Best Practices: Jake Deutsch
Founder and clinical director of Cure Urgent Care on building a practice centered on compassionate care.
At fifteen-years-old, Dr. Jake Deutsch had his first experience delivering emergency medical care when a fellow gym-goer at his YMCA collapsed mid-workout. Utilizing his knowledge as a certified lifeguard, the teenager performed CPR and saved the stranger’s life. Though unaware of how this pivotal moment would shape his professional career to come, Dr. Deutsch never forgot the incredible feeling of making a positive difference in someone’s life during a critical and time-sensitive emergency.
Today, Dr. Deutsch serves as the founder and clinical director of Cure Urgent Care in Manhattan and has been consistently top-ranked in patient care and satisfaction. His practice is a living example of his belief in providing compassionate and connected patient-centered care that exceeds industry standards.
How did you get started in medicine and how did you choose your specialty?
I began my medical path in college, partly because I wanted to follow in my older brother’s footsteps and partly because I wanted to do work that felt important (not discounting that my early experience saving a man’s life must have planted the seed for me to go into patient care). But as an eighteen-year-old starting my pre-med studies, it was hard to know what practicing medicine would really be like. Luckily, I discovered along the way that not only did I excel at the sciences, I also enjoyed taking care of patients and helping people. Looking back on the process, it was quite serendipitous that although I started on this path to be like my big brother, in time it actually fit in with what I loved doing.
When it comes to finding emergency medicine, I’m a firm believer a doctor’s specialty is a reflection of their personality. While the theory paints broad strokes, it can be true that many orthopedists are jocks, neurologists tend to be on the cerebral-side, and pediatricians prefer caring for children more than they do adults. I’ve found that there’s something that inherently attracts physicians to their specialties. Though I didn’t fall in love with emergency medicine until the end of my third year of medical school, its fast-paced and energetic work fits in perfectly with my problem-solving, dynamic, and active personality. Before my rotation in emergency medicine, I was interested in surgery, internal medicine, and psychiatry, but nothing quite stuck. When I finally got my experience in emergency medicine, though there were really long and chaotic days, I never had that feeling of wanting to get out or go home early. The experience was exactly what I envisioned about being a doctor.
What inspired you to found Cure Urgent Care?
When I started my urgent care practice around seven years ago, one of the biggest issues I had with the hospital-based treatment of patient emergencies was the lack of compassion and concern for those with non-life-threatening problems. For example, if you enter the emergency room with a sprained ankle, you won’t receive the same consideration as someone with acute appendicitis. I was frustrated that we weren’t always giving our best to those who didn’t have life-threatening issues. I believe that every patient’s illness is important in its own light, and I wanted to bring my expertise as an ER doctor and my compassion for all problems and use these things to create a practice that was built around patient-centered care. Starting Cure Urgent Care has enabled me to treat every patient who walks in the door as the most important patient in the room. It has also afforded me the opportunity to work for myself as an entrepreneur, rather than as an employee of a hospital, which comes with its own benefits and challenges.
Why is compassionate care so important in today’s landscape?
Compassion has always been an integral part of my mindset. When you’re problem-solving in emergency medicine, you’re working with patients during their absolute worst moments. Being empathic about their situation while also offering a gesture of compassion and positivity–no matter how small–is my personal motto as an emergency doctor. I’ve incorporated this ethos into my practice at Cure Urgent Care, where we believe that being sick shouldn’t have to be painful. Unfortunately, traditional hospital care is often lacking in compassion. Whether it’s the receptionist who doesn’t look up when you walk in or the nurse who thinks that it’s OK to be grumpy, there are many elements along the patient journey that don’t always convey empathy. But empathy is such a crucial component to patient care, which is why we’ve made it the core value of our business model.
One of the perks of starting this business (as well as one of the challenges) was that we were able to design the entire model–from the physical space and the logo to the website and communication structure–to serve our patient-centered, compassionate care values. Working on that end-to-end consistency has been an incredible challenge, but we’re proud of what we do and how we’ve succeeded in this achievement, especially given that we treat about 3,000 patients every month.
What’s the most difficult aspect of working in urgent care?
Maintaining our standard of care can be a challenge, especially in a landscape where patients are constantly giving feedback about their experience in a consumer-based world. Keeping that bar elevated when we see as many patients as we do (and are open seven days a week) can be a challenge if not addressed correctly, but luckily we do it successfully. Another challenge is ensuring that the patient experience is as they expect. The name “urgent care” implies that the process will be fast, so we’re often up against a crunch. Plus, there’s not as much of an opportunity to build that long-time connection that you may have with your primary doctor. It’s a daily challenge meeting and treating someone who may or may not be your patient again, while still giving them enough confidence in your care that they want to recommend you to others.
Though most of our competitors are much bigger institutions, I’m extremely proud of how we’ve excelled in patient feedback and how quickly we’ve been able to build trust and compassion with everyone who walks through our doors. Hopefully, it gives an incentive to other physicians that operating an independent and successful practice is possible. We’re proof that you can deliver exceptional care, as long as you’re willing to put in the work.
What advice would you give to a physician just starting to build out their practice?
Do your research and know what the need is within your community. I’d also recommend taking some business classes since those skills are not routinely taught in medical school but are an important part of the process. And don’t underestimate the insurance and third-party payer world. Take the time to understand how it works, because it can drive or break your business.
Also, try to work with good people whom you can rely on and trust. I’ve been extraordinarily lucky to work with a business partner who shares my vision and with whom I’ve been able to collaborate successfully. He’s a pharmacist who is always thinking outside of the box and who sparked the idea behind our separate practice, Specialty Infusion, where we offer outpatient infusion and injection therapies for people with chronic and complex health conditions.
Another piece of advice I would give would be to not be afraid of adapting to new technologies and media. There’s so much that technology has already done to change the way we practice medicine for the better, and so many more advancements on the horizon. As a business owner, I love the idea that we’re communicating with patients in a way that helps to speed up the other facets of our business, like eliminating traditional phone calls and allowing patients to register before they come into the office. This technology makes practicing medicine so much more rewarding because we’re able to focus on delivering care in a more efficient and thorough manner.
Generally, it’s pretty disappointing to see practitioners who haven’t caught up with modern-day advancements like social media, because it’s so important for staying relevant and connected to your patient community. Specialty Infusion’s Instagram page, for example, has now become a useful resource for people with chronic diseases like multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, or rheumatoid arthritis. The power of using these tools is multiplied when you take into consideration these diverse, varied, and beneficial use-cases.
Lastly, there are so many paths that I’ve crossed and re-crossed as I’ve grown my practices that I’ve learned that you should never burn any bridges. Regardless of where you are in your career, being the best version of yourself and showing your integrity and work ethic is incredibly important because you never know who you’ll run into at the other end of the road. I think sometimes doctors feel untouchable, but like any other business, building and cultivating strong relationships — with colleagues and patients — can go a long way.
Vital Signs
My secret talent is…I have several, but I’ve been practicing yoga for about ten years and am really good at handstands.
Favorite getaway destination? Capri, Italy.
In another lifetime, I’d be… an urban landscape designer/dog walker. I have two golden retrievers.
The best advice I’ve ever received was… “Do what you can do, now.” We all have a natural tendency to resist things that make us uncomfortable. But as a physician, pushing ourselves to face challenges head-on often makes us much more effective in what we do.
What’s one healthful habit you’d love to see patients adopt? In our practice, we run into a lot of people with undiagnosed Lyme disease. If you live in an area that’s endemic to the disease, be sure to get tested at the end of the summer or fall season. This will help us catch and treat undiagnosed cases.
Learn more about Dr. Jake Deutsch here and follow him on Instagram @drjakedeutsch.
Know an innovative practice? We’d love to hear, introduce us here!
