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In this episode Ron talks to the author of The Purple World, Dr. Joseph Jarvis.

Born and raised in Arizona, Dr. Joseph Q. Jarvis received his college education at Brigham Young University and his medical and public health professional degrees from the University of Utah School of Medicine. He is board certified in public health/general preventive medicine and occupational and environmental medicine.

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).

With two decades of experience as a consultant in public health and environmental medicine, Dr. Jarvis has clients from Guam to New York City in both the public and private sectors with a diverse set of projects including indoor air quality in the Ground Zero neighborhood, monitoring for heavy metal exposure over a decade in a North Denver neighborhood, cancer cluster investigation around a uranium mill, and many hundreds of workers compensation cases.

Dr. Jarvis serves as the Chair of the Utah Healthcare Initiative, a nonprofit organization that proposes state-wide healthcare reform by ballot initiative.

Organized the Utah Health Policy Project with the intention it would be the way out of this mess. Chairman of the Board. 2004, walked away in 2008.

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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.

More information about The Direct Primary Care Summit referenced in this episode can be found here.

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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.

In 2009, Dr. Smith launched a website displaying all-inclusive pricing for various surgical procedures, a move that has gained him and the facility, national and even international attention. Many Canadians and uninsured Americans have been treated at his facility, taking advantage of the low and transparent pricing available. His most recent effort is the launch of the Free Market Medical Association which provides a platform where those seeking to obtain high quality and affordable health care can find free market-minded providers, both physicians and facilities.
Operation of this free market medical practice, the standard for all who have embraced this practice approach, has gained the endorsement of policymakers and legislators nationally. More and more self-funded insurance plans are taking advantage of Dr. Smith’s pricing model resulting in significant savings to their employee health plans. His hope is for as many facilities as possible to adopt a transparent pricing model, a move he believes will lower costs and improve quality of care for all.

He has made appearances on the John Stossel Show, CNBC, Huffington Post, The O’Reilly Factor, Capital Account, The Ron Paul Channel, NBC Nightly News and has been featured by Reason Magazine’s TV division. The New York Times, Time Magazine, ABC news, Forbes and many others have written articles featuring Dr. Smith’s revolutionary approach to the pricing of health care and uncompromising free market principles.

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

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In this episode Ron talks to Ronald Riewold. Mr. Riewold has extensive experience in operating and developing both public (Amex and NASDAQ) and private companies. Specifically, his expertise is in field or practice-level health care company operations. He was a top executive of six companies since 1978, three in the finance and real estate sector, and three in the health care and technology arena. Mr. Riewold has completed over fifty mergers in the health care industry.

After successfully growing a financial services company and real estate development company as CEO, Riewold entered the healthcare arena full time in 1996, as vice president of corporate development with Heart Labs of America, which became Medical Industries of America and later Cyber Care.

Upon leaving Cyber Care Riewold became a consultant for American Enterprise Solutions, Inc. a healthcare delivery system and Internet utility focusing on connectivity in the healthcare industry from 1999 – 2001. Vice President to President and then Chief Executive Officer in a short ten-month period.

In 2001, Mr. Riewold joined Pain Care Holdings as one of its original investors, President, Co-Chief Executive Officer and member of the board of directors. Riewold helped Pain Care rise from a start-up to an $80 million-dollar company that developed a process that protects by monitors patient including residents in nursing home/rehabilitation facilities or hospitals.

In 2008, he started Dynamic Real Estate Development as CEO focusing on development of medical buildings while partnering with physician groups and/or providing his expertise as a fee developer. His firm’s projects included surgery suites, urgent care facilities, and orthopedic offices.

From 2011 and to the present, Mr. Riewold founded and is President and CEO of Averlent Corporation, a national medication management initiative. In a few short months after its founding the company added several new clients including Accountable Care Organizations, larger group practices and over 500 Independent Physician Associations.

Mr. Riewold earned a bachelor’s degree from Florida State University 1970, and a Master of Business Administration from Temple University, 1972.

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In this episode Ron talks to the President and CEO of Paul Johnson Drywall, Inc., Cole Johnson. Here they discuss how the use of Redirect Health helped Paul Johnson Drywall recruit and retain top talent. Paul Johnson Drywall, Inc. is a 50-year-old specialty trade contractor. Although Paul Johnson Drywall previously offered health insurance – an anomaly in the construction industry – participation was low. The majority of the workforce viewed the previous health insurance plans as unnecessary, confusing and outrageously expensive. The labor force sought out quick-fix healthcare solutions, such as visiting hospital emergency departments for non-emergency injuries or illnesses. Since implementing Redirect Health, employee retention and satisfaction increased, as did company profits.

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In this episode Ron chats with Dr. Paul DeChant, MD, MBA. Paul is an experienced physician executive, C-suite coach, and expert on physician burnout. He has years of experience as a practicing family physician and a physician executive leader in large healthcare systems. He was the CEO of the Sutter Gould Medical Foundation and he now works as a senior advisor with Simpler Healthcare, an IBM Watson Health affiliate, providing executive coaching to health care leaders pursuing Lean transformations in their organizations and providing thought leadership on clinical operations and innovation.

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In this episode Ron chats with Nora  Belcher. Nora is the Executive Director of the Texas e-Health Alliance, a non-profit advocacy group that she started in 2009 to give health information technology stakeholders a voice in public policy.  The Texas e-Health Alliance serves as the state’s leading advocate, from local communities to the national level, for the use of information technology to improve the health care system for patients. She is widely considered to be one of the state’s leading experts in telemedicine, having worked on the issue for over 20 years in a variety of roles.  During the most recent Texas legislative session, Ms. Belcher led the coalition that passed SB 1107, which was a significant step in opening up the Texas market for full use of telemedicine.  Ms. Belcher holds a bachelor’s degree in government from the University of Texas at Austin and owns a hardcover first edition of Game of Thrones.

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In this episode Ron talks to Ron Vianu. Ron is a serial entrepreneur and problem-solver by nature. He’s spent the last 20+ years founding ventures in the healthcare, technology, and insurance spaces. Currently, he is CEO at Covera Health, a clinical analytics company.

Covera partners with physicians to deliver high-quality care through accurate diagnoses – putting patients on the most direct path back to health and reducing medical costs. Covera Health’s first solution, its Radiology Centers of Excellence Program, operates in all 50 states, and serves Fortune 500 self-insured employers and health plans like Walmart.

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In this episode Ron talks to Ches Williams. Ches is the Co-Founder and Partner of Frontera Strategies, LP. He is also the Co-Founder of Frontera Search Partners. Here they discuss a wide variety of issues around primary care and the importance of ancillary services.

Frontera is the leading provider of ancillary diagnostic testing services for physicians throughout Texas and Oklahoma. Frontera Search Partners is a healthcare staffing and recruiting firm providing services for hospitals, clinics and other medical facilities.

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