In this episode of DPC Pediatricians, Dr. Phil Boucher and Dr. Marina Capella recap their recent experience attending the Pediatric DPC Mastermind conference.
Link to podcast: Pediatric DPC Mastermind 2025 Highlights
Welcome to DPC Pediatrician. We’re Dr. Phil Boucher and Dr. Marina Capella, two DPC pediatricians who are on a mission to share our love of direct primary care with you. Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of DPC Pediatricians. I am excited today to get to talk about the mastermind. It was in Vegas.
0:20
It was a couple of weeks ago and it was a lot of fun. And so we were just going to kind of do a recap and wrap up of the mastermind to talk through our experiences and any learning points that we had. So maybe Marina,
0:32
do you think you can start us off kind of what was one of your favorite moments and what was a big takeaway for you from a DPC pediatrician standpoint?
0:40
Yeah, I will say that my favorite, favorite thing about going to the Pediatric DPC Mastermind, which is usually around February, March of every year, is just getting to meet other people. I think it can kind of be a lonely world in the world of DPC Pediatrics.
0:57
So just getting to connect with other people who are I feel like my people in this like tiny little community that we have throughout the United States, even though it’s growing, it’s still pretty darn tiny. And so I love getting to meet other DPC pediatricians and just hearing their stories because everyone’s.
1:15
origin story is different and the way that they practice medicine is a little different their niche and their community and the economics of their community and all that stuff is different we have some people who do just house calls and we have some people who have micro practices focused on breastfeeding and we have some
1:34
people who have more traditional kind of like general pediatrics dpc practices So my favorite part is getting to meet people and hearing their stories. And one of my favorite sessions this year, I’m a little biased because I’m an integrative pediatrician, but I loved the presentations by Dr. Valerie Miles and Danu Sant. from Jacksonville, Florida, ThriveWell Pediatrics.
1:56
They give excellent presentations on the topic of integrative pediatrics and their toolkit kind of that they use for common pediatric conditions.
2:04
Oh yeah. That was actually like, I don’t take a lot of notes if you can believe that I should take more notes, but that was one of the talks where I was taking notes and I was writing things down and then clinically like integrating that into my practice. Like I wasn’t ordering red blood cell magnesiums before
2:22
And then the way that Valerie explained that, I was like, oh, I should be ordering red blood cell magnesiums. And so literally patients have gotten red blood cell magnesiums done because of that talk just in the couple of weeks that we’ve been back. The master was only two weeks ago.
2:35
And I’ve already had multiple patients that I’ve gotten red blood cell magnesiums for based on that specific talk. So that was very actionable for me as well.
2:43
Yeah. And I also restocked my shelves with some elderberry syrup and some of those other things that they recommended, magnesium products and other things for coughs and colds and ADHD and all those things. So I loved that. What was one of your favorite parts?
3:00
Well, I got the little surprise from the leadership team led mostly by you in terms of the video surprise. So that was like my favorite moment was they put together a really nice video.
3:12
You have to give some explanation. So it was your 40th birthday, right?
3:15
Fell on the first day of the mastermind. of the mastermind was my 40th birthday. And I gave two talks that day. And after my third, second talk, there was a video that you and your brothers put together of me, a rendition of me singing popular or talking about growing your followers on social media.
3:37
And it was just amazing. And I’ve shared it So many times since then, and it was really touching to me just to, that you put so much effort and work and time and thought into something. And then I got a basket full of nice notes from everybody at the conference,
3:53
basically just wishing me a happy birthday and those sorts of things. So that was by far the most memorable experience. thing about the conference for me but i think the big picture was similar like it’s nice to get to talk to people that you can really nerd out on practice stuff
4:07
without their eyes glazing over or them not caring about whatever little minor thing like you think about all the time to just have people that you can talk about those things with and that you can share because like you said it is like a lonely
4:18
world when you’re a practice owner in general and when you’re in a very specific niche like pediatric direct primary care, it’s even more so kind of a lonelier space to be in. So just to be able to connect with so many others that were in the same space and
4:30
had the same questions and had worked through or were working through the exact same things was just really inspirational.
4:37
Yeah. Now you mentioned you gave two talks that first day. One was Marketing 101. We had a newbie track, which was for people that were kind of DPC curious or just starting out in the very early phases. And then we also had kind of an intermediate and advanced track,
4:53
which covered things like hiring employees and hiring an additional physician and some financial planning for physician entrepreneurs. So what were the two topics that you talked about and what were some key points from your talks?
5:08
So I talked to the newbie track just about marketing your practice in general and like how to stake out your place both online and in the real world in ways to reach people, where to find them and some specific strategies that they could incorporate in terms of planning their practice and like planning their marketing efforts so that
5:26
they’re intentional. They’re not spinning their wheels and they’re not wasting time. And then my other talk was on growth strategies. And so in that talk, it was really focused on specific areas where practices might decide to put more attention and focus to grow their practices,
5:42
whether it be like niching down and having a specific area of expertise that they’re in. or it might’ve been, I’m trying to think, it feels like a long time ago now that I gave those talks. But I wrote them so close to the time of the talk that they haven’t really cemented
5:59
in my head yet what actually I talked about. That’s all right.
6:04
You gave a great, yeah, you gave great talks for beginners on marketing and more intermediate advanced. And I thought it was cool how you kind of talked about how you use chat GPT and AI tools in order to kind of communicate things to families about the value that you add.
6:21
Yeah, I think that was one of the things that I tried to, that I’ve recently recognized that patients really like is they like a plan. And oftentimes in pediatrics, I feel like most of us are so comfortable that we realize that the nuance is actually that you’re not gonna get it too wrong, parents.
6:38
And so you can start them on whatever food you want and you can sleep train them this way or that way or the other thing. But parents don’t like the, you can do whatever you want. They want a specific plan. And so my purpose in that was like,
6:50
even though you can do all these mental gymnastics of like, okay, this kid has ADHD and we need to do this and that. And the other thing, and we think through those things, parents want to see the work and they want to see the plan.
7:01
And so the more that you can create an actual like plan for them, the more they’re going to value your expertise and do what you say rather than, you can’t really go wrong. Just do this, which at the end of the day is probably the answer incorrect,
7:14
but you can make it more thought out for the parents and show your work. So that was one of the things that I tried to use chat gpt for is to like create an acronym for my approach to adhd or something
7:25
along those lines yeah i’m finally this year partly inspired by you and partly inspired by my business classes that i’m taking like starting to embrace ai a little bit more i think i’ve been probably among the the population segment that is very hesitant to use it but i think it really is useful to
7:46
reduce a lot of the kind of busy work in our practices. So one of the things I want to start doing is maybe creating patient handouts with the stuff that I always recommend. But then I’m just telling the parents verbally, like do this and that and that.
8:00
And then they’re trying to like write it down on their phone. And so if I just had common handouts, but I don’t want to do the work of having to write them all out. So that’s where something like AI really comes in handy. Yeah.
8:11
Yes. That’s, that’s definitely how I am too. And like, I think it rounds off the things that you say too. Like sometimes I don’t think of everything. I was just doing one on allergy and I was like, I didn’t really know if there’s anything from a dietary perspective that can help with allergy. Yeah.
8:25
So I asked you to be like, I feel like I have a good idea of like close the windows, change your, your pillowcases, nasal steroid spray, antihistamines, those sorts of things. Are there any dietary things? And he gave me really good ideas of like dietary changes make that can help with allergies.
8:39
Like, oh, well that kind of rounded off my education for myself. And it also then helped me to fill out my little handout and seem smarter than I am.
8:49
Yeah, definitely. Were there any talks that you heard that you particularly, you learned something from, even though Phil and I have been at this for a couple of years, but I feel like I still learn something every year.
9:00
Oh, for sure. I think the talks, well, I liked your procedure talk, by the way. I thought that was really good because I don’t know. I think in a lot of times we don’t always think about the different procedures that we can do or that we do on a regular basis and just like
9:11
took some notes and had some supplies that I had to go tell my team to order based on your talk. And then the talks on hiring were also really good too. Hiring like additional staff and then adding on another clinician or like another physician were really interesting to me too,
9:27
because that’s something that I don’t have a lot of experience with. Hiring other clinicians, yes, but not hiring another physician. And I’ve always been really leery of that concept. And so that was just really good to talk through and think through for sure.
9:40
Yeah, there were so many great talks. So that first day, like I mentioned, we had a track one and track two. That was the first time that we’ve organized this conference that we’ve attempted that. And I think it was received really well. Then on day two,
9:52
we kind of brought everyone together and we focused more on clinical topics or things that were applicable to everyone in general. So there was a great talk by Kelly Parker Mello on pans and pandas. And it’s something that I’m still learning a lot about. And I’m starting to see patients with that condition.
10:09
And so it was a really great refresher, but also like just a lot of new stuff and some case examples to really work through. So that was fantastic. And then, like I mentioned, the integrative topics by Dr. Danu Sun and Dr. Valerie Miles and Dr. what else did we have on the second day?
10:24
I did my urgent care procedures talk and yeah, it was fantastic clinical stuff that was relevant to DPC pediatricians in particular, because we tend to have more time to spend with our patients. And so we tend to be able to take better care of kids with complex behavioral conditions or complex medical conditions.
10:43
And so sometimes when we have more time to talk to patients, parents have more questions. So our level of expertise has to kind of deepen as well.
10:53
Yeah, I think that’s one of the biggest things that like you have to go a little bit deeper and you get to go a little bit deeper, both of those when you have more time like that. The other talk that I thought was really good and interesting was the should
11:05
practices accept people that are on an alternate vaccine schedule or not vaccinated or those sorts of things. So that was a really good discussion. I feel like that was well thought out and well moderated and everything like that so that you could have a debate and hear both sides of the argument for those.
11:23
And then the last day, we just had a couple of sessions. Kelly and I did a session on like the top 10 mistakes based on our experience and what we’ve seen that DPC pediatricians make and how to avoid them, of course. We had a great talk on boundaries as well by Keely Mistevich.
11:38
She did a great job on boundaries. But yeah, it was fantastic. And then also Phil and I, we want to give a shout out to everyone who’s been listening to this podcast because many of you came up to us during the conference and said… how listening and learning and appreciating it.
11:53
And thank you so much for those kind comments. We started this just a year ago, kind of just hoping that it would make a difference. And we’re really glad that it’s making a difference. Although now we kind of feel a sense of responsibility. So please, please take everything we say with a grain of salt.
12:10
Yes. That was the, that was, I think both of our takeaways when we were talking before we started recording was, oh my gosh, people are like making decisions based on what they hear here. And it does add a little, a little bit of weight to it when people are coming up to you and being like,
12:26
we started our practice, but it’s awesome to hear. And it means the world to us to hear from you all that, like, it makes a difference. So.
12:33
Yeah. So if you want to learn more about this mastermind conference held every late winter, spring, you can visit pediatricdpcmastermind.com. Usually they announce like when the conference will be in the fall. So keep an eye out. And we’ll also announce it as it approaches because we love meeting you and we love
12:52
meeting other people in this crazy small pediatric DPC world. So yes, please come if you can next year. And then I think Phil, we should just end the episode by playing your song, the parody of popular for our listeners. So enjoy.
13:17
Whenever I meet someone who wants a DPC like mine, and let’s face it, who wouldn’t want a DPC like mine? My brilliant brain starts to turn its wheels. If enrollment is disheartening, I’m here to teach you marketing. I know, I know, the world of posts and reels. And even in your case,
13:47
Though it’s the toughest case I’ve yet to face Don’t worry, I know just what appeals Follow my spiels, my course reveals How to get Followers. You’re gonna get followers. I’ll teach you some simple tricks with a couple clicks that’ll make attractive posts. Yeah! Make it undebatable. You’re relatable. Even from your car, you can get followers.
14:29
I’ll help you get followers, LinkedIn, X, Teams, Instagram. But not only fans, social media on the go. So let’s start, because you’ve got an awfully long way to go. Just listen to my comprehensive argument. It’s all neatly outlined in this simple document. Now that I’ve chosen to become a pal, a mentor, an advisor, there’s nobody wiser.
14:57
Not when it comes to… Yes, thousands of followers. In just minutes a day, you’ll make posts that slay twice the views you’ve had before. Yes, sir, our marketing Apollo. You will win the follower war. La la. you’ll get followers just not quite as many likes as me take care everyone until next time
