Primary Care Cures

In this episode Ron chats with Dr. Dana Corriel. Dana is the Founder of SoMeDocs. Here she discusses the power of social media in medicine, her role as a social media influencer in healthcare. She also talks about the positives and negatives of social media, but that overall a positive tool for good. Dana believes that medicine lags behind other industries when it comes to social media, but that it may be part of the solution to fixing what is wrong with medicine and specifically primary care. Dr. Dana Corriel is a board certified internist and creative entrepreneur, who is working to empower physicians on effective use of social media tools, with her company, SoMeDocs (Doctors on Social Media). She has been active online, as a professional, for close to a decade, earning the title of Top Ten Internists to Follow on Twitter in 2018 by Medical Economics. Dr. Corriel appears regularly in major publications, with most recent mentions on front covers of LA Times and Gastro & Endo News, as well as within the Bost

In this episode Ron talks to Kirk Umbehr is the Direct Care Transition Expert at Atlas MD. Kirk Specializes in helping doctors transition to an insurance free medical practice called direct primary care. Here they discuss the work of Atlas MD and how Kirk and is brother Josh were pioneers in the Direct Primary Care movement. Kirk explains the benefits of DPC and why he feels the movement should be growing and why there should be more DPC clinics across the country. He answers common questions, such as how interested are pediatricians and OB-GYN docs in DPC. He also dives into how DPC helps docs avoid burnout and giving them the freedom to spend the time with patient that they deserve. Kirk truly believes that the DPC movement is a way for docs to enjoy their career the way they wanted to when they decided to practice medicine. Kirk specializes in transitioning existing medical practices to Direct Care. In essence, he’ll make converting to DPC a downhill slide instead of an uphill battle. After graduating fr

In this episode Ron talks to Dr. Chris Crow. Chris is the CEO of StratiFi Health and President of Catalyst Health Network. Here he discusses what inspired to go into medicine and on his current path. He dives into why independent physicians are important to the ecosystem of healthcare. He also covers burnout, value-based care, chronic care management, and more. [...]

In this episode Ron talks to Dr. Alex Lickerman. Alex is the Founder, CEO, and a Direct Primary Care Physician at ImagineMD. Here he discusses why he left the large group model to be an independent physician and pioneer in direct primary care. He dives into the benefits of the direct primary care model and how it is not just concierge medicine for the rich. DPC providers are much less prone to burnout and it is an attractive model to encourage more medical students to go into primary care. Here Alex presents his argument for direct primary care as the primary care model of the future. Alex spent the first 20 years of his career as a leader at one of the top academic medical centers in the world, the University of Chicago, where he ran primary care for seven years and taught generations of today’s leaders in medicine. There he enjoyed a reputation as “a doctor’s doctor,” caring for many physicians who are themselves today considered leaders in their fields. He is a master clinician, routinely diagnosing medic

In this episode Ron gets the chance to chat again with Direct Primary Care expert, Dr. Paul Thomas of Plum Health DPC. In this episode he talks about how we went directly into primary care out of college and what his work week looks like, including blogging and youtubing the DPC message. He stressed the importance of relationships with small businesses and reaching the public via social media. Paul touches on how he has been successful in growing his business without brokers so far. He discusses what it takes start a DPC practice, the importance of a good name, creating a SEO course for DPC docs. He addresses Fears physicians have about going into DPC. Here Paul also shares his thoughts around end of life care and end of life care planning. Paul is a board-certified family medicine physician practicing in Southwest Detroit. His practice is Plum Health DPC, a Direct Primary Care service that is the first of its kind in Detroit and Wayne County. His mission is to deliver affordable, accessible health care serv

In this episode Ron talked to Dr. Torie Sepah. Torie is the Medical Director of Psychiatry & Behavioral Health at Imperial Health Holdings Medical Group and Healthplan, Physician & Co-Owner at Pasadena Neuropsychiatry Center, and Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Southern California. Here she discusses a wide variety of topics around physician burnout and wellness. [...]

In this episode Ron interviews Will Scott. Will is passionate about creating environments where people thrive so that they can be the best that they can be. A self-proclaimed Culture Czar, Will has studied, researched and adopted corporate culture strategies in several of his own companies, as well as helped multiple other businesses with their implementations. Each one has its own remarkable story. Will leads workshops and speaks regularly on the subject of corporate culture using his proprietary 9-step process for taking organizations from simply having Core Values to truly having a Valued Culture. Author of The Culture Fix: Solving C-Suite Problems at the Ground Level with 9 Deeds in 90 Days, and host of the Valued Culture podcast, Will has set out to create two-thousand and twenty Culture Czars by 2020. [...]

In this episode Ron chats with Uli K. Chettipally, MD., MPH. Uli is an emergency physician, researcher, author, speaker, and an innovator. He is passionate about delivering artificial intelligence-enabled solutions to physicians to improve patient outcomes. His work with CREST Network in developing a clinical decision support platform earned him the Pioneer award for innovation from Kaiser Permanente. He also received the Morris F. Collin award for his research with his team from The Permanente Medical Group. He is the author of the book, “Punish the Machine! The Promise of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare”. To connect with Dr. Chettipally and learn more about his work, visit www.InnovatorMD.com [...]

In this episode Ron talks to Michael Berg. Michael is the President and co-founder of Ancillary Medical Solutions. He has spent 13 years in the medical sector, 10 in medical ancillaries. He is also an expert in medical ancillaries, publisher of the Comprehensive Medical Ancillary Catalog with 50+ ancillary verticals. [...]

In this episode Ron talks to Ralph Weber Ralph Weber, REBC, CLU, GBA, Founder and President, MediBid Inc. Ralph has been a Healthcare Consultant since 1996 working primarily in the Canadian and US Markets. By 2009 Weber saw healthcare payers reaching the saturation point and started developing cost containment concepts to reduce healthcare spending for employers. Later that hear Weber founded MediBid Inc, with a group of physician investors. Being ahead of the market allowed development of concepts and perfecting of marketing strategies as well as tactical methods to increase competition among bidders. Weber is a frequent speaker at medical association meetings as well as free market medical events, and health underwriter and actuary conventions. Allowing doctors and hospitals in the US as well as 15 other countries to compete on cost and quality results in decreasing healthcare costs by 38%, while improving quality and outcomes. Weber has assisted in writing healthcare policy for several state and federal po

In this episode Ron chats with Kristine Ashcraft, B.S., MBA. Kristine is a molecular biologist by training and is CEO and founder of YouScript. She has worked in the precision medicine space since 2000 and was recently named one of the 25 leading voices in precision medicine. Kristine has authored multiple publications on the clinical and economic benefits of pharmacogenomic testing including one lauded as one of the most influential publications at an AMIA meeting. She has been interviewed by numerous media outlets including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and NBC Nightly News and has spoken at SXSW, ASHG, and numerous precision medicine Conferences. She is committed to being a catalyst in the adoption of precision medicine. [...]

In this episode on chats with David Chung. David is the USA Head of Carewell Lepu. A patient turned AI technologist. Not a doctor or scientist. Just an average American citizen with an above average appetite on fixing the healthcare system. As a Penn State engineering major, David has a keen sense of science, technology and logic. Call him a mixed bag, an engineer that worked in the industrial, service, IT, legal and healthcare industry. A global citizen knowledge sponge. He hungers for the latest news and science articles from all over the world. At the age of 3, he received a blood transfusion procedure that saved his life. With a sister that suffers from congenital heart disease and mild arrhythmia event in the past himself. David is passionate on learning the possibility of AI to eradicate heart diseases, with aspiration to collaborate innovators from all over the globe, together solving healthcare problems for all corners of the world. [...]

In this episode Ron talks to Dr. Cristin Dickerson. Cristin is the founder of Green Imaging. She initially practiced at Diagnostic Clinic of Houston where she served as two-term president of the 50 physician clinic and was a self funded employer. She is currently practice as a partner in Radiology Group of Houston at Medical Clinic of Houston (Sunset Clinic).   She founded Green Imaging in 2012 to provide affordable, high-quality medical imaging for uninsured and high deductible patients in Houston and rapidly expanded the company to provide services nationally for self funded employers and healthcare marketplaces. She loves being able to provide quality services to patients who often otherwise couldn’t afford them and providing significant imaging cost savings to patients with healthcare coverage and to their employers without compromising quality. She is co-founder of the Houston and Dallas Free Market Medical Association chapters. She is on the national advisory board of the Association of Independent Doc

In this episode Ron chats with Dr. Arlen Meyers. Arlen is an emeritus professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, a lecturer at the University of Colorado Denver Business School and President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs at www.sopenet.org Here they discuss the world of entrepreneurs in medicine.  [...]

In this episode Ron chats with Mike Bechtol. Mike is the Director of Membership for Redirect Health. He drives initiatives to educate employers and individuals nationwide about Redirect Health’s simple and affordable way of doing healthcare. He also innovates new processes and program benefits to bring more value to members, ensuring they have a positive healthcare experience and that all needs are met. Mike deeply understands the relationship between care and cost, especially the fact that quality care can and should be affordable. This belief is what drives him to motivate his team of enrollment specialists to ensure the needs of business owners and their people are put first – and not the other way around. Since joining Redirect Health in 2015, Mike has helped the team put members at the epicenter of operations, thereby allowing greater efficiency, streamlining and affordability. His efforts have helped the company expand membership nationwide. [...]

In this episode Ron chats with Dr. Clint Flanagan. Clint is Board Certified in Family Medicine and has over 14 years experience as an ER physician and maintains certificates in Advanced Cardiac and Advanced Trauma Life Support. He completed medical school at the University of Nebraska Medical Center then went on to residency at St Mary’s Family Medicine Program in Grand Junction, Colorado. He’s a diplomate of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Dr. Flanagan is the founder of Nextera Healthcare, the first Direct Primary Care company in Colorado and has been a local Primary Care physician and Emergency Medicine physician for over a decade. Dr. Flanagan is a recognized leader in healthcare and was named a “Top 20 Who’s Who in Direct Primary Care in the US” and was invited to the White House to discuss the future of healthcare. He is a founding member and is currently serving on the steering committee of the Direct Primary Care Coalition in Washington DC. Dr. Flanagan was also instrumental in helping pass

In this episode Ron chats with Dr. Josh Umbehr. Josh is the founder of Atlas MD. Atlas MD is a Direct Primary Care Clinic that represents his ideal medical practice where he is able to shrug off the burdens and restrictions of government and insurance regulation so he can focus solely on patients and their needs. [...]

Im this episode Ron talks to the author of The Purple World, Dr. Joseph Jarvis. His years of family practice (in Salt Lake City, Washington DC, and Reno) were largely in areas of low income, with most of his patients being uninsured. Dr. Jarvis has two decades of experience as a consultant in public health and environmental medicine. He later spent several years as a specialist in occupational lung disease in Denver. His public health career included stints working in the federal government (OSHA, US Dept. of Labor) and state government (Nevada Division of Health, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment). [...]

In this  episode Ron talks to Dr. Paul Thomas. He is a board-certified family medicine physician practicing in Southwest Detroit. His practice is Plum Health DPC, a Direct Primary Care service that is the first of its kind in Detroit and Wayne County. His mission is to deliver affordable, accessible health care services in Detroit and beyond. He has been featured on WDIV-TV Channel 4, WXYZ Channel 7, Crain's Detroit Business and CBS Radio. He has been a speaker at TEDxDetroit. He is a graduate of Wayne State University School of Medicine and now a Clinical Assistant Professor. Finally, he is an author of the book Direct Primary Care: The Cure for Our Broken Healthcare System. [...]

In this episode Ron talks to Dr. Keith Smith. Keith is a board certified anesthesiologist in private practice since 1990. In 1997, he co-founded The Surgery Center of Oklahoma, an outpatient surgery center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, owned by over 90 of the top physicians and surgeons in central Oklahoma. Dr. Smith serves as the medical director, CEO and managing partner while maintaining an active anesthesia practice. What total transparency looks like. Two fine examples. #SurgeryCentersofOklahoma A to Z pricing. Literally. https://surgerycenterok.com/pricing/ #AtlasMD PCP test ,procedure and exam fees. Pharma pricing. https://atlas.md/wichita/content/upload/files/Atlas-Pricing.pdf [...]