Bikes to Biz: “Dr. Brand at Your Door”

By: Andrea L. Brand, MD

Riding bicycles, swimming, writing and doctoring – these are my passions. How do I combine them into a business? The answer, I discovered, is outside my front door.

I moved to Longboat Key, Florida, an island off the west coast of Florida, after being downsized out of my job as a salaried physician in a hospital owned practice.

After 25 plus years in traditional office based, high volume medical practice, I was ready to pursue a dream: create a practice that allowed me to pedal to work, medical bag in tow, see a smaller number of patients, spending more time with each person. One look at our new surroundings – a twelve-mile long island with one main street down the center and a lone traffic light on the southern tip convinced me that I could start a mobile house call practice here. Here’s how it works:

Low overhead and no debt form the base of my model. My business plan is a solo show: no employees, office, or billing. I answer the phone myself, and offer open access (same day service) with medical care delivered in the comfort and privacy of the patient’s home. I collect fees at the time of service, thereby avoiding the need for billing software and labor intensive submissions to insurance. Instead, I provide patients with the paperwork they need to submit claims to insurance for reimbursement.

I met my first house call patient while riding my bike. She was jogging in the opposite direction when she recognized me and called out, “Stop. I need you to look at my toe. When are you starting your new practice?”

“Now,” I answered. I’ll be at your house in an hour.”

News of my practice spread quickly, and in 2005, I was named Rookie Small Businessperson of the Year” by the Chamber of Commerce. I have since published articles in national medical journals and mentored several physicians and nurse practitioners across the county in starting house call practices.

My neighbors wave as I pass by on my bicycle or in my convertible, and I swim with several patients and friends in the Gulf on Sundays. “Dr. Brand at You Door” is entered in the 2008 Top 100 Businesses competition sponsored by startupnation.com.

Please visit my website at http://www.drbrandatyourdoor.com/

Creating my practice was half of the dream. The other was tracing my emotional journeys in a book, “Daddy: the search for my father,” which I published in 2008. I reveal my transition from lost little girl to physician, from doubt to belief.

I encourage everyone with a dream to go for it, as I believe each of us has a gift that is unique, to be shared with other

Andrea l. Brand, MD
Dr. Brand at Your Door