From Dr Brian’s Desk
Medicine, explained by the doctor in the room.
Honest takes on navigating the healthcare system, staying healthy, and what direct care actually looks like in practice -- from a physician who's been on both sides of the bed.
Patients Matter. People Matter. - Where This Series Lands
Five posts in, here is where we land. The painting on the wall is not nostalgia. It is a thesis. And this is the practice built on it.
Gains and Costs — When Medicine Could Do Almost Anything (Except Listen)
CT scanners, organ transplants, statins, EHRs, prior authorizations, eight-minute visits. The most powerful medicine in human history. So why does it so often feel cold?
Are Labs Really Cheaper at a DpC Office? I Pulled My Own Numbers to Check.
A blood panel that runs $50–100+ elsewhere can cost a few dollars through a direct-pay practice. I pulled my own numbers to show you the real comparison — and what this model doesn't cover.
5 Things I Noticed in the 2026 State of DPC Report
The DPC Alliance just published the largest physician survey the field has ever seen — 465 practices, real numbers on panels, pricing, and who's actually doing this. Here are five things that stood out to me.
The Golden Age — How Antibiotics Saved Lives and Built an Industry
Between 1940 and 1965, medicine learned to cure things it had previously only watched. It also became, for the first time in American history, an industry. Both things happened at the same time. Neither is reversible.
Your Health Insurance Is Getting More Expensive Again. Here's One Way to Think About It.
ACA marketplace premiums are proposed to jump another 14% in 2027 — more than a third above 2025 levels. Here's what that actually means for your household, and one way to think about pairing direct primary care with a high-deductible plan.
From Hearth to Hospital — How Medicine Moved Out of the Home
Within a single generation, the doctor stopped coming to your house. He started waiting for you in his. Here's what we gained, and what we quietly lost.
The Doctor — Why an 1891 Painting Hangs in My Exam Room
A Victorian painting, a Christmas morning in 1877, and the older idea of medicine that direct care is trying to recover.
As Acute Care Moves Home, Who Owns the Next 30 Days?
A hospital-at-home program in Portland just shared five years of hard-won lessons. The takeaway isn't about hospital-at-home — it's about the thirty days that come after, the ones nobody owns. Here's why that gap is what B2 Direct Care was built for.
What the Lowercase 'p' Means
I've started writing it differently: DpC. Small 'p.' On purpose. Here's what that means — and what I'm trying to rebuild.