GastroDirect
Dr. Shannon Scholl on Caring for People, Not Numbers
Shannon Scholl, MD, MPH, has a sign in her office that reads, “The most important thing in the care of the patient is care for the patient.” It is on that premise that in 2022, the seasoned gastroenterologist founded GastroDirect, a cash-only specialty care model private practice serving the GI needs of select patients in Raleigh.
Born and raised in Raleigh, Dr. Scholl graduated summa cum laude from NC State with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry, then had two daughters before deciding to go to medical school at UNC. “I was an unconventional student because I already had two children when I went back to school. I was lucky enough to stay within the UNC system for all of my training – medical school, internship, residency, GI fellowship, and a master’s degree in public health.”
After working in private practice for 14 years, Dr. Scholl became unhappy with how medical care was putting an emphasis on numbers over people. “I was with a big medical group. I saw a lot of wonderful patients and built a really thriving practice,” she says. “But I felt I wasn’t doing a good job. I had an 8-12 week wait for appointments, I was working long hours every day and yet didn’t seem to have enough time for my patients. It was like a revolving door.”
From the doctor’s perspective, time is the most valuable commodity. Dr. Scholl explains, “In the traditional healthcare system, we have a fixed amount of time to spend with each patient, and insurance reimbursement contracts are always shrinking. Usually, you are getting less money per patient so the only way you can work that equation is to see more patients during the day. Appointment times shrink, and doctors have to think faster and do more in a smaller amount of time in order to keep their businesses open.”
Dr. Shannon Scholl opened GastroDirect in 2022 to offer specialty GI care to residents in Raleigh. In 2021, Dr. Scholl took a hiatus when one of her daughters became ill. “I was burned out and my daughter was really sick. It gave me a chance to reevaluate everything.” Over lunch, a colleague asked her, “Have you ever thought about not taking insurance?” “Yes, every single day of my professional life!” she responded.
Dr. Scholl had recently used TowneBank for a construction loan for a new house, so she turned to Towne again for business banking assistance. She found a match with the bank’s Healthcare Partner program, an exclusive program of services designed for the way a healthcare practice operates. “TowneBank has very good terms for business partners, and they have that kind of small town, high touch feel just like my practice does, so it made sense. It’s almost like a boutique bank experience the way that my clinic is a boutique healthcare experience.”
Dr. Scholl tailors her practice primarily to women. “As I began practicing, I found it easy to establish a rapport with women. They are more likely to have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) than men, and they are often embarrassed by the symptoms. I really enjoy being a soft place for them to show up and tell their story and being able to help them.”
The idea of offering direct specialty care is rather new. “This was a grassroots response by doctors who care deeply about delivering good quality medical care but are frustrated by a broken health care system. I am the first direct specialty care gastroenterologist nationwide, but there are many more behind me in various stages of rolling out,” Dr. Scholl says. “The beauty of this model is that I can spend more time with my patients. From the patient’s perspective, they are getting a practitioner who is interested in getting to the root cause of their problem and who is giving enough time to get there. I like to spend time educating patients about what they should be eating for optimal health because I believe food is medicine. I help the patient have the tools to make good decisions about their GI health.”
GastroDirect is growing and recently relocated to new office space near the NC Art Museum. The staff includes a nurse who also serves as the practice manager and one medical assistant. Another physician provider may be added this year. Dr. Scholl sums it up nicely, “This is how we want to practice medicine. We don’t want to take care of numbers. We want to take care of people, and that means that we know you and we care about you.”
For more information, visit GastroDirectNC.com.