The Grassroots Reinvention of Healthcare
Blog written by: Jason Rutz, Freedom Healthworks’s partnership and growth director
I’m not one to watch TV too often, but I did watch a few episodes of “The Man in the High Castle” on Amazon Prime about a year ago. For those who don’t know, the basic premise of the show is that in a parallel universe the Allied powers lost World War II and the United States is now ruled half by the Nazis and half by imperial Japan.
Not to create any spoilers, but the show centers around a small group of individuals trying to overthrow their new rulers, meeting in secret to formulate a plan despite the risk of being caught.
Sitting with a bunch of healthcare innovators on September 13 in Asheville, NC, it reminded me of that show in a roundabout way, not because of the risk of being caught, but because of what we are plotting. In my meeting, we were a group of healthcare innovators ranging from Direct Primary Care (DPC) physicians in NC to those in software, health sharing, and clinical tools looking for ways to promote a new vision for healthcare. If we are successful, healthcare will begin to start looking very different, drastically different. If we succeed, instead of healthcare being this cold uncertain thing, it will be a highly transparent, free market, high value system that will have more impact in individuals than almost anything else. The healthcare system in the US could turn from being one of the worst in the world to becoming the envy of the world.
“The healthcare system in the US could turn from being one of the worst in the world to becoming the envy of the world”
Those at the meeting, A DPC Gathering, who were plotting with me include:
- Dave Chase, Co-founder of Health Rosetta
- Bill Thomas, Sedera Health – a non-religious based healthshare providing coverage to individuals and businesses at a much lower cost than traditional health insurance
- Laura Fristoe, IMAC Regeneration Centers – a network of clinics that offer innovative regenerative therapies
- Audrey Lumetta, Shared Health Alliance – SHARx offers a prescription sharing program that can drastically reduce costs for drugs
- Peter Grimes, Vitafy – a software platform that makes it easy for employers to connect with low cost services including DPC
- Cristy Gupton, Custom Benefts Solutions – Cristy was the organizer and one of a handful of benefits consultants across the country trying to shakeup the industry.
Also, thanks to Dr. Rachel Hines and Dr. Ben Aiken for hosting us in their beautiful space at Avenu Health in Asheville, NC.
We are not the only group meeting to transform healthcare. The week of September 16 there is the Health Rosetta Summit in Minneapolis, where Benefits Consultants from across the country are trying to do their part to shake up the employee benefits industry. In addition, the Hint Summit, the AAFP DPC summit and more are also doing their part in shaking up the employee benefits industry.
We’re not fighting Nazis, but in the same way it does feel like we are trying to change the world for the better.
To learn more about Jason’s journey in Direct Primary Care, please register for our webinar – Getting to Know Freedom Healthworks and the Future of Direct Primary Care. The webinar in on October 3 from 12 p.m. – 1 p.m. ET. Register now because spots are limited!
