Healthcare2U Co-Founder, President, and CEO Andy Bonner recently sat down to write an article for America’s Benefit Specialist. He spoke about the struggles employers are currently facing when trying to provide quality, affordable care to employees, and how direct primary care (DPC) is one solution that is gaining momentum.
DPC is experiencing an impressive annual growth rate of 36%, emerging as an affordable and more accessible non-traditional healthcare alternative. Healthcare2U’s DPC membership offers nationwide, unlimited access to board-certified family care physicians or internists, and includes unlimited access to primary and urgent care, bilingual virtual care, an annual physical with four labs, and early-stage chronic disease management for 13 prevalent chronic diseases.
DPC is a solution that might not be known by every company, but should.
Article: CEO Andy Bonner Talks with The Silicon Review About His Vision to Expand Healthcare Access Publication: The Silicon Review Featured: Andy Bonner
Healthcare2U Co-Founder, President, and CEO Andy Bonner recently sat down for an interview with The Silicon Review. He shared his vision of revolutionizing healthcare delivery through affordable and accessible primary and urgent care. In this interview, Andy elaborates on his challenges when launching Healthcare2U, how he overcame them, and what sets Healthcare2U apart from other direct primary care companies.
Today, Healthcare2U’s membership program allows unlimited access to board-certified family care physicians or internists nationwide through their Private Physician Network™. Healthcare2U’s plan includes unlimited access to primary and urgent care, bilingual virtual care, an annual physical with four labs, and early-stage chronic disease management for 13 prevalent chronic diseases.
Third-party administrators, carriers, and brokers partner with Healthcare2U. The nationwide DPC membership provides clients an alternative to primary care access via traditional insurance. Healthcare2U is especially attractive to employers who offer high-deductible health plans as it allows for access to day-to-day care and eliminates the need to file a claim against a member’s major medical plan for care provided within the DPC ecosystem.
Andy’s mission to transform primary care access and enhance the overall patient experience is evident in this interview.
Article: Healthcare2U Enables Individuals with Modest Incomes to Afford Primary Care Consultations for Early Detection of Major Health Conditions Publication: CEOCFO Magazine Featured: Andy Bonner
Recently, our Co-Founder, President, and CEO, Andy Bonner, sat with Lynn Flosse of CEOCFO Magazine to share his vision to redefine the delivery of healthcare by providing affordable and accessible primary care services to individuals across the United States. Andy was inspired to found Healthcare2U in 2013 after an uncoordinated healthcare experience resulted in cancer going undiagnosed. He aimed to develop a nationwide program based on the Direct Primary Care (DPC) model, which makes primary care consultations affordable and accessible for everyone.
Today, Healthcare2U’s membership offers primary care in all 50 states and provides unlimited access to family care physicians or internists through their Private Physician Network™. The plan includes the following:
Patient advocacy line for members
Unlimited 24/7 bilingual telehealth for $0 out-of-pocket cost
Unlimited in-office visits for $10 per visit
Unlimited urgent care visits at $25 per visit
Annual physical examinations with four basic labs
Early-stage chronic disease management for 13 prevalent chronic diseases.
Through benefits brokers, Healthcare2U serves employers as a supplement to existing health plans for their employees. For example, members with high deductible health plans can benefit from Healthcare2U because the membership will serve as a gap solution, providing valuable day-to-day healthcare that is otherwise not covered by their major medical plan.
Get to know Andy and learn about his passion for revolutionizing primary care access and improving the overall patient experience by addressing the flaws in the traditional fee-for-service healthcare model.
Healthcare2U’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. John Rodriguez, is featured in a news story with Amanda Hill speaking about how the doctor shortage, which is set to get even worse in the next few years, will affect the US.
Transcript
News Center Maine: Have you noticed it takes a little longer to schedule an appointment with your primary care physician right now? Or once you’re at that appointment, you feel rushed through it. Dr. John Rodriguez says it’s a problem nationwide, but it’s impacting every community, especially smaller ones.
Dr. Rodriguez: I see a lot of my friends, primary care friends, have called it quits. They’ve either left the scene already, they’re joining the big groups, they’ve left healthcare, or they’re working for insurance companies.
Amanda Hill: But why are primary care physicians leaving? Dr. John Rodriguez is the Chief Medical Officer of a direct primary care office. Essentially, it’s a practice that has either a membership fee or takes direct payment from the patient, cutting out the need for an insurance company. While it’s not an affordable option for everyone, Dr. Rodriguez says it does afford a more intimate relationship with patients and cuts down on overwhelming paperwork, which has become two reasons for doctor burnout.
Dr. Rodriguez: Your visits now are down to seven minutes on average. I mean, that’s fine if it’s a head cold, but if you’re dealing with three or four medical problems like diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease, that’s impossible to keep up with that in proper form.
Amanda Hill: Is there a concern for you- a misdiagnosis or something that’s missed in the appointment?
Dr. Rodriguez: Absolutely. And I’ve seen it. Sometimes I’m a second opinion doctor, so I’ll see patients from other offices, and as well-intended as they were, their diagnosis was off, and we come up with a different diagnosis. And again, I see it- they were in a hurry, the patient had a few complaints, and they didn’t think they were important, but they were.
Amanda Hill: The Association of American Medical Colleges projects that in 2034, the US will have shortages of between nearly 18,000 and 48,000 primary care physicians. That’s in just the next decade.
Dr. Rodriguez: I would bet that most of your listeners have probably experienced that already.
Amanda Hill: It’s not a new issue. About five years ago, we met Dr. Bill Med, who worked well beyond his retirement years in the town of Norway because he couldn’t find a replacement. Do you worry about what will happen to them when you leave?
Dr. Bill Med: Oh, yeah. That’s probably the main thing that’s continuing my work.
Amanda Hill: But there are changes being made. Dr. Med started working with Maine Health on a program to recruit more doctors to rural parts of the state. The question remains whether those changes are happening quickly enough.
Dr. Rodriguez: It’s going to get worse. And really, the issue is, you need the quarterback. You need someone who knows the healthcare system and how to maneuver through that. And if you don’t have that, it’s chaos.
Amanda Hill: So, some advice: if you’re losing your primary care physician, it’s worth asking the practice or the physician themselves if they’d refer you to someone else. We’ve also shared a link on our website with a list of direct primary care physicians in Maine if that is something you’re interested in.
To view more helpful Healthcare2U videos, check out our YouTube Channel!
Healthcare2U’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. John Rodriguez speaks with Doug Wagner about exciting strides being made in the development of a pill that could replace insulin for type 1 diabetes sufferers.
Interview Transcript
Wagner: Dr. John Rodriguez joins me next. If you’re a type 1 diabetic, you’ll want to listen to this. People may have the ability to take pills instead of using insulin shots to control their diabetes. It’s the WMT Morning Show with Doug Wagner on News Radio 600 WMT. On the Morning Show, it is 6:46. Welcome to your Tuesday, February 14th. Welcoming to the newsmaker line, a Texan has got to appreciate a little Stevie Ray Vaughn this early in the morning.
Dr. John Rodriguez joining me on the newsmaker line. I appreciate you taking the time to talk with us. I’ll introduce a little bit more about you and what you do, how you do with coming up. But I want my listeners to find out how important what you’re talking about is, as I was telling the story earlier, I’ve got a buddy I didn’t realize, a super athlete. He had type 1 diabetes all the way through. Even as a super athlete, as an adult, he had to have a transplant because of the effect type 1 diabetes had on his body, even though he was working hard to control it through insulin. What you’re going to tell us though is that type 1 diabetes may be able to be controlled in the future using pills instead of shots. How far in the future? Is this now, or not?
Dr. Rodriguez: Well, it’s just a little few more years far out, but the researchers at the University of British Columbia finally look like they’ve come up with a pill. Because, by the way, this has gone on for years. They studied the pill, and they can’t get it right. They think this time that they found a way to get the insulin into our systems that’s not going to break down and cause problems like the previous pills. So, the fact that they could put a pill between your cheek and gum and have it absorbed and have it almost a hundred percent absorbed, is amazing.
The applications are tremendous, right? So, you don’t have to carry around insulin in a refrigerator and constantly be giving yourself shots before or after a meal or bedtime, etc. I mean, it’s going to be a godsend to a lot of these young kids that have to do this- that’s a traumatic experience. So, it’s an awesome thing to see. We hope it’s going to come to fruition very soon, but it’s going to take time, just like any research product takes time. So, that’s coming.
Wagner: Dr. John Rodriguez is the Chief Medical Officer of Healthcare2U. Passionate about the care provided to you as patients, he manages all the care providers in Healthcare2U’s network of clinics. We were talking before we got on the air- you say that this may have application for type 2 diabetes down the line as well.
Dr. Rodriguez: Absolutely. Type 2, granted, it is a lifestyle, sadly enough. I mean, if we just get up, get off the couch, move, eat healthy, that’s going to fix our diabetes. But in the case that that can’t happen, and we have to inject with insulin, which is always a last resort, this is going to be much, much more palatable instead of a shot and carrying around insulin in a refrigerator. This is a way you can give yourself a pill before or after your meal to supplement that glucose load that you’re going to get. So, even in type 2, there are applications.
Wagner: It’s so interesting the way technology is allowing us to do things so much differently. And especially because I remember the first girl that I had a crush on was a type 1 diabetic. She’d be outside playing, and her mom would call her in for an insulin shot. Everybody else was having birthday cake, and she wasn’t. And I felt so badly for her.
But now with this insulin-mimicking molecule that can be developed in an oral pill, this can really allow for much more freedom.
Dr. Rodriguez: Absolutely. And then that’s the thing, I mean, we see our kids, and you love your kids, but to have a child with type 1 is just… It’s such a burden and a cross to carry. But this would make it a little easier when you can have that option.
Wagner: And it’s just amazing too, guys, because I was telling the story of the friend of mine from high school. He was a super athlete, a freak. The kid was five-nine, and he could get up way over the rim and dunk a basketball. He is still in super fit shape, but he had type 1 diabetes for all those years, and it just has started to ruin his kidneys. Is this something that is going to be able to help push back on that as well, the way that you have organ failure because of diabetes or not?
Dr. Rodriguez: Yeah, absolutely. And again, one of the cruxes of diabetes is the high sugar load, right? When you have high sugar loads in the bloodstream running around for months and years, it creates nerve damage and vascular damage to the body that creates your heart attacks and your strokes and your kidney failures, etc. So, that’s the nice thing about the pill. It’s going to help reduce that.
To view more helpful Healthcare2U videos, check out our YouTube Channel!
Healthcare2U’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. John Rodriguez, speaks with Jeff Kennedy on a few ways to improve your sleep hygiene. Dr. Rodriguez explains why poor sleep hygiene affects our health so negatively and tips on how to get better sleep. To read the interview transcript, click here.
To view more helpful Healthcare2U videos, check out our YouTube Channel!
Healthcare2U’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. John Rodriguez, is featured in a live WAFB-9 News story giving tips on how to manage stress around the holidays with reporter Breanne Bizette.
Transcript
Bizette: The holiday season can come with challenges. For some, it’s stressing over which gift to buy, while others may have a hard time celebrating the season without a loved one this year.
Dr. Rodriguez: The tradition of the holiday blues is a legitimate disease process that can be overlooked. And we just assume, and you don’t need to suffer with those.
Bizette: Dr. John Rodriguez with Healthcare2U says it’s normal to experience anxiety or even depression during the winter months. He says a lot of patients may have seasonal affective disorder. Doctors say when the weather changes, it can affect your mood.
Dr. Rodriguez: Talk to your primary care physician if it’s really something you can’t overcome, primary care physicians treat a majority of seasonal effective disorder conditions in terms of either counseling or directing you to the therapy or medication if need be.
Bizette: Dr. Rodriguez says staying active in the community or engaging with loved ones can also help keep your spirits up. But when it comes to stress during the holidays, he says it’s always best to plan ahead.
Dr. Rodriguez: I think preparation is the key, knowing that “OK, I struggle this time of the year. What can I do to reduce my stress?” I think one of those things too is the gift giving side, right? How to reduce the financial parts.
Bizette: He urges people who may experience these symptoms to get your shopping done ahead of time and set a budget on how much you are going to spend. Breanne Bizette, WAFB-9 News.
To view more helpful Healthcare2U videos, check out our YouTube Channel!
Healthcare2U’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. John Rodriguez, speaks with Guy Wehman on why it feels like more and more people have a gluten allergy these days. Dr. Rodriguez explains what exactly gluten is, some of the myths behind it, its symptoms, and how to test yourself to see if you have a gluten allergy.
After impressive growth over three years, Healthcare2U takes its place among other privately held companies on the 2021 Inc. 5000 list.
August 25, 2021 (Austin, TX) – Healthcare2U today announced their placement within the prestigious Inc. 5000 list for the 2021 year. After experiencing impressive growth of 66 percent member adoption in 2020, Healthcare2U ranks among the nation’s most successful private companies. As the nation’s fastest-growing hybrid Direct Primary Care organization, Healthcare2U is honored to join the Inc 5000 list, a symbol of entrepreneurial success and innovation.
“Direct Primary Care is not a new concept; rather, it may be healthcare’s oldest payment model. Back in the day, if you needed primary care from a physician, you paid directly for that care, with no copays or deductibles. This is the traditional model on which Healthcare2U was founded,” says Andy Bonner, CEO of Healthcare2U. “Since our inception, we’ve expanded the direct primary care model into an innovative membership that boasts unlimited benefits and hands-on patient navigation across all 50 states. This integrated membership delivers primary medical care while eliminating the hassle of insurance copays, claims and deductibles. By promoting clarity around the entry point to the healthcare system, Healthcare2U encourages members to become active participants in their health while delivering a proven 13+ percent first-year ROI for employer groups.”
Healthcare2U’s mission of providing nationwide affordable and convenient access to healthcare prioritizes the principle of member education and navigation. Their Direct Primary Care membership provides one central phone number for all non-emergency medical concerns. This patient navigation hotline guides members through unlimited DPC benefits, such as in-office acute visits for primary care and urgent care, annual physicals, early-stage chronic disease management, and 24/7 virtual DPC.
Over the last three years, Healthcare2U’s business has grown exponentially through multiple initiatives such as their nationwide Partnership Program. This program helps insurance agencies and third-party administrators expand benefit offerings by packaging existing products with Healthcare2U’s DPC suite of integrated primary care services. With these comprehensive initiatives, employer groups can customize their benefits packages to reduce healthcare expenses and expand employee benefits to motivate and retain their workforce. As a result, employers can attract, motivate, and retain their employees with affordable healthcare—reducing presenteeism, absenteeism, and the onset of serious illnesses, which drive future healthcare costs.
Healthcare2U is proud to accept this award and continue advocating for more equitable access to healthcare across the United States.
Social: Tweet this: Healthcare2U joins the Inc. 5000 list which hosts many of the nation’s most successful private companies. Learn more here: https://hlthc2u.com/3Df8HOL
Find Healthcare2U on LinkedIn and Twitter: @Healthc2U, and follow Healthcare2U’s blog to keep on top of company developments, news, and informative articles.
About Healthcare2U
Healthcare2U is a membership-based, hybrid direct primary care (DPC) organization that ensures employers of all sizes and structures have nationwide access to affordable, consistent, and quality primary care over 40% below the average cost of traditional DPC practices operating in the market today. Through our proprietary Private Physician Network (PPN)™, Healthcare2U promotes healthy living by detecting, treating, and managing acute and chronic conditions before the onset of serious illness. Healthcare2U is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and is available nationwide. For more information, visit www.healthc2u.com.
Charlie Geiselhart, CRO of Healthcare2U, speaks with Daniel Litwin about how more companies and people are considering new, out-of-the-box solutions for affordable healthcare coverage
Podcast: Digital Disruption Publisher: MarketScale Host:Daniel Litwin with special guest, Healthcare2U’s CRO, Charlie Geiselhart
Inaccessibility to low-cost health insurance is a fact of life for many people, as well as employers who want to offer part-time and 1099 workers solutions. Where can people turn to when they want affordable healthcare coverage? Charlie Geiselhart, CRO of Healthcare2U, spoke with Daniel Litwin about how more companies and people are considering new, out-of-the-box solutions.
When faced with selecting a healthcare coverage plan for employees, companies may have options, but they may not always be viable. Healthcare2U is a membership-based, direct primary care organization that provides employers, brokers, and patients with complete primary and urgent care nationwide.
“From an employer’s perspective, there are alternatives out there, but they’re costly,” Geiselhart said. “The high-deductible plan’s been out there for a long time. For an employee, it’s expensive to buy coverage. It’s expensive to use coverage. So, a lot of people are going without coverage.” Geiselhart said that, with all the choices available, it can be challenging to navigate the space. “The layperson doesn’t understand how insurance operates, so what we’ve decided to do is do a lot of handholding through our coverage and our program that allows them to make one phone call and access care,” Geiselhart said.
This access, Geiselhart said, is essential. When it comes to issues surrounding healthcare coverage, costs, etc., the average person wants help and needs advice and expertise regarding navigating a world they typically spend their time avoiding. Healthcare brokers recognize that they have traditional coverage offerings for many employers and employees. Still, those traditional offerings leave a large pool of people off the table. Those left outside looking in still want access to healthcare coverage.
“There are a lot of brokers operating in the traditional sense, but there are new and exciting alternatives that a lot of brokers haven’t explored,” Geiselhart said. Healthcare2U is one such possibility.
Healthcare2U is the nation’s fastest-growing hybrid DPC provider.
Healthcare2U is a membership-based, hybrid direct primary care (DPC) organization that ensures employers of all sizes and structures have nationwide access to affordable, consistent, and quality primary care over 40% below the average cost of traditional DPC practices operating in the market today. Through our proprietary Private Physician Network (PPN)™, Healthcare2U promotes healthy living by detecting, treating, and managing acute and chronic conditions before the onset of serious illness. Healthcare2U is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and is available nationwide. For more information, visit www.healthc2u.com.
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Article: Customizable Benefit Solutions Can Deliver Impressive Cost Savings
