Dr. Lok as panelist at North Carolina Physician Conference

It was such a pleasure attending the recent conference hosted by Emerald Health DPC for female physicians across North Carolina who are either about to launch—or are in their first six months of—Direct Primary Care.

There’s something powerful about being in a room of women physicians who are choosing to practice differently.

Direct Primary Care re-centers the doctor–patient relationship as the core driver of better health outcomes—not insurance paperwork, prior authorizations, or RVUs. It’s a return to relationship-based medicine, but redesigned for 2026: patients pay a simple monthly membership and in exchange receive direct access to their physician—cell phone, email, longer visits, real connection.

With *nearly 3,000 Direct Primary Care offices now in America, this movement isn’t small—it’s growing because physicians and patients alike are craving deeper connection, more time, better care.

More and more physicians are rediscovering what drew us to medicine in the first place: knowing our patients well and having the time to truly care for them.

If you’re feeling the pull toward practicing differently, join the Direct Primary Care movement. It’s not just a new model—it’s a return to what medicine was meant to be.