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In this episode, Ron chats with Jonathan Spero, CEO at InHouse Physicians – the powerhouse behind the disruptive innovation he founded – Asterias Health. Asterias Health is a next-gen virtual & in-person direct primary care model that addresses the physical, behavioral, emotional, and social needs for its patients. Here, they discuss all of the benefits Asterias offers – including, Rx home delivery, chronic condition management, wellness programs, and more. Here he discusses how Asteria’s 1,000,000+ members are winning, why ~95% of these members continue to renew their contracts year after year, what the care model will look like in 3-5 years, and more.

Founder and CEO of InHouse Physicians and Asterias Health, Jonathan Spero, M.D. is an expert on medical risk management in the meeting industry, healthcare cost containment in the employer space, and in the field of neurobiology of human performance. Dr. Spero grew up in Arizona and completed his education at the University of California. He completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Scripps Mercy San Diego and practices both Internal and Emergency Medicine. His passion is creating disruptive innovation in providing a Direct Primary Care solution for employers across the country.

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In this episode, Ron is joined by Viral Patel, Founder and CEO at Radish Health – a highly rated NYC based digital first primary care platform giving employers access to primary care, mental health services, a registered dietician, and a care navigator. Here, Viral discusses the cost per month for employers. He also answers questions around how clinicians, employers, & patients are “winners” in using this service, how many providers are currently employed at Radish Health, and more.

Viral Patel is the founder and CEO of Radish Health, a platform that keeps organizations healthy, happy, and productive by providing accessible primary care and mental health services.  Prior to Radish, Viral was an emergency medicine physician and Medical Director at Oscar Health where he helped build their in-house telehealth practice.

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In this episode, Ron chats with Wayne Orchard, Partner & Executive Vice President at Lyric Health, MyTelemedicine, and GoLexi. Here, they discuss Lyric Health, a fully integrated virtual primary care platform that provides instant access to a “doc in your pocket”. Wayne also discusses how the pandemic helped him and his partner realize that they needed to focus more on day-to-day care rather than episodic care. He also answers the questions of how he recruits & retains clinicians, what the internal metrics of Lyric look like, how they are saving employers’ money, and more.

Wayne Orchard has over 15 years of experience in the Virtual Healthcare space. He and 3 other partners started MyTelemedicine in 2015 with the mission to deliver telehealth in a different way. In a way that people want to consume their healthcare. With ease of use, little administration, and effectiveness. MyTelemedicine has grown to over 4 million users and rebranded the service to Lyric Health in 2022 as it is now a Head-to-Toe Virtual Care service provider that covers Urgent and Primary Care, along with integrated labs and behavioral health. Lyric is leading the charge into the Virtual Primary Care services that are uncovering the underlying conditions to help mitigate the risk of unnecessary hospitalization claims.

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In this episode, Ron chats with Satish Srinivasan, Founder & Chief Executive Officer at DiRx, a digital pharmacy platform that provides savings for thousands of FDA-approved generic drugs – with no insurance requirement. Satish went into starting DiRx knowing the real cost of medicine because of his 25+ years in the generic pharmaceutical industry. Here, Satish discusses how DiRx is able to bring affordable drug access to the average American, the speed at which they are able to ship drugs directly to the consumer, what makes his business successful, and much more.

Satish Srinivasan is the Founder & CEO of DiRx, a new digital health platform designed to improve medication affordability for Americans that are unable to access it under the health insurance-based framework.
Satish has 25+ years’ experience and understanding of generic pharmaceutical channel economics underlined DiRx’s vision for a simple, cash-based subscription model built around the customer and a reimagined pharmacy access experience.

Through a digital platform, meaningful consumer outreach, and enhanced levels of customer service, DiRx seeks to expand access and enable more people to live healthier lives.

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In this episode, Ann M. Richardson, a Healthcare Systems Transformation & Operations Consultant with 25+ years of hospital leadership experience, chats with Ron about her work increasing awareness around the silencing that goes on in medicine. Her patient advocacy work is done by advocating for clinicians suffering from the moral injury that can lead to burnout and ultimately a mass exodus from healthcare. Here, they discuss direct & independent care, what providers that reach out to her privately for help are saying & their fear of retaliation from the “suits”, and much more.

Ann M. Richardson is a visionary healthcare administration Strategic Partner & Health Care Operations Transformation Consultant w/ extensive hospital system & multispecialty medical group operational & financial leadership experience.

She is an innovative, creative thinker who leverages a consultative approach drawing on 20+ years of healthcare administration & a passion for leading multidisciplinary teams to strategize processes for access to safe, timely, and high-quality care. She has a strong interest & ability to assess & evaluate technology along with key stakeholders to enhance and support clinical and administrative performance. She is a builder and promoter of clinical programs; creating an infrastructure, defining roles, and recruiting top-performing teams that uphold high standards of integrity and patient advocacy.

Ann is a clinically savvy, trusted partner committed to exceeding expectations, keeping physicians and patients’ interests at the center of decision-making, and focusing on enhanced value; able to challenge authority to protect patients and care teams. She is also a believer in physician and care team advocacy to successfully implement patient-centric advocacy models of care. She has small eyes and big ears to uncover countless opportunities for improvement and engagement through a bottoms-up systems-based approach with the voice of the frontline workers directing and implementing the necessary changes.

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In this episode, Ron is joined by power couple Dr. Renee Dua & Nick Desai, Co-Founders of Renee, a recently launched digital health assistant and generic medication delivery AI generated platform. With Dr. Dua’s 16 years of experience as a practicing nephrologist combined with Nick being an accomplished and visionary veteran of 5 successful VC rounded startups, they are reminding people to take their medications, scheduling & setting up transportation to and from appointments, delivering drugs, and more. Here, they answer the questions of who their target consumers are, who is already signing up, how inexpensive the drugs they are delivering are, and more.

Renee Dua is a visionary physician-entrepreneur who created Renee based on her 16 years of experience as a practicing nephrologist, her service as Chief of Medicine at two of LA’s largest hospitals and her 7 years as Chief Medical Officer of Heal, during which time she oversaw the successful delivery of over 300,000 doctor house calls.  She went from literally going home-to-home delivering house calls to patients in need to building a team of 200+ medical teams who saw over 2,000 patients per week across the United States.  She won the CES Innovation Award and was instrumental in working with CMS to expand house calls to all seniors and in driving strategy for Heal’s clinical and patient facing products.  Driven by the belief that healthcare is a human right, Dr. Dua has always gone beyond the call of duty to give the greatest care to the neediest patients and has dedicated her career to the underserved.

She created Renee in June 2021 and raised $7.8MM in seed funding to be the indispensable personal health assistant that helps the aging follow their doctor’s care plan towards living happier, healthier lives.

Renee completed her BS in Biochemistry at UC San Diego, her MD at Rosalind Franklin University, her residency in internal medicine at UCLA, and her fellowship in nephrology at USC.   Renee is an outspoken role model for women in STEM, frequently speaking at top universities, conferences and media outlets.

Finally, she is the mother of three young children, who are her pride and joy.  In her rare free time, she cooks and takes long drives in her EV with her best friend, co-founder and husband, Nick Desai.

Nick Desai is an accomplished and visionary veteran of 5 successful venture-funded startups.  Founded in August 2021, Renee is a transformative digital health assistant specifically designed for older and underserved Americans to coordinate, communicate and connect all aspects of their healthcare.  Launched Oct. 2022, Renee gives people the meds they need and they help they deserve in one incredibly easy, unified experience.  For Renee, Nick has raised $8.2MM in venture funding for Renee from Quiet Capital, Tau Ventures, Mucker Capital, Fika Ventures, Citylight Ventures and the AARP.

Nick is the Founder and former CEO of Heal – the renowned market-leader in home-centric primary care and doctor house calls.  From inception in October 2014 thru Feb. 2021, Nick led Heal’s torrid growth as CEO – expanding Heal to 10 states, serving over 300,000 patients, driving nearly $100MM in healthcare cost savings and raising over US $200 million in investment capital from top investors including Humana, Fidelity, Breyer Capital, Slow Ventures, Glenview Capital, IRA Capital and many others.  Nick also led Heal’s business development, winning contracts with over 50 major employers and insurance partners including Google, Hyundai, Samsung, Anthem, Aetna, United Healthcare and others.  Heal has been recognized as the Consumer Electronics Show Small Business of the Year, #114 on Deloitte’s Fast 500 list, #13 on CNBC’s Disruptor 50 List, A Fierce 15 Company, Rock Health Award winner and numerous others.

Prior to Heal, Nick has founded and built successful venture-funded startups in online weight loss coaching, social media and the web’s first self-updating address book.  Nick speaks passionately about healthcare and entrepreneurship including a podcast on Slice of Healthcare and previously writing for the Huffington Post.  Nick is an inventor with multiple US patents.

Nick earned his BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UC Irvine, where he was awarded the 2018 Lauds and Laurels Distinguished Alumni Award, and an MS in Electrical Engineering from UCLA.  Nick spends most of his free time playing with his three rambunctious young kids, eating pizza or taking walks with his best friend and wife, Dr. Renee Dua.   Nick is a first-generation immigrant in the US – and was born in Mumbai, India.

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In this episode, Ron is joined again by thought leader Lee Gross, Co-Founder of Epiphany Health Direct Primary Care, President of Docs 4 Patient Care Foundation, & Chairman of DPC Action. Lee discusses seeing firsthand just how much care delivery can be improved through his transition from a traditional fee-for-service practice to one of the pioneering direct primary care practices. He also answers the questions of whether or not DPC models make for happier physicians, how he feels about massive scaling DPC firms, what he’s been lobbying for since the last time was on the show, and more.

Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Dr. Gross is a graduate of The Ohio State University and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He was elected chief resident of his family medicine residency program at University Hospitals of Cleveland.

After years in private practice in Florida, he and his colleagues had an “epiphany” about an affordable health care solution, free of insurance and government intrusion. Now, a Direct Primary Care revolution is sweeping across the nation, providing access to health care for those who have been neglected by the system for decades.

Dr. Gross is a pioneer in the Direct Primary Care delivery model, frequently speaking at national meetings, conducting media interviews about free-market health care innovations and writing articles for national publications. He is a health care consultant to physician practices, medical organizations, insurance groups, hospitals and private businesses. He is consulted by lawmakers and policy leaders on local, state and federal health policy initiatives, including formal testimony for the United States Senate and consultation with leadership at CMS, HHS, Labor, Treasury and The White House.

He serves as the president of the Docs 4 Patient Care Foundation, a national health policy think tank of practicing physicians committed to the establishment of an American health care economy which preserves the sanctity of the physician-patient relationship, promotes quality care, supports affordable access to care for all Americans and protects patient’s personal health care decisions.

D4PCF is the leading educator of DPC physicians. It has trained over 1,000 physicians in the Direct Primary Care delivery model through grant-supported national conferences since 2016.

Dr. Gross serves on the Board of Trustees of an HCA Hospital and as a Delegate to the Florida Medical Association. He is President of his county Medical Society. He is appointed to the FMA Council on Medical Economics and Practice Innovation. Dr. Gross is a recipient of HCA’s Frist Humanitarian award. He has received the Free Market Medical Association’s Beacon Award for his leadership in healthcare market reforms.

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This episode, Ron is joined by Eric Starkman, an investigative journalist that uses his experience in crisis counseling, public relations, and financial reporting to help bring to light the threatening practices done by the BIGS in healthcare. Here, he answers the questions of how he picks the stories he writes, what obstacles faces in his reporting, why there aren’t many people doing the work he does, and more.

 Eric Starkman is a veteran journalist and former executive of a New York City PR and crisis communications firm.

Starkman previously worked as a reporter and editor at major newspapers in the U.S. and Canada, including the Toronto Star, the Montreal Gazette, The Detroit News, and American Banker. For more than two decades, he ran a well-known New York-based agency where he advised some very high-profile clients on media and other matters.

In 2020, Starkman returned to journalism and covered the implosion of Michigan’s Beaumont Health, for which his investigative reporting garnered an award from the Society of Professional Journalists. He publishes a blog called Starkman Approved for which he has extensively written critical articles about the corporatization of healthcare and the marginalization of doctors and other health professionals. Having grown up in Canada with socialized medicine, Los Angeles-based Starkman has naturally viewed U.S. healthcare through a different prism.

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In this episode Dutch Rojas returns to the show for a third time to discuss what he has been up to and how healthcare has changed since the last time he was on the show. Dutch is the Senior Vice President of Network at Nomi Health. Here he does a deep what is missing in the ecosystem of direct contracting, his investing in healthcare cutting edge healthcare companies as a way to improve healthcare, helping patients who are “functionally uncovered” due to high insurance costs, the trend of more patients wanting to pay cash, and more.

Dutch Rojas is Senior Vice President of Network at Nomi Health. Prior to being acquired by Nomi Health in July of 2022, Dutch was the founder of Sano Surgery and Everyone Health where he was building a brokerage, marketplace, and exchange for medical treatments and services resulting in affordable and accessible care for all. From 1995 to 2002 Dutch served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve.  He is a graduate of Oral Robert’s University.

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In this episode Ron chats with Dr. Michael Botta, Co-founder and President at Sesame, a healthcare marketplace that works with patients that are uninsured or priced out of care by connecting them with high quality physicians at the best price. In this conversation, he discusses their target consumer, how they can connect patients with the right physicians offering the best prices, how they are improving outcomes, and more.

Everything Michael has done in his career has led to the Sesame moment, where his role is to oversee all sales, partnerships, and clinician relationships.

Michael spent five years at McKinsey & Co, leading multi-million-dollar projects to find solutions to healthcare’s biggest problems: pricing; quality measurement; catalyzing competition in the US and abroad to drive better results. Michael received his PhD in Health Economics and Policy from Harvard and has advised The White House Office of Management and Budget, Brookings Institution, and the State of Massachusetts on health reform legislation and implementation.