After 25 years in large healthcare systems, Dr. Malhotra made a deliberate choice: to return to the kind of medicine her father practiced — personal, unhurried, and built entirely on trust. Direct Primary Care made that possible. This is her story.
Medicine has always been a part of my life. I grew up watching my father care for patients in a small-town practice—one visit at a time, one relationship at a time. His clinic was simple, personal, and built entirely on trust. He gave his patients everything his medical education had taught him—no frills, just deep compassion and unwavering commitment. That early example shaped my view of what medicine could and should be.
My own path took me from medical school in India to a new life and career in the U.S. Family Medicine became my home—a discipline that offered a sweeping view of healthcare in all its complexity and humanity. Over the past25 years, I’ve practiced medicine in large systems, seen technological advancement, and worked to improve care through better protocols, processes, and outcomes. I’ve been honored to earn the trust of my patients and make a difference in their lives.
But as the years passed, I also witnessed the healthcare system itself evolve—and not always for the better. In the early 2000s, Primary Care was rightly recognized as the bedrock of patient health, and “managed care”became the strategy of the day. Later, the conversation shifted to quality—better experiences, better outcomes. Yet too often, time with patients was traded for volume and efficiency. What was good for people wasn’t always good for profits. And in that trade-off, something essential got lost.
I missed the simplicity of my father’s practice—where healing started with presence, not paperwork. Where no algorithm decided how much time to spend with a person in need.
Direct Primary Care offers a path back. It removes the middlemen. It restores the doctor-patient relationship to its rightful place—at the center. No rushed appointments. No insurance-driven decisions.Just care, delivered with humanity and intention.
For me, this is both a return to my roots and a step toward the future of healthcare. It’s why I started Aurora PrimaryCare.
