Dr.K.Long

Episode 18 - The Truth About DPC Growth: Why You Might Get Zero Patients (and Why It's Still Worth It)

DPC| Primary Care| DPC Podcast
December 18, 2025•2 min read

Dr. Kashiti Long of Long Health and Wellness in Charlotte, North Carolina, an internal medicine and lifestyle medicine physician, joins the show to discuss her journey into Direct Primary Care (DPC). She shares the challenges of leaving a corporate practice and the steps she took to successfully launch her own DPC practice in six months. The discussion covers her marketing strategies, the unexpected delays in opening, and her key takeaways for physicians considering the leap, emphasizing the need for contingency financial plans and the slow reality of growth.


💡 What You Will Learn

  • The Catalyst for Leaving Corporate Practice: How administrative conversations and increasing patient demands pushed Dr. Long to accelerate her DPC plans.

  • A Strategy to Accelerate the Launch: Dr. Long's shift from a multi-year timeline to a six-month opening after attending DPC conferences.

  • Key Delays and Surprises: The six-month process of obtaining a North Carolina medical license and the time spent on malpractice quotes.

  • Finding Patients and Defining an Ideal Patient: The success of networking, social media (YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn), and how she used ChatGPT to define her ideal patient, "Motivated Monica".

  • Key Retrospective Advice: The importance of starting to collect patients' emails/social media followers immediately upon deciding to leave, even before giving notice, and considering a smaller office space to save on overhead.

  • Financial Reality and Contingency Planning: The honesty about slower-than-expected patient growth and the recommendation to have a part-time telehealth job or side hustle for a financial cushion.

This episode of the podcast provides an honest look at the journey of a physician transitioning from a corporate healthcare model to opening a Direct Primary Care (DPC) practice. It offers practical wisdom and contingency planning advice for doctors considering or preparing to take the leap into independent, membership-based medicine.

🔗 Guest Links

Practice Name: Long Health and Wellness

Website: longhealthandwellness.com

Social Media: Kashiti Long MD (on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok)


If this episode hits home and you’re “DPC curious,” get my free 5-Day DPC Confidence Course: short daily emails with specific actions to go from “maybe someday” to a concrete plan.


👉 DM me “COURSE” on Instagram or go to https://harmonyopshealth.com/dpc-confidence-course to enroll.

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Dr. Gonzalez was born in NYC, but grew up in Virginia. She graduated from the University of Virginia and Eastern Virginia Medical School before completing her Family Medicine residency and Geriatrics Fellowship in 2002 at USC in Columbia, SC. She worked in Morganton, NC for 5 years at Burke Primary Care. After that, she headed the Primary Care Department at A Woman's View for 13 years and taught part time at the Geriatrics Fellowship in Morganton. She appreciates the privilege of working with her patients to improve their health, independence, and quality of life. She is Board Certified in Family Medicine and has a Certificate of Added Qualification in Geriatrics.

Anne Gonzalez

Dr. Gonzalez was born in NYC, but grew up in Virginia. She graduated from the University of Virginia and Eastern Virginia Medical School before completing her Family Medicine residency and Geriatrics Fellowship in 2002 at USC in Columbia, SC. She worked in Morganton, NC for 5 years at Burke Primary Care. After that, she headed the Primary Care Department at A Woman's View for 13 years and taught part time at the Geriatrics Fellowship in Morganton. She appreciates the privilege of working with her patients to improve their health, independence, and quality of life. She is Board Certified in Family Medicine and has a Certificate of Added Qualification in Geriatrics.

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