DPC Summit 2026 Recap: What DPC Leaders Should Know

Discover the highlights of the DPC Summit 2026 and save the date for the 2027 edition: July 15-18, in Kansas City, MO.

If you missed DPC Summit 2026, or you were there and want the highlights without digging through four days of notes, this DPC Summit recap has you covered.

The event ran July 16 through 19 at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans and pulled hundreds of physicians, practice owners, employers, and vendors into one building. Here's what happened, what's worth remembering, and what it means if you're weighing whether to go next year.

What Happened at DPC Summit 2026

This event is the flagship annual gathering for the direct primary care movement, hosted jointly by four organizations that anchor the DPC and family medicine community:

• American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP)

• American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians (ACOFP)

• Family Medicine Education Consortium (FMEC)

• Direct Primary Care Alliance (DPCA)

The 2026 program ran three learning tracks, so attendees could build an agenda around where they actually are in their DPC journey:

• 101: Starting a DPC Practice: For physicians exploring the model or in their first year.

• 201: Growing a Practice: For owners past the launch phase, focused on scaling membership, staffing, and operations.

• 301: Clinical Expertise: Hands-on clinical skill-building for physicians who want to expand what they offer in-house.

Roughly 23.5 hours of CME credit were available across the program, a meaningful draw for physicians who need to meet annual education requirements while already investing time in travel.

Speaking Sessions and Education Worth a Second Look

The 101 and 201 tracks covered the fundamentals that new and growing practices need: legal structure, financial planning, staffing, and marketing strategy. The 101 track's sessions on the entrepreneurial mindset of running a DPC practice are aimed squarely at physicians still deciding whether to make the leap.

Three presenters worth following from this year's 101 and 201 tracks: Amy Capoocia, DO, FACOFP (101 Track), owner of Ludwig's Village Family Medicine in Glenmoore, PA; Michael Sparks, MD (101 Track), owner of SparksMD Family Medicine in Sanford, FL; and Charles Opperman, MD, FACP (201 Track), owner of Simplicity Health Direct Primary Care in Dayton, OH.

The 301 track leaned into hands-on procedural work this year, with sessions touching on point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), dermatology, osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT), and IUD and Nexplanon placement. For a model built around keeping care inside the physician-patient relationship, that kind of in-house skill-building is the whole point: every procedure a DPC physician can confidently perform in their own office is one less referral out to a specialist.

If a session got missed, most conferences at this scale eventually make recordings or slide decks available to registered attendees. Check the DPC Alliance site or reach out to the organizers directly if a specific topic is still on your mind.

Booth, Exhibitor, and Vendor Highlights from the Expo Hall

The exhibitor floor followed a standard trade show format, anchored by two key moments: an Expo Hall launch event on Thursday evening, and a dedicated exhibitor happy hour on Friday designed to pull people back to the floor after a full day of sessions.

DPC Summit exhibitors this year spanned the full range of the DPC space, using the hall to demo tools directly to owners actively deciding what to add to their practice stack.

Some of Amplify DPC's partners were exhibitors at the event this year.

What This Means If You're Planning to Attend Next Year

The biggest signal from this year's DPC Summit is that the DPC model is maturing. Employer-sponsored memberships are growing, clinical scope is expanding, and the vendor floor is getting more sophisticated. The value doesn't end when the flight home lands. It ends when every connection, every mentorship conversation, and every idea from a session actually gets acted on.

Explore more DPC growth strategies on the Amplify DPC blog.

Turn This Year's Takeaways Into Next Year's Growth

If your practice is thinking about growth systems for next year, whether that's better patient follow-up, a cleaner referral process, or a simple way to make sure a new contact doesn't go cold, book a demo to see what that could look like for your practice.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is DPC Summit?

The largest annual conference for the direct primary care community, hosted by the AAFP, ACOFP, FMEC, and the DPC Alliance. It combines clinical education, business strategy sessions, and an exhibitor hall for physicians at every stage of running a DPC practice.

2. How many people attended this year?

Recent editions have drawn several hundred attendees, including physicians, practice owners, employers, and vendors serving the DPC space.

3. What learning tracks were offered?

Three: a 101 track for physicians starting a practice, a 201 track for owners growing an existing one, and a 301 track focused on clinical skill-building.

4. Is it worth attending for practice owners?

Many owners find the most value in the combination of clinical CME credit and direct access to peers a step or two ahead on the same growth path. The sessions matter, but the hallway conversations and mentorship opportunities are often what owners mention most afterward.

5. When is next year's event?

DPC Summit 2027 will be on July 15-18, in Kansas City, MO.

Key Takeaways

• The DPC model combines employer-funded growth. If your practice hasn't explored employer partnerships, this year's data suggests it's worth a serious look.

• The best conversations happen outside the sessions. Budget real time for the hallway, the happy hour, and the mentorship lunch.

• If a session is still on your mind, follow up with the organizers. Recordings or materials are often available after the fact.