CEO – John Blanchard, MD
My healthcare journey begins back in 1988 when I was 18 years old. My dad was diagnosed with a blood cancer that had no cure. He fought the cancer for years but passed away in 1988. It was during that experience of going with him to see his doctors that I recognized that the healthcare system was a disaster. It was hard to access, it was difficult to navigate, the errors were high, the quality was poor, and there didn’t seem to be a personal component to that experience. So, after my dad passed away in 1988, I was a freshman at Michigan State, and I decided to go back to school and dedicate myself to becoming a different kind of doctor. One that spent time with my patients and time to communicate and form a relationship, and really arrive at a true diagnosis and true treatment plan to help navigate them through any life crisis and health care crisis that they might have. Unfortunately, I realized very quickly that the problem was not the doctors the problem was the health care system itself. Our health care system is purposely built to deliver a high volume of care. The system was built to reimburse doctors, especially primary care doctors in a way that required them to see 20 to 40 patients a day. That didn’t allow them to spend the kind of time that’s necessary to form close relationships with their patients. It only took me about 12 months to realize that I could not practice the rest of my career that way and I decided to reinvent how primary care is financed and delivered. So, SALTA was born in 2000 and it was really a type of model of care that was a membership model where people paid a monthly membership fee for access to the care that we provide. Taking it out of the insurance billing allowed us to spend the kind of time that patients need and have a smaller panel of patients that we could give each patient more time, more attention, more access, and better quality. Today, SALTA is the largest provider of advanced high value direct primary care in Michigan and we’re working hard every day to make healthcare more accessible, affordable, and exceptional for everyone in Michigan. I think my dad would be proud.
More about Dr. Blanchard and his mission!
