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.

Episode Transcript

Travis Bockenstedt (00:00):
Now, with Pinnacle, we are solving the
primary care family medicalshortage problem that we have in
the United States.
What it shows is that there's aneed for true healthcare reform
and that business owners arehungry for something different.

Randi Lynn Johnson (00:15):
Hey everybody, I am Randi Lynn
Johnson here at PasleyCommercial Interiors on our
podcast designed to help yourbusiness grow.
With me.
I have our founder and designprincipal, robin Pasley, and
this week we're super excited.
We have Travis Bakkenstead, thepresident and chief experience

(00:36):
officer at Pinnacle AdvancedPrimary Care, and we're excited
today just to unpack a littlebit more the idea of direct
primary care and how that canreally help small businesses and
individuals.
So let's get to it.
Welcome to Design to Help yourBusiness Grow with Pasley
Commercial Interiors.

Travis Bockenstedt (00:57):
And I've been in with Pinnacle for three
years now, okay, and it has beena wild fun ride.
You guys have been part of it.
Yeah, and it has been a wildfun ride.
You guys have been part of itand it's been a real journey.
And what it shows is thatthere's a need for true
healthcare reform and thatbusiness owners are hungry for
something different and we needto get away from the status quo

(01:19):
you know, got to stop feedingthe beast.
So you know that's been theremarkable part of the journey.

Randi Lynn Johnson (01:24):
I love everything you said, so you are
some of our favorite peoplebecause you are clients.
Robin, yes, do you want to justmention?
Oh, for sure.

Robin Pasley (01:32):
Yes, so we got to work with you guys on your very
first location down on the Southside of town, on Cheyenne
mountain Boulevard, and that wasin 21.

Randi Lynn Johnson (01:43):
Right.

Robin Pasley (01:43):
Gosh, and I remember them saying, um, we're
hoping to expand to a secondlocation in five years, and a
year and a half later I get aphone call saying we're ready to
expand because, just what yousaid, business owners were so
hungry for an option that youjust couldn't contain it, which
is so exciting.
So now we're we're working onwhat is your third.

(02:04):
That's so exciting.
We're excited to work with youguys again on this project and
um we?
I think one of my favoriteparts is that I feel like I'm a
part of your team, not onlybecause we get to work with you
guys on new projects, butbecause I so believe in the DPC
model, um that you know, it'swhat we use for our company, for
healthcare, and every time I'msitting with a new business

(02:25):
owner, it's one of the questionsI ask them, because we like to
bring more value than justdesign.
We love to connect people togreat people, and so it's part
of what we do when we're meetingbusiness owners is what are you
doing for healthcare for yourteam?
Because we think it's sofantastic.

Randi Lynn Johnson (02:40):
So tell us about DPC.

Travis Bockenstedt (02:43):
Yeah, I think so.
For the audience listening aswe get into this conversation, I
want you to unbox your mindfrom insurance and health care.
Somehow we've mixed the twotogether.
But your health insurancecompany is not delivering the
health care.
They've just created a reallywarped payment model that
actually takes the cost of care,marks it up thousands of

(03:03):
percent and then gives you afake discount, basically with
your insurance card.
Now, with Pinnacle, we aresolving the primary care family
medical shortage problem that wehave in the United States.
I don't know how many of uswould love to see 30 patients a
day, spend seven minutes withthem and then be buried in your

(03:24):
medical chart, because if it isnot documented in
insurance-based practices, youwill not get paid.
So you know, if you're talkingabout your elbow, there's a code
for that.
There's 69,000 codes to getpaid.
Yeah, it's crazy.
So family physicians we arefinding are having moral injury.
They want to take great care oftheir patients, but they simply

(03:45):
don't have time.
We're going to face a shortageof 50,000 primary care
physicians in the next decade ifwe don't do something.
So what the direct primary caremodel does?
First and foremost it changesthat payer relationship.
So just like it says you'regoing to direct to your doctor,
so those dollars that you guysinvest in our practice, they go
straight to us and we candeliver really affordable

(04:07):
subsidized care.
For that the DPC movement hasbeen pretty strong over the last
decade and for listeners Iwould say think about this like
the Netflix of healthcare, yourYouTube TV subscription.
We are part of thatsubscription economy and with
that it's unlimited access toour clinic, no co-pays,
deductibles or office visit fees.
So really what we're doing iswe're putting the family doctor

(04:28):
back at the center of yourbusiness and we can do some
really cool things when we dothat.

Randi Lynn Johnson (04:32):
So this is a podcast primarily for small
business owners.
So we want to help them.
You know, like if you needdesign, we're your people, but
we also want to help them withother facets.
So what sort of problems do yousolve for small business owners
?

Travis Bockenstedt (04:46):
I would say the number one problem that we
solve is that employee that youknow came to work and they are
suffering through something, butthey are so afraid of their
co-pay, their deductible, thesurprise medical bill and most
likely they don't even have aprimary care physician, so
they're going to end up in theER in urgent care for their
everyday health and wellnessneeds.

(05:07):
For a business owner, really,the value proposition is going
to bed at night knowing thatyou've provided an actual, real
benefit that your team can use.
So one thing working with allof you that I think is amazing.
And Robin just came up to meright before this podcast
interview and holds me a littlesample of the countertop and
most people that I've knownwould say let's destroy

(05:30):
everything, let's not even thinkabout saving or being
conservative or reusing, and youcan't even tell what you guys
have reused and re put together,which is huge because cashflow
is King for us and for any smallbusiness.
That being said, robin and teamhave held us accountable that if
we wanted to bring other stuffinto the clinic, it's like wait,

(05:51):
guys, we need to have aconversation about this a little
bit.
We want to make sure it's onbrand, but just to know that you
guys have our best interest inmind.
And then you're not just hereto drain our bank accounts but
really offer true value.
And I love our clinical spaces.
Our people mentioned how muchthey love them and to have a
consistent brand from clinic toclinic to clinic is really key,

(06:14):
and I have found just seeingbeing in a sterile environment
in our timeshare.
The company culture doesn'tfeel the same.
You feel like you're kind of onan island, but then I'm really
excited for Dr Miranda and herteam to feel like they're at
home at our company.
Finally and it's you guys thatare making that happen so for

(06:36):
all you business peoplelistening to the end of this
podcast, the best part of it isthat you can trust these guys to
do the right thing for yourbusiness and they will work with
you and be uber creative onmoving things around and making
things work.

Robin Pasley (06:47):
So thank you.
Thank you so much.
Yeah, we love working with youguys.

Randi Lynn Johnson (06:52):
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 (07:06):
Yeah, Well, I think it.
The first part is you alwayshave to have a master plan.
What are we going to do?
What are we going to accomplish?
Um and uh, we like to startthere.
What are your big dreams?
Let's put them out on paper.
Okay, that's going to be thisnumber and that's too big.
How can we either scale backcompletely or just break it into
phases that we can accomplishover time for the project to

(07:30):
grow with your company, so yourcompany's growing, the cashflow
is coming in.
Now we can afford to do thispiece, and I think I was
mentioning a while ago justcountertop change-outs.
I mean, we can get the clinicopen and running because all of
the countertops are totallyfunctional.
It just may not be on brand yet.
So we're going to go ahead andput that into phase two so that
we can get everything running,get the cashflow coming in.

(07:53):
When things are really at agood spot, we can come in and
over a weekend, just change outthose countertops.
We can do the same thing withbranding.
We could add more things.
You know, let's say, let's justget your main backdrop set
first, but we want to do a fewmore things, but we can't really
put them in the budget, yetlet's do those in phase two as
well.
That's just good sense.

Randi Lynn Johnson (08:12):
Well, travis , thank you so much for taking
time out of your day.
You are out there changing theworld, literally, if not the
world.

Robin Pasley (08:19):
The healthcare system at least, and that is a
huge step in the right direction.

Randi Lynn Johnson (08:22):
So we just really appreciate you being on,
and if you don't have healthcareand you're looking for
something, where can they findyou?

Travis Bockenstedt (08:30):
Go to PinnacleAPCcom.

Randi Lynn Johnson (08:46):
Alright, we'll do it Awesome.
Thanks, Thanks.
In an increasingly competitivemarket, the merits of using
interior design as a strategicgrowth tool can make all the
difference in not just survivingbut thriving.
Hasley Commercial.

Robin Pasley (08:59):
Interiors designed to help your business grow.