Episode Details

What does it look like to build a Direct Primary Care practice that protects your health as fiercely as it protects your patients? In this episode of My DPC Story, Dr. April Soto of Love and Light Integrative Medicine in South Pasadena, California shares how she systematically exited corporate medicine over three years and built an integrative DPC practice rooted in authenticity, boundaries, and healing.

After more than a decade in fee-for-service family medicine and infectious disease, including HIV care, Dr. Soto completed an integrative medicine fellowship, trained in ketamine-assisted therapy, and opened a micropractice designed around her own capacity as a physician living with chronic illness and mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS). Today she receives MCAS referrals from specialists across the country and offers ketamine journeys, transgender care for patients from age three to eighty, and deeply unhurried visits that can run four hours.

In this conversation, Dr. Soto and host Dr. Maryal Concepcion discuss:

• Why she left corporate medicine and how she planned her three-year exit
• Facing fears around money, homelessness, and financial security before opening a DPC
• Pricing as a quality-based practice instead of competing on discounts
• What she learned from giving too many discounts in year one
• How her assistant Natalie supports meet and greets, workflows, and boundaries
• Building an inclusive practice for LGBTQIA+ patients, immigrant communities, and neurodivergent patients
• Caring for patients afraid to seek care because of ICE enforcement
• MCAS diagnosis, testing pitfalls, and why these patients need a different kind of visit
• Ketamine-assisted therapy pricing, informed consent, and managing patient expectations
• Burnout, trauma as a superpower, and why inclusivity has to include the physician
• Her five-year vision: wellness contracts, motivational speaking, and growing her team

Whether you are planning your DPC launch or working to make your existing practice more sustainable, this episode is a masterclass in valuing yourself, honoring your capacity, and practicing medicine on your own terms.

Learn more about Dr. April Soto at Love and Light Integrative Medicine in South Pasadena, CA.

Visit mydpcstory.com for the free 90-Day Startup Checklist, the Physician Owner's Planner, and DPC tools for every stage. Leave a voicemail at mydpcstory.com/contact and you might hear it on a future episode. Support the show on Patreon for commercial-free and extended episodes.

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