MBN feat. Dr. Brian E. Hill - Hip Nation

Dr. Hill is a partner and practicing physician with Urology Specialists of Atlanta, is on the board of the Medical Association of Atlanta and is a delegate to the Medical Association of Georgia annual House of Delegates. He has been selected to the League of Leaders with the Institute of Healthcare Consumerism and service on the IHC editorial advisory board. Dr. Hill is the author of Stop the Noise: A Physician’s Quest to Silence the Politics of Health Care Reform as well as numerous articles on healthcare reform.

In 2014, Dr. Brian Hill, Dr. Hal Scherz, Dr. Jeff English, and Davis Butler, an attorney specializing in healthcare, came together to form HIPnation. HIP stands for Healthcare Impact Partners—coming from the idea that we want to directly partner with our members in order to make a positive impact on their healthcare. Nation was added because it is our hope that this new way of healthcare will have an impact on our entire nation.

The problem: Healthcare has become more about the insurance industry than the patient-physician relationship. Physician interaction with this system has become exorbitantly expensive and becomes more so every year. These costs are passed along to patients through higher prices that do nothing to help make anyone healthier. The system has become a distraction, an added burden without corresponding value.

Physicians and insurers hire a multitude of people to manage the current system. This is reflected in high healthcare costs that then make health insurance expensive. This same interaction also distracts physicians, making them focus on meeting the regulations of the insurers as opposed to the needs of their patients.

Our assessment: Insurance should be used only for the high-cost health events—not things like physicals, the management of ongoing medical conditions, or the common cold.

Our treatment: Redesign the healthcare ecosystem to place the patient back in its center and put insurance in its proper place.

Our design: We developed an innovative delivery solution based upon a membership model that removes insurance and its valueless distractions from the primary care office. Patients now have 24/7 access to their Primary Care Physician who is focused exclusively on helping them maximize their overall wellness.

Studies show that patients with access to a personal 24/7 primary care physician experience:

• 35% fewer hospitalizations
• 65% fewer emergency department visits
• 66% fewer specialist visits
• 82% fewer surgeries

We expanded the model to include significantly reduced True Cost prices for payment at the point of service for outpatient healthcare services including labs, imaging, specialty consultations, minor procedures, and ambulatory surgeries.

Then we partner with a sharing or indemnity product (for individuals) or a sharing product or a level-funded plan (for employers) to help manage the high-cost healthcare events.

The effect of this approach: Individuals can reduce total healthcare costs by as much as 60% and employers can reduce total healthcare costs 30-50%, while accessing concierge-level primary care.

It’s time for change. We invite you to “join the nation.”