Direct Care Conferences to Attend in 2026 and 2027: A Complete Guide
Direct Care Conferences to Attend in 2026 and 2027: A Complete Guide
The Direct Care community is constantly evolving, and conferences offer a great opportunity to learn from experienced physicians, practice leaders, and innovators. We've compiled a list of DPC conferences that are packed with valuable insights and educational sessions.
Why Direct Care Conferences Matter for Practice Growth and Community
Most DPC physicians learn their hardest lessons from other DPC physicians, not from textbooks or generic business courses. A single conversation at a conference can save you months of trial and error on membership pricing, staffing, or patient onboarding.
Conferences also fix a problem you didn't sign up for when you left traditional practice: isolation. You gained independence, but independence without a peer network wears you down faster than the clinical work does. Spending a couple of days with physicians who face your exact challenges reminds you that you're not troubleshooting alone.
The team at Amplify DPC works with direct care practices every day, and the fastest-growing ones share one habit: they stay plugged into the DPC and DSC community instead of guessing in isolation. Conferences build that connection directly.
Direct Care Conferences to Watch in 2026 and 2027
Four national and regional events give you the broadest DPC audience across 2026 and 2027, and each one offers a different mix of content depth and travel cost.
DPC Summit
The DPC Summit is the largest national DPC gathering, co-hosted by the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians, the Family Medicine Education Consortium, and the DPC Alliance.
Format: Three tracks covering practice startup, practice growth, and clinical skills, plus an exhibitor expo hall and CME credit
2027 dates: July 15 to 18, 2027, in Kansas City, Missouri.
Hint Summit
Hint Health produces Hint Summit, and the event leans heavily toward the employer and benefits side of direct care.
Format: Two days of sessions on funding, employer partnerships, and where the DPC model is headed operationally
2027 dates: April 7 to 9, 2027, at Scottsdale Stadium in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Regional State Summits
Two regional events already have confirmed dates for 2026 and 2027:
Illinois State DPC Summit: October 2 to 3, 2026, in Naperville, Illinois
California DPC Summit: June 4 to 6, 2027, in Newport Beach, California, at Hana Haus
Both events give you national-conference content without a cross-country flight, and both cost less to attend than the national events.
Niche and Specialty DPC Events
Three more DPC networking events narrow the focus to a specific role or patient population, which matters if your team includes advanced practice providers or your practice serves families.
DPC Launchpad
DPC Launchpad targets nurse practitioners and physician assistants building or growing a direct care practice.
2027 dates: February 18 to 20, in Austin, Texas, at Lone Star Court
Format: Hands-on sessions built specifically around the NP and PA path into direct care, with a smaller, conversational format than the national summits
Registration note: Early bird pricing ends September 30, 2026, or once the first 50 tickets sell, and VIP passes are capped at 40 spots.
Pediatric DPC Conference
The DPC Alliance hosts the Pediatric DPC Conference specifically for pediatricians running or exploring a DPC model.
2026 dates: Mid-April (April 16–19 per the official event page), already held in Savannah, Georgia
Format: Sessions covering the business and clinical sides of pediatric DPC, plus peer networking
2027 dates: Not yet announced. The conference runs annually in April, so watch dpcalliance.org for the update.
Free Market Medical Association Annual Conference
While not exclusive to DPC, FMMA Annual Conference covers direct care and cash-pay medicine extensively.
2027 Dates: February 3 to 5, 2027, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, at the Omni Oklahoma City Hotel.
Audience: Physicians, employers, and benefits advisors navigating the cash-pay healthcare system.
Note: After skipping its 2026 conference, the Free Market Medical Association shifted this event from its traditional April window to early February.
Vendor and Partner-Focused DPC Events
Most of these Direct Primary Care events double as a place to evaluate the tools that support your practice, not just a place to learn.
DPC Summit runs an Exhibitor Expo Hall where vendors covering EMR, billing, and communication tools set up alongside physician attendees.
The DPC Alliance hosts a Friday-night happy hour with exhibitors at DPC Summit, and informal conversations there often turn into real vendor relationships.
The DPC Alliance also maintains a year-round vendor directory, so you can research tools even if you can't attend a conference in person.
You'll typically find Amplify DPC and our partners represented at these events.
How to Choose the Right DPC Conferences for Your Practice
Match the conference agenda to your stage of practice first. A physician who opened their doors six months ago gets more value from a startup-focused track than from an advanced clinical workshop meant for an established practice.
Weigh the cost against the format next. Weigh the cost against the format next. How much a national event costs you depends heavily on where you are located. A short flight to Kansas City or Scottsdale looks a lot more reasonable than the same trip from the opposite coast. Even so, DPC Summit is worth the investment, no matter where you are starting from, since the content and networking rarely exist anywhere else at that scale. If travel cost is the deciding factor, the Illinois and California regional summits deliver a similar caliber of programming, much closer to home.
Consider who else is on your team. If you are an NP or PA, DPC Launchpad might be an excellent choice, since the sessions speak directly to their day-to-day questions. If you serve families, the Pediatric DPC Conference will teach you more than a general primary care event will.
Set one rule before you travel to any of these DPC conferences: bring back one concrete idea instead of ten vague ones. Pick a single new onboarding script or referral workflow, and implement it within 30 days of getting home.
Ready to Turn Conference Ideas Into Practice Growth?
Conferences give you ideas. Book a demo and see how Amplify DPC turns those ideas into automated patient onboarding and marketing systems that keep your panel growing between events.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What are the best DPC conferences to attend?
The best DPC conferences to attend are DPC Summit, Hint Summit, the Illinois State DPC Summit, the California DPC Summit, DPC Launchpad, the Pediatric DPC Conference, and the Free Market Medical Association Annual Conference. DPC Summit and Hint Summit draw the largest national audiences, the Illinois and California summits offer lower-cost regional alternatives, and DPC Launchpad and the Pediatric DPC Conference focus on nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and pediatric practices.
2. When is the DPC Summit held?
DPC Summit 2027 takes place July 15 to 18, 2027, in Kansas City, Missouri.
3. Are there DPC conferences for nurse practitioners and PAs?
Yes. DPC Launchpad serves NPs and PAs directly, and the 2027 event runs from February 18 to 20 in Austin, Texas.
4. How do I choose which DPC conference to attend?
Weigh your stage of practice, your budget, and your team's roles. A new practice owner benefits most from startup-focused sessions, while an established physician gains more from clinical or scaling tracks.
5. Do I need to join the DPC Alliance to attend its conferences?
No. The DPC Alliance opens the Pediatric DPC Conference and its DPC Summit partnership to non-members, though members typically get earlier access to registration and lower rates.
Key Takeaways
Confirm 2027 dates directly on dpcsummit.org and summit.hint.com before you book travel, since neither has published next year's event yet.
Book the Illinois or California regional summit if you want national-quality content at a lower cost.
Your NPs and PAs will get more from DPC Launchpad, and your pediatric team will get more from the Pediatric DPC Conference than either will from a general session.
Treat the DPC Alliance's vendor directory as a year-round research tool, not just a conference-week stop.
Pick one workflow or idea from each conference and put it into practice within 30 days of returning.
