medical receptionist demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOiJ3ITTrLY&list=PLLjcCBHYN2KoBqm-Dx-8lIwWLuU-CHXSg

Timestamps:
0:00 Teaser: how fee-for-service medicine causes moral injury — and why no DPC doctor ever wants to go back
2:24 Scaling Practice Management intro & meet Dr. Kyle Rickner, Co-Founder and Chairman at Primary Health Partners
3:11 Icebreaker: Dr. Rickner's favorite destination and a Cabo ATV-and-whale-watching adventure
7:12 #1 tip for growing a practice: plan ahead, mitigate risk, and reduce dependence on third-party payers
10:19 The story of a practice that insurance companies literally forced to shut down
12:26 What is direct primary care — and what are its three defining tenets?
14:53 24/7 physician availability in DPC: how it actually works without burning out the doctor
16:58 What physicians love about DPC: escaping the volume treadmill and reclaiming time with patients
20:04 The honest conversation about transitioning to DPC — sacrifice, risk, and the promise of fulfillment
22:33 Moral injury in medicine: how fee-for-service quietly harms both physicians and patients
27:36 How Primary Health Partners grew to 11 locations — and why they're a unicorn in the DPC world
30:04 "Who, not how": bringing in business expertise and funding growth through clinical research revenue
33:06 The EOS framework — visionary vs. integrator — and how it shaped their founding partnership
37:16 Recruiting physicians into DPC and the multi-site operational complexity that kicks in at location #3
40:17 Why they intentionally paused expansion to close operational gaps before the next growth phase
43:40 Why doctors are often the worst at asking for help — and what the ideal ops person looks like
45:59 Where to follow Dr. Rickner and Primary Health Partners