Dave Chase is one of those quiet innovators who moves mountains through vision, energy, and sheer persistence. With a healthy dose of trickster energy in the mix…
Chase is one of the founders of Healthcare Rosetta, a non-profit dedicated to accelerating “adoption of simple, practical, non-partisan fixes to our healthcare system.”
He was also CEO/Co-founder of Avado, a digital health company that was acquired by WebMD & Medscape.
Given the messed-up state of healthcare at the moment, Chase makes a startling claim: “Healthcare is already fixed.” In other words, we know what works, and how to implement those fixes. On a small scale, everything that's needed is already in place somewhere. It's our job to publicize and scale those fixes until they change the entire system.
So if it's so easy, what's standing in our way? As Chase writes in his masterful and infuriating book, The CEO's Guide to Restoring the American Dream, only three trillion things. As in, the amount of money spent on healthcare in the US every year.
Much of that money, Chase argues, is misspent on ineffective and/or unnecessarily expensive treatments. The book is a handbook for CEOs who are desperately trying to reduce their organizations' healthcare costs, but it also reads like a crime thriller.
On page after page, I found myself shocked at the perverse incentives that reinforce a crooked system. One that costs lives, promotes suffering, and is literally stealing the American dream of middle class prosperity from an entire generation.
In our conversation, we covered:
- “we've gone to war for far less”
- the gut punch that inspired Dave to tackle healthcare
- at the bedside of a dying friend, watching the medical system “suck the life out of her medically and financially”
- having to do something, and not knowing what that was
- simultaneously discovering the overwhelming magnitude of the problem and that “every structural fix had already been invented and proven and replicated”
- the essential problem: we're not getting value from our healthcare spend
- 25 cents of every healthcare dollar goes to doctors and nurses – they aren't the problem
- where the money gets squandered
- half of the average millennial's lifetime earnings will go to healthcare
- the history of employer-sponsored health insurance (an artifact of a World War II-era law)
- Starbucks and Virginia Mason University study: 95% of all surgeries were unnecessary
- “we ration choices, not care”
- our badly undermined primary care system
- the unintended consequences of a well-meaning provision in the ACA
- every year, employees are asked to downgrade “from an iMac to a DOS-based healthcare plan”
- the stunningly high misdiagnosis rates in oncology
- the mission of Health Rosetta – to become the LEED certifying equivalent in the healthcare space
- The Big Heist mockumentary – aiming to catalyze a national moment of awakening
- Harris Rosen hotel company, an innovative approach to healthcare, and the community miracle in Florida
- Chase's next book on the opioid crisis: “every addict needs an enabler, and 11 out of 12 enablers are employers”
- and much more…
Enjoy, add your voice to the conversation via the comment box below, and please share – that's how we spread our message and spread our roots.
Links
The CEO's Guide to Restoring the American Dream – on Amazon
Dave Chase TEDx Talk: Healthcare Stole the American Dream:
Support the Podcast
Like what you hear? You can contribute to the growth and improvement of the podcast by becoming a patron. Click the “Support on Patreon” or “Donate” buttons on the right to help out.
Ready to embark on your Big Change journey?
Are you tired of knowing what to do, and still not doing it consistently? The Big Change Program, led by Josh LaJaunie and myself, will help you take the steps to finally live according to your knowledge and values.
Join the Plant Yourself mailing list (top right of this page) to learn more, and to get notified about the next Bobsled Run of the program.
Ask your questions or share your feedback
Comment on the show notes for this episode (below)
Connect with me
Subscribe, rate, and review in iTunes
Join the Plant Yourself Facebook Page
Music
The Plant Yourself Podcast theme music, “Dance of Peace (Sabali Don),” is generously provided by Will Ridenour, a kora player from North Carolina who has trained with top Senegalese musicians.
It can be found on his first CD, titled Will Ridenour.
You can learn about Will, listen to more tracks, and buy music on his website, WillRidenour.com.
Gratitudes
Thanks to Plant Yourself podcast patrons
– Kim Harrison
– Lynn McLellan
– Anthony Dissen
– Brittany Porter
– Dominic Marro
– Barbara Whitney
– Tammy Black
– Amy Good
– Amanda Hatherly
– Mary Jane Wheeler
– Ellen Kennelly
– Melissa Cobb
– Rachel Behrens
– Christine Nielsen
– Tina Scharf
– Tina Ahern
– Jen Vilkinofsky
– David Byczek
– Michele X
– Elspeth Feldman
– Viktoriya Dolomanova
– Leah Stolar
– Allan Kristensen
– Colleen Peck
– Michele Landry
– Jozina
– Julianne Rowland
– Stu Dolnick
– Sara Durkacs
– Kelly Cameron
– Wayne Pedersen
– Leanne Peterson
– Janet Selby
– Claire Adams
– Tom Fronczak
– Jeannette Benham
– Gila Lacerte
– David Donohue
– Blair Seibert
– Doron Avizov
– Gio and Carolyn Argentati
– Jodi Friesner
– RuthAnn Funderburk
– Mischa Rosen
– Michael Worobiec
– Alicia Lemus
– Val Linnemann
– Nick Harper
– Stephanie Halmes
– Bandana Chawla
– Martha Bergner
– Nikole Ramsay
– Susan Ahmad
– Molly Levine
– The Inscrutable Harry R
– Susan Laverty the Panda Vegan
– Craig Covic
– Adam Scharf
– Karen Bury
– Heather Morgan
– Ashley Corcoran
– Kelly Michiya
– DeAnne Norton
– Bonnie Lynch of Plant Happy Oregon
– Sabine Kurtzhals
– Nigel Davies
– Marian Blum
– Teresa Kopel
– Shell Routledge
– Julian Watkins
– Brid O'Connell
– Brian Sheridan
– Shannon Herschman
– Cate Rolls
– Linda Ayotte
– Julie Lang
– Holm Hedegaard
– Isa Tousignant
– Connie Haneline
– Erin Greer
– Alicia Davis
– AvIvA Lael
– Heather O'Connor
– Carollynne Jensen
– Sheri Orlekoski of Plant Powered for Health
– Karen Smith
– Scott Mirani
– Karen and Joe Crabtree
– Tanya Lewis
– Kirby Burton
– Theresa Carrell
– Kevin Macaulay
– Elizabeth Rothschild
– Kelly Baker Miracle
– Ann Jesse
– Sheryl Dwyer
– Jenny Hazelton
for your generous support of the podcast.
Disclosure
This post may contain amazon affiliate links. I may receive amazon gift certificates from your actions on such links.