Ditch the Insurance Nightmare: A Small Business Owner's Healthcare Solution

What if there was a healthcare solution that freed physicians from spending their days coding for insurance claims and allowed them to actually care for patients? Travis Bockenstedt, President and Chief Experience Officer at Pinnacle Advanced Primary Care, joins us to unveil the transformative power of the Direct Primary Care model.

America faces a looming crisis - a projected shortage of 50,000 primary care physicians within the next decade. The current system forces doctors to see upwards of 30 patients daily with just seven minutes per appointment, creating what Travis calls "moral injury" among physicians who desperately want to provide quality care but simply lack the time. Meanwhile, employees suffer through health concerns at work, afraid of the financial burden that seeking care might bring.

Direct Primary Care (DPC) breaks this cycle by creating a subscription-based model that Travis compares to "the Netflix of healthcare." By paying directly to the practice rather than through insurance middlemen, businesses provide their teams with unlimited access to care without copays, deductibles or surprise bills. This revolutionary approach puts "the family doctor back at the center of your business," creating genuine value that extends beyond the workplace.

For small business owners, the DPC model offers a compelling advantage - the ability to provide a healthcare benefit employees will actually use while potentially reducing overall healthcare costs. And implementation doesn't require an immediate overhaul; like thoughtful interior design, it can be approached in strategic phases that align with company growth and cashflow.

Ready to transform how your business approaches healthcare? Discover why companies from South Denver to Pueblo are embracing the Direct Primary Care model. Visit PinnacleAPC.com to learn more about bringing accessible, relationship-based healthcare to your team.

Learn more about Pinnacle at https://www.pinnacleapc.com/.

We welcome your questions! If you would like to learn more about us or connect for a conversation, please visit www.pasleycommercialinteriors.com.

Chapters

• 0:13 Solving the Primary Care Shortage
• 2:20 What is Direct Primary Care?
• 4:40 Benefits for Small Business Owners
• 5:32 Value of Thoughtful Design Partnership
• 7:25 Phased Approach to Clinic Design
• 8:23 Closing and Contact Information

Transcript

Travis Bockenstedt: 0:00

Now, with Pinnacle, we are solving the primary care family medical shortage problem that we have in the United States. What it shows is that there's a need for true healthcare reform and that business owners are hungry for something different.

Randi Lynn Johnson: 0:15

Hey everybody, I am Randi Lynn Johnson here at Pasley Commercial Interiors on our podcast designed to help your business grow. With me. I have our founder and design principal, robin Pasley, and this week we're super excited. We have Travis Bakkenstead, the president and chief experience officer at Pinnacle Advanced Primary Care, and we're excited today just to unpack a little bit more the idea of direct primary care and how that can really help small businesses and individuals. So let's get to it. Welcome to Design to Help your Business Grow with Pasley Commercial Interiors.

Travis Bockenstedt: 0:57

And I've been in with Pinnacle for three years now, okay, and it has been a wild fun ride. You guys have been part of it. Yeah, and it has been a wild fun ride. You guys have been part of it and it's been a real journey. And what it shows is that there's a need for true healthcare reform and that business owners are hungry for something different and we need to get away from the status quo you know, got to stop feeding the beast. So you know that's been the remarkable part of the journey.

Randi Lynn Johnson: 1:24

I love everything you said, so you are some of our favorite people because you are clients. Robin, yes, do you want to just mention? Oh, for sure.

Robin Pasley: 1:32

Yes, so we got to work with you guys on your very first location down on the South side of town, on Cheyenne mountain Boulevard, and that was in 21.

Randi Lynn Johnson: 1:43

Right.

Robin Pasley: 1:43

Gosh, and I remember them saying, um, we're hoping to expand to a second location in five years, and a year and a half later I get a phone call saying we're ready to expand because, just what you said, business owners were so hungry for an option that you just couldn't contain it, which is so exciting.

Robin Pasley: 2:00

So now we're we're working on what is your third. That's so exciting. We're excited to work with you guys again on this project and um we? I think one of my favorite parts is that I feel like I'm a part of your team, not only because we get to work with you guys on new projects, but because I so believe in the DPC model, um that you know, it's what we use for our company, for healthcare, and every time I'm sitting with a new business owner, it's one of the questions I ask them, because we like to bring more value than just design. We love to connect people to great people, and so it's part of what we do when we're meeting business owners is what are you doing for healthcare for your team? Because we think it's so fantastic.

Randi Lynn Johnson: 2:40

So tell us about DPC.

Travis Bockenstedt: 2:43

Yeah, I think so. For the audience listening as we get into this conversation, I want you to unbox your mind from insurance and health care. Somehow we've mixed the two together. But your health insurance company is not delivering the health care. They've just created a really warped payment model that actually takes the cost of care, marks it up thousands of percent and then gives you a fake discount, basically with your insurance card. Now, with Pinnacle, we are solving the primary care family medical shortage problem that we have in the United States. I don't know how many of us would love to see 30 patients a day, spend seven minutes with them and then be buried in your medical chart, because if it is not documented in insurance-based practices, you will not get paid. So you know, if you're talking about your elbow, there's a code for that. There's 69,000 codes to get paid.

Travis Bockenstedt: 3:37

Yeah, it's crazy. So family physicians we are finding are having moral injury.

Travis Bockenstedt: 3:43

They want to take great care of their patients, but they simply don't have time. We're going to face a shortage of 50,000 primary care physicians in the next decade if we don't do something. So what the direct primary care model does? First and foremost it changes that payer relationship. So just like it says you're going to direct to your doctor, so those dollars that you guys invest in our practice, they go straight to us and we can deliver really affordable subsidized care. For that the DPC movement has been pretty strong over the last decade and for listeners I would say think about this like the Netflix of healthcare, your YouTube TV subscription. We are part of that subscription economy and with that it's unlimited access to our clinic, no co-pays, deductibles or office visit fees. So really what we're doing is we're putting the family doctor back at the center of your business and we can do some really cool things when we do that.

Randi Lynn Johnson: 4:32

So this is a podcast primarily for small business owners. So we want to help them. You know, like if you need design, we're your people, but we also want to help them with other facets. So what sort of problems do you solve for small business owners?

Travis Bockenstedt: 4:46

I would say the number one problem that we solve is that employee that you know came to work and they are suffering through something, but they are so afraid of their co-pay, their deductible, the surprise medical bill and most likely they don't even have a primary care physician, so they're going to end up in the ER in urgent care for their everyday health and wellness needs. For a business owner, really, the value proposition is going to bed at night knowing that you've provided an actual, real benefit that your team can use. So one thing working with all of you that I think is amazing. And Robin just came up to me right before this podcast interview and holds me a little sample of the countertop and most people that I've known would say let's destroy everything, let's not even think about saving or being conservative or reusing, and you can't even tell what you guys have reused and re put together, which is huge because cashflow is King for us and for any small business.

Travis Bockenstedt: 5:44

That being said, robin and team have held us accountable that if we wanted to bring other stuff into the clinic, it's like wait, guys, we need to have a conversation about this a little bit.

Travis Bockenstedt: 5:53

We want to make sure it's on brand, but just to know that you guys have our best interest in mind. And then you're not just here to drain our bank accounts but really offer true value. And I love our clinical spaces. Our people mentioned how much they love them and to have a consistent brand from clinic to clinic to clinic is really key, and I have found just seeing being in a sterile environment in our timeshare. The company culture doesn't feel the same. You feel like you're kind of on an island, but then I'm really excited for Dr Miranda and her team to feel like they're at home at our company. Finally and it's you guys that are making that happen so for all you business people listening to the end of this podcast, the best part of it is that you can trust these guys to do the right thing for your business and they will work with you and be uber creative on moving things around and making things work.

Robin Pasley: 6:47

So thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah, we love working with you guys.

Randi Lynn Johnson: 6:52

I think sometimes when people look at construction or branding, figuring that out, they think it's a huge undertaking. But you mentioned, you know, with pinnacle, like you can do it in phases. What does that look like? Like how can? How's that attainable?

Robin Pasley: 7:06

Yeah, Well, I think it. The first part is you always have to have a master plan. What are we going to do? What are we going to accomplish? Um and uh, we like to start there. What are your big dreams? Let's put them out on paper. Okay, that's going to be this number and that's too big.

Robin Pasley: 7:21

How can we either scale back completely or just break it into phases that we can accomplish over time for the project to grow with your company, so your company's growing, the cashflow is coming in. Now we can afford to do this piece, and I think I was mentioning a while ago just countertop change-outs. I mean, we can get the clinic open and running because all of the countertops are totally functional. It just may not be on brand yet. So we're going to go ahead and put that into phase two so that we can get everything running, get the cashflow coming in. When things are really at a good spot, we can come in and over a weekend, just change out those countertops. We can do the same thing with branding. We could add more things. You know, let's say, let's just get your main backdrop set first, but we want to do a few more things, but we can't really put them in the budget, yet let's do those in phase two as well. That's just good sense.

Randi Lynn Johnson: 8:12

Well, travis, thank you so much for taking time out of your day. You are out there changing the world, literally, if not the world.

Robin Pasley: 8:19

The healthcare system at least, and that is a huge step in the right direction.

Randi Lynn Johnson: 8:22

So we just really appreciate you being on, and if you don't have healthcare and you're looking for something, where can they find you?

Travis Bockenstedt: 8:30

Go to PinnacleAPCcom.

Randi Lynn Johnson: 8:46

Alright, we'll do it Awesome. Thanks, Thanks. In an increasingly competitive market, the merits of using interior design as a strategic growth tool can make all the difference in not just surviving but thriving. Hasley Commercial.

Robin Pasley: 8:59

Interiors designed to help your business grow.