I was once advised to pursue a career that would make me happy even if it paid me nothing. The perspective made practicing medicine an obvious choice. After watching my mother suffer from diabetes for years, I felt specifically compelled to spend my days treating diabetes patients and helping them stave off some of the potential complications.

Unfortunately, the way our healthcare system works does not always lend itself to physicians focusing all their energy on clinical matters. We often face administrative burdens and regulatory barriers that force us to commit time to operations. Sometimes the system even prevents us from doing what we think is best for our patients. As care models shift more toward value-based care, organizations like VillageMD are finding success by developing innovative ways to provide better care at lower costs and giving both patients and providers more of what they want and need.

I can now spend all my time practicing medicine because I have the management support I need. 

Organizations that believe in value-based care prioritize physician time with patients and work to remove the inefficiencies that arise when physicians are burdened with non-clinical tasks and concerns. When we work in private practice, we have little choice but to worry about the management of our offices and all the non-clinical aspects of running our businesses. 

One of the first things that attracted me to VillageMD was the amount of administrative support I knew I would receive. Not only would the support enable me to spend my days focused on patients at our Village Medical clinic, but it would also help me ensure that patients who wanted to access my services were able to do so.

From the moment I joined the group, I had people working to expand the types of insurance we could accept so that I could continue to see patients with insurance that VillageMD did not previously accept. Then, when the pandemic hit, I knew that I could rely on our staff to rise to the challenge and ensure that our facilities were always properly sanitized and safe for our patients and providers. Rather than worry about the logistics of seeing patients, I have been able to continue to concentrate on what I have worked so hard to be able to do – take care of people with diabetes.

I provide care for the patient population I can help most.

Many employers want to fit physicians into a box and would only employ me if I agreed to be exclusively a primary care provider (PCP). However, I am a diabetologist and believe the field of diabetes has grown so significantly that diabetes patients now benefit most from seeing physicians who specialize in the disease. VillageMD encourages me to educate other primary care providers on the leading and most effective diabetes treatments

Over the past 10 years, the number of diabetes medications and devices has boomed, and the standard of care has changed tremendously. A couple of decades ago we did not have blood tests to distinguish Type 1 from Type 2 diabetes and based our diagnosis on a patient’s age. We used to think that young people with diabetes had Type 1, and adults presenting with the disease had Type 2. Now we recognize that youths may have Type 2, and adults can be diagnosed with Type 1. 

Because our paradigm was flawed, we have many patients whose diabetes has been inadequately managed. For physicians whose diabetes patients represent only a fraction of their practice, keeping up with the changing algorithm for treating diabetes is quite difficult. I’m grateful that VillageMD has offered me the flexibility to concentrate my time on diabetes care and ensure that each of my patients living with diabetes is on the appropriate treatment path.

I’m eager for the Walgreens investment to further improve my ability to provide superior care to my patients.

There are not a lot of generic medications in the field of diabetes, so getting prior authorization from insurance providers to cover medications is important for getting the best medicines into patients’ hands. Some physicians avoid prescribing branded medications because of the headache of dealing with prior authorization. I don’t believe this type of administrative hurdle should dictate how patients are treated.

Our expanded strategic alliance with Walgreens will take a significant burden off our staff and likely improve the rate of approval of the drugs that are most appropriate for my patients. This partnership represents one more way that VillageMD helps me do what is best for my patients.

The personal benefits I have enjoyed at VillageMD have been the icing on the cake.

Of course, in any job, the compensation and benefits cannot be overlooked, and I am extremely pleased with the support I have received from VillageMD. The company provides great benefits and interesting opportunities. I appreciate that VillageMD also considers our job satisfaction and takes our physician voices into consideration. I always feel like my concerns are heard and that VillageMD does what it can to incorporate my recommendations into their policies and standards.

VillageMD has been a wonderful fit for me, and I appreciated how seamless they made my transition from my previous practice. 

Dr. Timothy Dilon Daniel started practicing in 2003, with a medical interest in helping adults with diabetes and weight management. Timothy prides himself on his relationships with patients and his patients consistently rate his care very highly. 

Dr. Daniel earned his undergraduate degree from Brooklyn College-CUNY and obtained his PhD in organic chemistry from The University of Texas at Austin. He attended Harvard Medical School and completed his residency at the Baylor College of Medicine, with a focus in internal medicine. He is an advisory board member for Abbott Diabetes Care and Bayer.