09/11/2025
The goal of any service industry, particularly healthcare, should be to create an experience that has value to both the patient and the practice. For both, there is a point at which the value added makes it "worth it". Both the patients and the doctors create value for the each other, and what is in the middle is called shared value.
Unfortunately what has happened in corporate medicine is that all of the middlemen - insurance companies, administrators, private equity, hospital monopolies - have extracted all of that shared value to the point where neither the patient or the doctor feels that they are getting a fulfilling experience. As a result, both doctors and patients are leaving the system when they can. The system works great for the middleman who continue to make a ton of money while providing very little to the experience.
The first picture describes how the value is destroyed for both parties in insurance based, corporate medicine. Boo.
The second picture describes what happens when you remove the middlemen. The doctors are actually able to spend face-to-face time with patients, pro provide a good service that is fulfilling to them, and focus their time on patient care while still having the ability to have a work-life balance.
For the patients, they feel valued, have time with the doctor, have access to expertise, availability, shorter waits, transparency, etc.
This is what direct care practices can provide by eliminating middle men!
