My transition out of the traditional healthcare model, and fully into lifestyle medicine, was a long time coming.
I’d been straddling both worlds, functioning in what I consider to be our current “sick care” model, while also working on building my business, Saravit Direct Health. I’d been doing both and I knew at some point I would need to make the choice. And in spite of some fear and worry associated with walking away from the safety net of a steady job, I feel really good about the choice I made, and frankly, a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
What I’d come to realize is that the current insurance-driven healthcare system is reactionary and places an emphasis on prescribing pills to treat symptoms. My patients would sometimes base the quality of the care they’d received on whether or not there was a prescription made at the end of the office visit. Please understand I am not placing blame on any one person, the system currently works to the benefit of a few, and unfortunately patients are not always getting the best care and alot of really fantastic and passionate physicians are leaving healthcare.
I am also not saying that medications are not needed (in some cases they are life-saving), but what I struggled with was that the “sick care” system, in my opinion, is not actively trying to support and treat root cause. The system is not set up to allow physicians to adequately help patients treat the reasons they have acquired these lifestyle related diseases in the first place, and we’re not actively de-prescribing medications for symptoms and diseases we know are reversible. The challenge is that utilizing lifestyle medicine to treat root cause does not directly generate profit.
Why? Because it ends up de-prescribing medications, so that’s less prescriptions and (in some cases) less procedures and hospitalizations - and that ALL translates into less revenue.
My continued involvement in the insurance-driven healthcare system felt like implied consent - that by showing up to work I was saying that the current healthcare system is working for me and for my patients. Eventually, I got to the point where I simply couldn’t in good conscience continue to do both.
So now I have chosen to devote my efforts to Saravit Direct Health, because I know that lifestyle medicine is the way to give people their lives back. I know it’s the way to unwind lifestyle-related diseases that are reversible and preventable, and I choose to sit in that space.
And I’ll be honest, it can be hard and sometimes feels like I’m running uphill, but I trust that there are more people out there looking for this. I trust that there are other providers who want to do this, but they feel stuck just like I did. And I hope they get to the point where they feel safe and supported. Where they can either bring lifestyle medicine within their healthcare system, and if not, to take the step outside of their system and really make a push for this.
This was absolutely the right choice for me. I’m excited to have made it, and I’m excited for what the future holds. But mostly, I’m excited to help more people create the life they want!
Comments