Redefining Specialty Care: Dr. Jimmy Moley’s Journey in Direct Specialty Psychiatry and Sports Mental Health

Maryal Concepcion
Jul 13
8 min read

Direct Specialty Care Doctor

The Direct Primary Care (DPC) movement is no longer just a revolution for family medicine or pediatrics. As its value proposition—restoring autonomy, personalizing care, and eliminating red tape—spreads, specialists are increasingly exploring “direct specialty care.” The story of Dr. Jimmy Moley, an adult and sports psychiatrist practicing in Independence, Ohio, is a compelling road map for any DPC physician (or aspiring DPCer) eager to learn how the DPC ethos can transcend primary care and thrive as a nuanced specialty practice.

This post explores Dr. Moley’s strategic approach as highlighted on the MYDPC Story Podcast. Through reflective insights, actionable ideas, and honest discussion, his experience offers lessons for any physician balancing professional satisfaction, business building, and deep, transformative patient care.

Founding Vision: Translating Frustration into Opportunity

Dr. Moley’s path didn’t follow the traditional post-residency steps of joining a large hospital or academic group. From the outset of his psychiatry residency, he was already reflecting forward: How could he practice medicine not just as a job, but as a calling aligned with his deepest motivations?

His exploration uncovered a pattern: “Story after story,” he recalled, “were physicians who had spent years in academic medicine and institutional medicine that eventually, for lack of a better phrase, became fed up with the system and went out on their own.” These mentors universally cited the advantages of autonomy—greater control, better patient relationships, more flexible schedules, and superior satisfaction. For Dr. Moley, the evidence was compelling enough to bypass the well-worn path entirely:

“In order to practice in a way that made sense to me, and enact my vision for my career and life, private practice and direct specialty care was the way to go.”

Reflection for Your DPC Journey: Are you letting institutional inertia dictate your next steps, or are you clear on your “why”? Seek out voices from various practice models and settings—what themes or decisions resonate with your core vision?

Designing a Practice With Intent: Audience, Autonomy, and Holistic Care

One of Dr. Moley’s most critical decisions was to craft his practice with intention—starting with a sharp focus on the unique needs of athletes and those seeking a higher standard of mental health care.

His top priority was privacy and trust. In the high-stakes, highly public world of sports, “confidentiality… is paramount.” Unlike in big hospital groups—where the team, the organization, and other stakeholders might have access or even sign the doctor's paycheck—a direct, independent structure offers undiluted loyalty to the patient.

But it wasn’t just about confidentiality. Dr. Moley built in flexibility—longer visits, fewer bureaucratic hurdles, and a commitment to “address all the determinants of health” (sleep, exercise, nutrition, social connectedness), not just a 15-minute symptoms-and-meds check-in.

Actionable Takeaway: Think beyond the default—what unique value can you deliver by virtue of your independence? For Dr. Moley, it was both privacy and the room to practice holistically. In your setting, is there a patient niche or service format (e.g., procedure bundles, advanced access, tailored health plans) that could be transformative if you cast aside insurance or system limits?

Accessibility as a Core Value

Unlike traditional practices, Dr. Moley doesn’t have a panel of thousands. He keeps his practice “intentionally small”—an arrangement that allows him to guarantee nearly all new patients an appointment within one week, compared to the two or three months typical for psychiatry in his region (and often much longer). He also offers both in-person and virtual visits in Ohio and Florida to maximize reach.

Direct communication is another pillar: “There’s no filter,” he says. Patients contact him directly—no intermediary, no nurse line, no portal to nowhere. His flexible, adaptive approach to treatment means patients aren’t locked into rigid schedules or multi-week waits for medication changes or check-ins.

DPC Pearl: Access is value. In a DPC or DSC model, fast or direct access isn’t just a perk—it can be the single greatest reason a patient chooses you and tells others. What structural choices can you make to elevate access—and how will you communicate (and price) that value?

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Building Reputation: Referrals, Word of Mouth, and Networking

Launching right out of residency, Dr. Moley’s first patients were those who followed him from his resident clinic. However, the bulk of his early referrals came from DPC and private practice physicians—parallel innovators who understood the direct model and trusted the seamless, collaborative touch it enabled.

Beyond referring providers, word of mouth became Dr. Moley’s favorite (and highest quality) source of patients: “It means patients are engaged and feel they’re receiving good treatment…organically, it grows over time.”

He also capitalized on niche networking—reaching not just to physicians, but gym owners, trainers, physical therapists, and others regularly interacting with athletes. These “boots on the ground” can quickly identify athletes under stress or struggling with performance, making them highly effective partners in advocacy and referral.

For Your Journey:Be relentless in networking, and always look for “horizontal” rather than only “vertical” connections. Who are your counterparts in the broader health/wellness ecosystem? Can you offer educational talks, tools, or simply be a reliable friendly specialist in their phone?

Patient Selection: Matching Motivation to Model

Since Dr. Moley practices in a cash-based, direct care model, “fit” is vital for the patient and the physician. He meets each new patient for an initial assessment, then together they determine if it’s truly a good match: “If either one of us doesn’t feel it, it’s totally fine to move on. I want them to get the best resource possible.”

Motivation, he’s found, is a key predictor of success for direct specialty psychiatry. Patients who are personally invested (“willing to put in the work”) are more likely to engage and flourish in this model. That same motivation is often seen among patients choosing DPC—they want agency in their health and recognize the value of investing in care beyond insurance limitations.

Lesson:Don’t be afraid to curate your practice. A good fit will compound both medical and business success—while misaligned patient-provider expectations can drain energy, time, and reputation.

Unique Focus: The Needs of Athletes and Performance Optimization

Sports psychiatry isn’t just “psychiatry with a side of exercise”—athletes face higher rates of PTSD, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and substance abuse compared to the general population. Mental health issues take on a unique “flavor” in the athletic context, influenced by identity, purpose, injury recovery, and the relentless drive for performance.

Dr. Moley blends medication management, advanced psychotherapy (notably Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT), lifestyle medicine, and team-based coordination to support athlete-clients. He often works through the psychological process of injury, the existential shift at retirement, and even the psychological regulations required for elite performance—integrating biometric data (like heart rate variability) and collaboration with coaches, therapists, and families.

This niche is both deep and wide: about 25-50% of his patient panel are athletes at any given time, but similar holistic care is offered to all patients.

Strategic Insight: Specialization in DPC isn’t about limiting yourself—it’s about becoming indispensable to a community. Whether your “community” is defined by demographics (athletes, new parents, small business), geography, or a clinical problem set, you can deliver outsized value by going deep.

Educating, Destigmatizing, and Marketing Beyond Ads

Dr. Moley’s growth strategy isn’t built around billboards or splashy print ads. It’s built around education—public speaking, training sessions for gyms, seminar-style presentations on topics like performance anxiety, ADHD, PTSD, and eating disorders in athletes.

One of his strongest networking tactics is simply “painting real life examples”—helping gym owners or trainers recognize mental health red flags, then providing approachable pathways for support. He’s also keen on weaving patient stories and lived experiences into his teaching, helping demystify mental illness and normalize seeking help.

The feedback is powerful: “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve given presentations and athletes or former athletes say, ‘When I was in college, I wish I knew this existed.’”

DPC Lesson:Educational marketing builds trust and long-term brand loyalty in a way paid ads never do. Can you become the in-demand community educator on mental health, or primary care, or procedural wellness? Your local hair salon, high school, or rotary club might need your voice even more than a physician’s office does.

Pricing, Structure, and Scaling: Lessons in Direct Specialty Economics

Pricing is a perennial challenge for DPC and DSC specialists. Dr. Moley’s approach marries confidence in his value (access, privacy, expertise, holistic methods) with local and national market research. Setting prices too low diminishes perceived value; too high, and you miss the middle-class families (not just pro athletes!) who can benefit.

He’s found that, especially in psychiatry, a membership model doesn’t always make sense—for instance, when follow-up intervals extend for stable patients, a membership may no longer bring value. Instead, he most often works on a fee-for-service basis, tailoring cadence to clinical need.

He also maintains intentional cap limits, daily slots for urgent cases, and a commitment to keeping new-patient wait times low—all managed by continually tracking data on referrals, appointment types, and patient engagement.

Scaling Thoughtfully: Dr. Moley is considering expansion in the coming years—moving from a single-physician brand to a small group practice, likely with rebranding as needed. For DPCers, scaling is only valuable if it preserves the core values: access, relationship, flexibility, and deep care.

Facing Entrepreneurial Unpredictability

The life of a physician-entrepreneur is marked by ebbs and flows: some weeks are busy, others slow. This shouldn’t be cause for panic, Dr. Moley notes; he uses slower referral periods to double down on networking, business development, and patient education (like writing his practice newsletter).

There’s a tendency among physicians to internalize business metrics as personal worth (“What did I do wrong?”), but learning to ride the entrepreneurial waves is essential. Patient care will always bring unpredictability—transfers, moves, life changes happen—so building a practice resilient to swings is key.

Reflection: Where can you lean in during slower times? Can business gaps become opportunities for growth in community presence, process improvement, or personal well-being?

Looking Forward: Growing the Impact

As Dr. Moley passes the one-year anniversary of his practice, he’s focused on expansion, branding, and perhaps bringing on fellow specialists who share his philosophy. He also advocates for residents and students to seek diverse experiences—especially in private practice settings—to better understand professional possibilities and challenges.

Whether sports psychiatry, dermatology, or primary care—his journey proves that direct care is about more than a membership or a business model. It is about restoring the relationship between doctor and patient, honoring the complexity of health, and daring to build something that doesn’t just treat disease, but enables thriving.

For DPC physicians and direct care specialists alike, Dr. Jimmy Moley's path is a powerful call to return to the “why” that propelled them into medicine in the first place. Innovative, humble, and relentlessly patient-focused, his strategies are more than tactics—they are a template for creating an impactful, resilient, and deeply rewarding clinical career on your own terms.

Ready to reflect? Where are you crafting your care, your business, and your mission with this same level of intentionality? The future of medicine—in all its specialties—awaits those willing to step out boldly, just as Dr. Moley has done.

For more inspiring stories and practical pearls, subscribe to the My DPC Story podcast and join the conversation at mydpcstory.com.