We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jessica Mendelsohn, MD a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jessica, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about how you went about setting up your own practice and if you have any advice for professionals who might be considering starting their own?

In 2019, I opened New South Family Medicine as a solopreneur. New South has since grown into both a booming direct primary care (DPC) practice and a full service medspa.
I now employs 16 teammates, including my husband, Dr. Dave Mendelsohn, who joined the primary care practice in 2022. Along with two amazing PA’s, we serve more than 1000 DPC patients and continue to grow.
The MedSpa at New South opened in 2021 and has grown to a team of ten women that provide a wide range of medical-grade aesthetic services, including injectables, laser treatments, and hormone therapy.

During the course of the last 6 years, I have become passionate about both physician independence and entrepreneurship. I am intent on restoring the relationship between physician and patient,and am expanding New South into a holistic model that will include mental health, nutrition, functional and preventive health services. I want to grow New South into multiple physician-owned locations and am looking for physicians ready to leave fee-for-service medicine and take back ownership of their clinical practice and work-life balance.

In addition to New South, I have come to love entrepreneurship and real estate. I am the sole owner of the building that houses my medical practice, own another commercial medical building, invest in passive syndications, and am actively pursuing other business ventures and start-ups, including a physical therapy wellness partnership in my building.

Knowing what I know now, I would start learning more about business fundamentals early in the pursuit of opening a practice. I joke all the time – I had no business opening a business! I have learned everything through experience and mentorship. Included in that experience are many failures, learning opportunities and challenges. And thats okay! The most important part of starting your own business is recognizing the importance of taking action and surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals that support and see your vision, even while the road to get there is messy.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have practiced clinical medicine for over 20 years. As I grew in experience, I also grew in frustration at the direction in which primary care is heading. I knew there had to be a better way to practice and for patients and the public to experience primary care.
I discovered the Direct Primary Care model in 2018 and opened my practice based on the idea that the doctor-patient relationship is vital for true health advocacy and change. DPC is a membership-based model that eliminates insurance and large hospital systems from the primary care experience. This allows for longer visits, more personalized care, better use of resources and lower cost.

By nature, DPC is holistic – we are pro-active and center the culture at New South around wellness and prevention. The MedSpa at New South incorporates peri-menopausal and menopausal hormone treatment, weight management, and relaxation services to extend our whole mind-body approach. We offer psychological services and will offer functional and nutrition services in 2025.

I am most proud of the culture I have created in our practice. The New South team is one of humility, compassion, integrity and transparency. We are deeply rooted in our community and all work together to offer the best care possible for our patients and clients. When one walks through the doors here, whether for their annual exam, chronic disease follow up, facial injections, laser treatments, mental heath support, hormone care, or a simple cold, we want you to feel at ease and empowered to take control of your health, both in mind and body.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Throughout the last 6 years, New South has been deeply rooted in providing compassionate, transformative care. Our core values include integrity, honesty, transparency, and community. We have never strayed from those principles and are very active in philanthropy.
These are the roots of our business. Building a team with these concepts and values in mind has created our reputation. We provide excellent care, own our mistakes, build relationships with our patients and each other, and genuinely enjoy the work we do every day.
This shines in the care we provide and has built our reputation organically and honestly.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I have had to unlearn scarcity, self-doubt, and the idea that I am not enough. I think as a woman, as a doctor, as a mother, as a caregiver, we set this expectation of ourselves that we have to “do it all” and do it well. We tend to question our self-worth and whether we truly belong at the leadership table.

New South and the coaching mentorship I have been a part of, has launched me into the mindset that anything is possible.
Growth starts with an idea, an action, and is a work-in-progress. Imposter Syndrome and a scarcity mindset keep people from achieving their dreams or even realizing that they are possible and takes time to unlearn.
Understanding that failure is always an opportunity to learn, that life and business ownership are messy, and that I have full autonomy over my decisions has helped me reframe my goals and how I live my life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.newsouthfamilymedicine.com
• Instagram: @newsouthfamilymed, @drjessicamd_newsouthmed
• Facebook: New South Family Medicine
• Linkedin: Jessica Mendelsohn, MD

Image Credits

Tabitha Muggleston
Mugg Shot Studios