Vital Signs (Aired 08-21-25) Brad Domingo on Revolutionizing Emergency Care

[00:00:00] Speaker A: SA. [00:00:31] Speaker B: Welcome to Vital Signs where we dive into your greatest asset, your health. I'm Jen Goday, your host. Remember, this show is for information purposes only. Always consult your healthcare provider before making changes. Today we're talking about the kind of test that could quite literally save your life or the life of someone you love. I'm here today with Pulse for Pulse and it's not just another screening. It's an early warning system designed to detect cardiovascular risk before it becomes a crisis. Joining me is Christine Tyrell. She is the vice president of this groundbreaking innovation to explain how it works, who it's for, and why everyone should know about it. Welcome to the show, Christine. [00:01:13] Speaker C: Thank you, Jen. Thanks so much for having me. [00:01:15] Speaker B: I can't wait to dive in. Many people trust their annual physicals to catch issues early. But not all life threatening problems show up in standard tests. Today, let's unpack why your task with Pulse for pulse can be a game changer in early detection and especially when it comes to vascular health. Let's start with the basics. What is this pulse for pulse test and how is it different from what people are already getting at the doctor's office? [00:01:42] Speaker C: So it's important to know that heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States today. So this test helps physicians to proactively discover a disease process early on. Right. It's all about early detection and prevention. So, so the microvascular system is much larger than macrovascular. So there's 15% of your circulation is macrovascular and 85% is microvascular. So in a standard physical, nowadays a physician will be taking a blood pressure, an ekg and that determines your macrovascular status. And that's all they have. Well, Pulse for pulse is able to look at the other 85% of your circulation, which is microvascular. So you're getting a complete picture of all, all of your circulation and the potential risks. [00:02:34] Speaker B: That's, that's awesome and really fascinating. So give us a little bit deeper of a dive here. What other kinds of things are they able to detect? What other kind of maybe early disease or other issues can they detect with this test now that they can see that microvascular system? [00:02:52] Speaker C: So it's early detection for heart attack, for stroke. It helps us to, to discover if there's any peripheral vascular disease present for diabetic patients. We're able to do a pseudomotor test which a patient will place their hands and feet on these glass mirrored plates and it can detect a peripheral neuropathy. We're also looking at your autonomic nervous system, so we can look at the balance between your fight or flight. Very important to know if your heart's able to adapt to different changes, whether they're physical, emotional, et cetera. [00:03:25] Speaker B: You know, that's really fascinating. Stress is one of the biggest underlying exacerbators of disease that we know. So finally we have a test that can sort of give us a heads up on how stress and chronic stress is impacting us. So talk to me. Who should be getting this test and how often should they be getting it? [00:03:43] Speaker C: So basically you would fill out a form in your physician's office that answers very simple questions like are you diabetic? Do you have hypertension? Do you have pain in your legs when walking, difficulty sleeping? So we find that approximately 80% of patients that go into a primary care physician's office qualifies for this test. So you should be able to answer any of those questions and be tested and have reimbursement by your insurance. [00:04:14] Speaker B: Oh, you said a magic word. Let's talk about that a little bit. What insurance plans are accepting this test? Is it all of them or they're just. Or is it newer? Because I know this is going to come up. Everybody's saying, well, is it a Medicare approved test? Talk to us a little bit about that. [00:04:31] Speaker C: Of course. So pulse for pulse is a diagnostic test. It's not just a screening. So there are five billing codes. So it is reimbursable by insurance. Medicare and Medicaid patients can be tested annually and most commercial plans it's every six months even. Because the idea is to identify the problem and then to intervene and then retest and see the difference, see the progress that the patient has made. Hopefully whatever was abnormal will now be normal. [00:05:00] Speaker B: So let's share a real world story. I know you can't use any protected information or anything, but is there a story or example where this test actually made a life saving difference or it detected something that normal testing did not and it created an intervention to really make a difference for the patient. [00:05:20] Speaker C: Absolutely. It happens all the time. So there's a patient that was in his 40s that was visiting his primary care provider and the patient was diabetic but hadn't been to the physician in probably two years because of COVID So traditional medicine, the standard of care now would be to do an ekg, some blood work, check the blood pressure, the vital signs. Well, because of this patient's diabetes, that was one of the questions he answered yes to. And the physician knows the Patient best. He said, even though these parameters, your A1C is normal, I'd like you to have the pulse for pulse test. And the results were grossly abnormal. So the follow up for that was to do an echocardiogram because likely the patient would have structural heart disease once the patient had the echo that was also abnormal. So they were sent to a cardiologist and the cardiologist ordered a cardiac catheterization and that revealed left main vessel disease. So basically the patient had to go into the for a procedure. They had a triple bypass surgery and as it turned out, they had a 90% occlusion of the widowmaker, which is the left anterior descending artery. So it wasn't a matter of if, it was a matter of when this patient was likely going to have a myocardial infarction or a heart attack. And we were able to save his life. And he also had two small children, so it was amazingly impactful. [00:06:46] Speaker B: Wow, that just gave me chills because, yes, so many times the first indication of heart disease is that heart attack. And many men and women don't survive that first impact. So what a tremendous difference. And I'm just thinking about those children and the lives of everyone around that gentleman. So I'm really excited about that. And I know that people watching are like, okay, this is great. How do I ask for the pulse for pulse test? How do I check to see if my doctor even can offer it or how do I get access to it now that I know this? Because this is a new technology and sometimes we need to advocate for ourselves if we're interested in keeping up with the time. So how can people watching ask their provider for this exam or this test. [00:07:37] Speaker C: So they can ask them to reach out to P4P contact.com and there's a form that they can fill out there that will have their provider's name. And there's also a QR code. [00:07:51] Speaker B: And so the follow up question that I have to that if you're watching, check out the website, check out the QR code, but sometimes it's a little hard for us to ask and advocate for ourselves. We talk about this a lot on the show, actually, in different arenas of health. And so if the patient wants this, but doesn't quite know how to bring this up to their provider, what do you recommend they say? [00:08:19] Speaker C: So I would ask them how they could take a deeper dive into their cardiovascular health and to reach out to Pulse for Pulse because we would absolutely be able to work with the providers to get them tested. [00:08:31] Speaker B: That's awesome. And thank you for that. So if you're watching, here's the key takeaway, folks. Don't wait for symptoms to take control of your health. Ask about the early detection tools like Pulse for Pulse and advocate for proactive testing. I'm just going to reiterate something that was said earlier. This is covered by your insurance for Medicare and Medicaid once per year and for all other major insurances. It's also twice per year you can be getting this. Early detection is everything. And sometimes we don't have symptoms, sometimes we don't notice things. In normal testing, this can give us a easier clue, a quicker clue as to something that might be going on, going wrong, just like in the example given. And it may save us from something that could be very detrimental to us. Moving on, we don't really get a second chance at prevention. So it's time to stop waiting and start watching. And so I'm going to ask you one final question for the patients out there, if they're, if they're on the fence and they're watching this, are like, well, I don't know if this is for me, like, how early, how, how young should people be thinking about this? Because we've been talking a lot about athletes and there's been a lot of heart disease and trouble even as early as middle school and high school. So at what age should we start to consider Pulse for Pulse technology? [00:09:46] Speaker C: So it's dependent upon your health and diagnosis, but we're very much geared towards testing the asymptomatic patient. So typically it's patients that are 30 or older. But if someone is a known diabetic or has coronary artery disease, certainly we could test earlier than that. But just keep in mind that those chronic diseases, the symptoms are often silent until something bad happens. So we really would like people to test as early as possible so that they have better outcomes. [00:10:16] Speaker B: You're an rn. What makes you most excited about this technology? [00:10:21] Speaker C: I have been a nurse for 30 years and I worked in chronic care everywhere from oncology to medical pediatrics. And I am just thrilled to be on the early detective side of medicine because we have success stories all the time, people that would have otherwise had a stroke. And it stops all of the debilitating effects that happen after a catastrophic event and the stress that that puts on a family as far as providing care and also the financial burden of it. So I'm just so excited about Pulse for Pulse Testing and what it can do for our population in general. Well, thank you so much for sharing that. [00:10:58] Speaker B: I think it's always great to hear from those who take care of us. And being a former healthcare provider is important. So once again, how can people reach out if they're interested in the Pulse for Pulse technology and want to advocate for themselves so that they can be tested before it's too late? [00:11:13] Speaker C: Sure. So there's a QR code to be scanned or you can reach out to P4P contact.com All right, folks, you know what's coming. [00:11:23] Speaker B: We do have to take a brief break, but we don't get a second chance at Prevention. It's time to stop waiting and start asking. Today's the day to to advocate for yourself and reach out. But stay with us because next we're going to dive into how your healthcare providers can use this tool better to serve their patients. We'll be back after these messages. Welcome back to Vital Signs. Loving what you're watching. Don't miss a moment of it or any of your other favorite NOW Media TV shows, live or on demand, anytime, anywhere. Download the free Now Media TV app on Roku or iOS and enjoy instant access to our full lineup of bilingual programming. Prefer to listen on the go catch the podcast version of the show right on the Now Media TV website at www.nowmedia.tv. from business and breaking news to lifestyle culture and everything in between, now media TV is streaming 24 7. Ready when you are. Back to our topic of conversation. Before the break, we were asking the question, what if one simple test could improve patient compliance, reduce cardiovascular risk, and transform outcomes across your entire practice? Let's shift the lens from the patient to the provider. If you're a clinician, a practice owner, part of a healthcare system, it's time for you to listen up. Pulse for Pulse technology isn't just a game changer for individuals. It's a breakthrough tool that can elevate care across the board. From better adherence to prevention first protocols to early identification of risk that often goes unseen, this technology is worth knowing. I've got Christine Tyrell with Pulse Per Pulse here to explain why more healthcare professionals are integrating this test into their practices. So, Christine, I'm going to I'm going to bring you right back and ask you to I'm going to start with the big question, why do health care providers say yes and bring Pulse for Pulse into their practice? [00:13:47] Speaker C: Well, ultimately, providers today are looking to meet the goals of the triple aim, and that is better patient care, better patient experience and outcomes, and a decrease in cost. So Pulse for Pulse will provide you with state of the art technology and an algorithm to detect disease early. And this helps to has a tremendous economic impact in a physician's practice. It helps to decrease the cost of care while driving the revenue as well. [00:14:17] Speaker B: So talk to me a little bit. How does this test influence patient behavior, especially when it comes to compliance and engagement? Because we know we're all graded on those things. [00:14:28] Speaker C: So because this is such advanced technology, it gathers over 350 data points and that's for the physician, of course, but it prints a summary report on the same day that we can have a data driven discussion with the patient. And we've chosen to use the stoplight colors so that you can have a data driven discussion regarding the abnormalities from the report. So imagine a physician sitting down with this patient with this report. The red, the yellow, the green. If it's red, it's something that needs immediate attention. If it's yellow, a borderline result, and if it's green, that's great. Now we have a baseline. So it really helps with patient literacy because of the color coding compliance. Because when you see this red and this yellow, you don't realize that your obesity may be affecting all of these other indices in your circulation and your cardiovascular function. So it's very impactful for the patient. When you're able to review this with them and then especially when they come back six months or a year later, after the physician has intervened, you're able to compare the results and you'll know if they were compliant or not. If the yellow went to green. [00:15:37] Speaker B: I know I'm looking at the traffic lights on the screen and I know my first question would be if I see that red, oh my goodness, is it too late for me or can I reverse the red? I know anybody watching is going to ask that question too. So is it possible to reverse the red? You've already said you can take the cautionary to the green. Is it possible to reverse the red? [00:15:55] Speaker C: Yes. So the beauty is that endothelial dysfunction is reversible. So especially when you're looking at the BMI. If a BMI is 33 and you need to be within the normal range of 19 to 25, endothelial dysfunction, or obesity rather, is the primary driver of endothelial dysfunction. So by reducing your weight, you're able to affect the stiffness and the elasticity of your vessels, your heart rate, adaptability and variability. So the answer is yes, Just becoming a more healthy you. We always like to start with diet and exercise and stress reduction, but sometimes pharmaceuticals may be necessary or even Procedures. But that's the whole goal is early detection leads to prevention so that we can get ahead and things don't turn red. [00:16:46] Speaker B: I love it. Get ahead so things don't turn red. Okay, so most clinicians watching this, they're using EKGs, they're taking blood pressure, they're doing stress tests. Talk a little bit about why pulse for pulse is unique compared to traditional cardiovascular screenings. [00:17:03] Speaker C: So typically the standard of care is to look at the macrovascular circulation, which makes up only 15% of your circulation. Pulse for pulse looks at the other, other 85%, which is microvascular, so that we're getting a complete picture of your cardiovascular system and circulation. And we do that by very Simply in a 20 minute non invasive test where the patient only has to remove their shoes or socks and put on a three lead ekg, some pulse oxygen sensors for plasmography and oxygen sensors, blood pressure cuffs. It's a very simple test. This is a snapshot of what the equipment looks like and patients will place their hands and feet on these glass mirrored plates and it's able to detect peripheral neuropathy before someone is even pre diabetic. It has such sensitivity and specificity. So again, early detection, so we can intervene. [00:18:02] Speaker B: So talk a little bit about the potential public health impact of this kind of early detection at scale. Because if we're now able to detect these things in the stages or the earliest stages and we're able to mitigate through lifestyle, like talk to me about some of the massive impacts as this scales. [00:18:23] Speaker C: Well, overall it's going to be improved quality of life for millions of Americans. Pulse 4 Pulse would love this to be as standard of care for all of the United States. Right. We could get ahead of disease. There would be less catastrophic events, therefore there would be better patient outcomes, less of an economic burden on the healthcare costs, but most of all, just a healthier population and happier families, that's phenomenal. [00:18:50] Speaker B: So let's talk directly to the providers watching right now. What I have seen and I just want to summarize some of this. We've got a test that takes 20 minutes, it's non invasive, it detects so much earlier than what we're currently able to do. It looks at the microvascular system and answers and has answers to the 85% that traditional screening is missing. And it enhances our patient compliance because the traffic lights are easy and it's something that's measurable. And time after time, patients can see how their lifestyle changes are impacting their health and their traffic Lights and it gives us a better quality of care, a better standard of care so that we can actually improve quality of life and catch things earlier on, do intervention where needed, but really impact on a, on a very large scale the health of our population. So thank you for sharing this. I think it's really important, Christine, to bring this to light for the providers who are watching right now. What is the first step for them to bring Pulse for Pulse into their clinic or their practice? [00:19:54] Speaker C: You can reach out to p4pcontact.com or scan the QR code and you are a practitioner. [00:20:02] Speaker B: You've spent 30 years as a nurse. You've been there, you've done this. Give me the provider take. What is it that you wish every. I didn't ask all the questions of course. What do you wish I would have asked or what do you want to share with the providers and healthcare practitioners who are watching right now? That maybe wasn't said so far. [00:20:23] Speaker C: So I would like them to realize why they should do Pulse for Pulse, why they should have this diagnostic testing within their practice. And a cardiologist on our medical board said it best. He said that having the Pulse for Pulse test is like looking at the moon through a high powered telescope. Instead of looking at the moon with a naked eye, wouldn't you like your physician to be able to see what's going on on the inside? The way that our skin ages and we get wrinkles on our face. Well, the same thing is happening to the inside lining of all of your blood vessels and your organs and we can't see it. So with Pulse for Pulse, early detection is key. So I would love for all providers to have this as part of their practice and not just primary care. Cardiology, endocrinology, orthopedics. We're in OB gyn. We're in multiple states and multiple practices across the USA and internationally. [00:21:15] Speaker B: That's really exciting. And I'm going to ask you one follow up question because as I was in sports medicine for 20 years and I know some of the questions that I have and that's are there any special certifications or skill sets in order to administer the test and or how long does it take to get the results once the patient has completed that 20 minute diagnostic? [00:21:35] Speaker C: Sure. So the level of certification that runs the equipment is a medical assistant and they go through extensive training on site virtually, etc. So it's. I'm sorry, just repeat the question. [00:21:50] Speaker B: Yeah, like do we need specialty people to administer the test and then how long till we get the results Once the test is administered. [00:21:57] Speaker C: Sorry about that. So it is a turnkey solution and the medical assistant is trained and we're able to get the results same day. And our organization does all the heavy lifting. We hire the medical assistant, we pay for the equipment and the supplies so there's no upfront cost to the physician at all. So the results already same day. We even upload them into their ehr. We upload the risk assessment and the medical necessity. We assist with the billing and all of that. [00:22:28] Speaker B: Wow. I just heard, I just heard magic words. I heard you're helping with all of the things and there's no upfront cost for us to have this really breakthrough technology. So folks, if you're listening, if you're a provider and you want this technology, Pulse Pro, Pulse is offering a proactive, non invasive tool. They're doing all the heavy lifting for you. They're training the teams, they're providing everything you need for no upfront cost so that you can improve patient outcomes, you can detect early cardiovascular risk and you can elevate your standard of care, all without overburning your workflow. Once again, Christine, how can they reach out to you? If they'd like to bring Pulse for Pulse into their clinics, they can reach. [00:23:06] Speaker C: Out to p4pcontact.com and scan the QR code. [00:23:11] Speaker B: Thank you so much. Thank you for your time and your expertise. [00:23:14] Speaker C: Thank you. [00:23:15] Speaker B: If you're a healthcare provider, it's time to think differently about prevention. Pulse for Pulse isn't just about better data. It's about earlier decisions, empowered patients and stronger outcomes. This is the kind of innovation that shifts health care from reactive to proactive. And we really need more of it. This is the future of healthcare. It's the future of public health and wellness. And this is where it starts. It starts with information and being in the know. So stay informed, stay proactive, active, and stay tuned for more after these important messages. Foreign welcome back to Vital Signs. We're going to switch gears just a little bit now. I know, I know. We are so intrigued with all of the advances in longevity, but we're going to now look at a little bit deeper, dive into your local gym. Might be becoming the primary care clinic of the future. It's already maybe saving lives and slashing costs. Today I have got in studio Okon and Tia. We talk a lot here about the broken healthcare system. But what if the solution isn't more hospitals but it might be your neighborhood gym? Okon and I are going to dive deep. He is the founder of Campus Motion and He's flipping the script. He's helping anytime fitness locations in multiple states turn into hubs of actual health care, not sick care. Through a powerful program called Optimized. If you're a benefits decision maker, definitely you're going to want to lean in, or if you're just interested in how you can actually take your health and bring it to the next level. Listen up, Okan. I'm really excited to have you on and talk about this. [00:25:15] Speaker A: Glad to be here, Jen. Thanks for having me on. [00:25:17] Speaker B: Absolutely. So why do you say that healthcare needs to get out of the clinic and into the community? [00:25:23] Speaker A: The reason why we believe that healthcare needs to get out of the clinic and into the community is most. Most people in the community have determined that hospital settings and clinic settings and the medical setting is not the best environment for them. They feel more comfortable in the gym that maybe they go to three or four times a week. Maybe they only have a certain amount of time in a given week to dedicate to their health and they kind of want to centralize it to one specific area. And so by partnering with gyms and health clubs, we're able to bring our services to the areas where folks are at the most often and keep them from having to make doctor's appointments, physical therapist appointments, hospital appointments, and go to the gym. So it just streamlines the process and makes it easier for them to get the care they need and maintain their health and wellness on a preventative aspect. [00:26:34] Speaker B: And let's be real, when we think about health clubs, they're way better at marketing and getting the community involved than hospitals are. It's less threatening, it feels safer. It's the same reason why there's a huge uptick in life coaching and coaching as opposed to traditional medicine. It's because you feel more safe, you feel like, more comfortable. It's not like, oh, sterile environment. [00:26:57] Speaker A: Yes. Gyms in general have the community aspect built in. We know because of health and privacy reasons that the, that healthcare is usually individualized because we don't want patient data being shared to people that shouldn't have it. And so the community aspect is not really a part of what you're able to do on the healthcare environment. But in the gym, there's group classes, there's workout partners, there's a lot of other things. So you have your accountability partners, you have your groups. And people find the gym environment as more of a healing space, a place to enjoy their friends and also maintain their health. And so a lot of, ironically, a lot of people that spend a lot of time in gyms and health clubs, try to avoid the hospital system and the healthcare system like the plague. So when you're in the both worlds like I am, you do see that sometimes the healthcare people aren't really going to the gym side. And the gyms and clubs, they're not really transitioning over to the health side because they're trying to maintain their health outside of it. [00:28:13] Speaker B: And so you're really bridging the gap. You're really bridging the gap. And so talk to us a little bit about the optimyze program. How is it bringing together sleep health, metabolic health, the whole MSK movement to radically improve outcomes? [00:28:25] Speaker A: Okay, so with optymyze, we do, like you said, we do want to focus on sleep health, our metabolic health and our movement health. And, and from the sleep health perspective, what people don't really understand is a lot of times the most important thing you can do for your health is to get the right amount of sleep, and not just the right amount of sleep, but the right type of sleep. And so a lot of experts say you need to get seven to nine hours. Everybody's heard seven to nine hours. Seven to nine hours. And seven to nine hours is great, but seven to nine hours in one aspect may not be as good as seven to nine hours in a different aspect. And when I say that different aspect, I mean the different stages of sleep. And so you want your seven to nine hours to have the right amount of deep sleep and the right amount of deep slow wave sleep and the right amount of. [00:29:26] Speaker B: Rem. [00:29:26] Speaker A: Yeah, REM sleep. So REM sleep is what focuses on your brain. It helps consolidate your memory, helps consolidate your learning. It imprints your thought processes and makes it so that you can respond to things that you've learned and make decisions the next day. Your deep sleep is responsible for your recovery and for your muscle growth, tissue growth, tissue repair, cellular regeneration, all those different things. And so if your 7 to 9 hours is focused on light sleep or awake, awake periods and light sleep, then you're going to have more trouble focusing the next day. You're going to have more trouble with brain fog and things like that. So you want to have your deep slow wave sleep and your REM sleep for your mental health, your brain health, and for your tissue repair and body recovery. [00:30:25] Speaker B: And let's be real, if we're not sleeping and we're not getting that recovery time, our hormones aren't shifting and we're not going to have optimal metabolic, metabolic health anyway because we were missing some of that recovery, some of that recovery in our deep sleep. [00:30:38] Speaker A: Absolutely. Testosterone production happens most in those aspects of sleep as well. And so your hormones reset themselves and the levels go up during those periods of your cycle. And so if you're not getting there, you're not getting that rebuild replenishment overnight. And so sleep is probably the most important thing you can do that doesn't require you to leave your house, do anything special. If you can find a way to optimize your sleep, you're going to solve a lot of issues, help solve a lot of issues with blood pressure and stress and all these different things. Your lack of sleep can impact those things. And so getting that optimized is very important. From a movement health perspective, we're able to detect deficiencies and dysfunctions before they turn into injuries that keep you down for the count. And so, you know, obviously as a licensed physical therapist, we take care of injuries after people get hurt. But we want people to be proactive about things. And when it either hasn't happened yet or it's minor, we want to intervene at an earlier point in time. And so we have the ability, whether it's remotely or in person, to be able to assess what's going on at the shoulder, at your spine, at your hip, at your knee, at your foot and ankle to determine what may not be injured now, but could possibly turn into an injury later. And get some corrective exercises in place to prevent that from becoming something that limits your long term health outlook. [00:32:32] Speaker B: And so, and so let me ask you, because all of these things tie together. I mean, you know, we share the sports performance background and I'm a total nerd and geek about all this stuff too. So this is, I'm loving this episode. Episode. Everybody knows that the reality is if we're not recovering and our metabolic processes are out, then we're not building muscle when we intend to. So the early signs, talk about the early signs. What are people going to see as early signs? If they're doing all the things they're getting their 7 and 9, but it might not be quality. They're eating the things they're supposed to, they're doing the progressive overload, but they're not seeing gains. Like what are they seeing? That's an indication that says, oh, hey, Okan talked about this, I need to check this, this out. [00:33:11] Speaker A: So that's where the metabolic health comes in. And metabolic health has to do with how your body metabolizes fuel and what it does with that fuel. And so if you are, you know, whether you're your macronutrient needs, or when it comes to carbs and proteins and fats, you may not understand exactly where you stand and what your body is required to do. We do metabolic testing in our office, where it's called a resting metabolic rate test. And it helps us determine whether your body is burning carbs or fat at any given moment. It helps us determine how many calories you burn at rest. And it also helps us determine what your macronutrient needs are on days you work out, days you don't work out. And so, you know, you might need X amount of carbs and X amount of fat and X amount of protein. And if you're not meeting those minimum thresholds, it's going to be hard to fuel your body and prepare your body for the demands that you're placing on it. So you have to be very precise about what you're eating and when you're eating it. From a, from a overall health perspective. You know, a lot of people are taught to, like, restrict calories and you're trying to lose weight, and sometimes, you know, restricting calories for a longer period of time will cause you to actually slow down the process of your metabolism and even put on weight because you're not fueling your body's metabolic processes. Like, your body requires a certain amount of calories for your kidneys to function and your liver to function and your heart to function. Like, that's what the resting metabolic rate test measures is. What does your body need for it to run its normal processes? And if that's restricted for far too long, your body's gonna hold on to the different things that it intakes, and it's not gonna burn the fuel the way that it should. And so we're able to identify where that may be happening and then address those needs. And sometimes people figure out they need to eat more than what they thought because they exercise a lot or they're very active during the day. And the more busy you are, the more requirements you have from a fueling perspective. [00:35:37] Speaker B: Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. So the big takeaway, folks, is if you're not seeing the changes that you are working towards in your lifestyle and habits, then you may want to go to your local health club or reach out to OCON so that you can get these tests, so that you understand exactly where the hang up is. Because if we fix the bottleneck and we know what to address, then we'll start to see the fruits of our labor. And isn't that what this is all about. It's about taking control of our greatest asset, our health. We do have to take a brief break, but you're going to want to stick around because we're going to dive deeper into this after these important messages. Welcome back to Vital Signs. Loving what you're watching. Don't miss a moment of it or any of your favorite TV shows, live or on demand, anytime, anywhere. Download the free Now Media TV app on Roku or iOS and enjoy instant access to our full lineup of bilingual programming. Prefer to listen on the go catch the podcast version of the show right on Now Media TV website at www.nowmedia.tv. from business and breaking news to lifestyle culture and everything in between, now media is streaming 24. 7 ready whenever you are. So let's get back to the nitty gritty. The best healthcare may not be in the emergency room. It might be in a gym. Especially in the near future with a team that knows your name, your habits and your goals. We're gonna dive a little bit deeper. We're gonna go big now. We're gonna talk about scale. Because the Optymyze program that we were talking about with oconn isn't just about helping individual clients. It's about changing how employers manage risk, improve employee outcomes, and avoid costly hospitalizations. I think we should break down why this model works, what public health can learn from it, how you can be a part of the solution. So, Okan, you've said that the future of public health depends on integrating fitness, engagement and prevention. Why is that urgent now? [00:37:57] Speaker A: The urgency is now. The urgency now is because of the cost of health care in our country. It continues to rise. It gets higher and higher every year. So there's more out of pocket costs for patients and clients. There's more out of pocket costs for employers. The only people that really benefit from there being a lot of excess and waste in the system are insurance companies. And nobody likes the insurance company and nobody wants to put the fate of their health in a third party's hand. And so the more that members and patients can take advantage of their own health and providers and clubs can help them maintain their health, the happier everyone is because there's more flexibility and scalability in managing things outside of the health insurance system. [00:38:58] Speaker B: Yeah, the sick care system. And so we talked about this a little bit before and really what we're talking about is we can have early detection, because if you're in the gym and you're doing all the things and you're not seeing your goals, maybe you have a sleep issue. Maybe you have some other issues. Well, those things over time will lead to chronic disease. Metabolic disease is one of the biggest precursors to many of the long term chronic diseases that we have. So how is it that optymyze helps reduce downstream risk and improve compliance, especially with maybe traditionally hard to reach populations? [00:39:29] Speaker A: Well, with our risk detection, with our testing, risk detection and our programming, we're able to identify things that can be managed from a wellness perspective before they turn into things that need medication down the road. Because once you cross a certain threshold, you now have a condition, you now have a diagnosis, you now need to have medication. And yes, your insurance can get involved at this point, but they may or may not cover you in that given moment and they may or may not cover you in the future. And so you're rolling the dice with the cost of prescription drugs and accessing the healthcare system when you have no alternatives. It's better to assess these things in real time, get them addressed before they turn into conditions. And so that's where our health optimization programs, that's where they fit into the continuum. [00:40:33] Speaker B: Yeah. So talk to me a little bit about why advanced primary care networks and employers should be paying attention to this hybrid model. Like if a business leader is watching right now and thinking, wow, this sounds interesting, I need this from employees. Where should they start? What are the questions they need to ask and what do they need to know? [00:40:51] Speaker A: So we'll start with, you know, our specialty, the MSK health side of things. The movement health side of things. We all know that if you have orthopedic surgery, you're looking at probably a 50 to $70,000 bill. Self insured employers, you know, that's coming directly out of your, out of your account. You know, you're responsible for the health claims up to your, your employees, you know, up until their stop loss insurance. And so that ACL surgery, that rotator cuff surgery, that meniscus surgery, that's coming directly out of your, out of your budget. Whereas if we can route you towards the conservative side of things, get early detection, early involvement from physical therapy, we can prevent something that would have costed 50 to 70,000, maybe it costs a thousand or 1500. We can implement programs where as soon as somebody starts to feel pain, they have a route to be able to get that addressed with zero out of pocket or very minimal cost. And you can have your benefits reflect that, or you can create advanced direct primary care relationships and MSK solutions that can sit on the side of your health insurance, that give your employees early access to low cost interventions to prevent them from getting hurt. Getting on the online, researching Dr. Google and finding the next, the next nearest hospital system that's going to charge you and them 10 to 15 times what the cost should be. [00:42:48] Speaker B: So yeah, a premium rate for sure. And so like, if you're watching this and you're thinking about this as a leader or a leader in your company or maybe a benefits provider, start thinking about what this is costing and how hard it is when every year health insurance goes up by health insurance also goes off based on the risk of what employees are carrying. So if we're able to prevent disease processes from the get go, if we're able to identify poor sleep, poor recovery before it becomes an actual health diagnosis, and then work with employees to fix that and to really take control of their greatest asset, which is their health, then you're already paying for the health outcomes. But you're paying much less for the health outcomes that you're looking to see. And let's face it, as I'm an employer, as somebody who owns businesses, I want to make sure that my teams are healthy because that means that they're not missing work, they're more productive, they're healthier, they're happier, and it just makes for a better experience altogether. So you're already paying for health outcomes. The only question is, are you paying at the front end or are you paying after a major diagnosis? So what is your vision for scaling this nationally over the next few years? I know you piloted this program, you got it started, you're starting to see some outcomes. But like, what does that scalability look like and what does the general population need to know so they can advocate with their employers and say, hey, look, I want to be involved in this. [00:44:14] Speaker A: So what it looks like for. So I'll take the, I'll follow up on the MSK health example that we just spoke about. What it looks like is, you know, a lot of primary care companies, a lot of brokers, consultants have nurse navigators that are helping them, helping the members or the employees navigate their health plan. And they're helping with diabetes and heart disease and obesity and all these different things. The issue is that there are no musculoskeletal experts involved in the process. And so what we're doing is we're adding that navigation and consulting piece from an MSK perspective. You know, nurses are awesome and they, they know a lot. They do a lot. But nurses don't always know the exact pathway that you should take in a musculoskeletal health situation. And so as a, as a physical therapist, we're able to, you know, we work with patients after surgery, work with patients before surgery. We work with patients that don't need surgery. We work with patients who don't need surgery now, but maybe they need it later. We work with them that never need surgery at all. And you know, what the studies show is that a lot of people that end up having to have surgery in the future never saw a physical therapist or never had any conservative MSK care done. They just waited around, waited around, waited around for it to go away. And then it got so bad that the condition deteriorated to a point where surgical intervention was necessary. And so what we're able to do is by the benefits plan design, we're able to navigate the employee to the right cost, I mean, to the right care at the right cost, at the right time, and prevent them from turning something that should be minor and could go away in a week or two into something that's been going on for a year that turns into something that needs, that needs to have surgery. I would say one of the most overused surgeries in America is the rotator cuff repair. And most rotator cuff repairs, if you, if something had been done way earlier in the process, would have never turned into something that needed surgery. These are long term deteriorating things that happen little by little over a long period of time. If right when you started having shoulder pain, you addressed it, it would never progress to the point that you would have a rotator cuff tear. So things like that we would help members navigate from the very beginning, get to the right plan, get to the right course of treatment, whether that's virtually in person or a hybrid combination of both. [00:47:11] Speaker B: Thank you so much for sharing this. It's been really, really enlightening. It's inspiring and it's actionable. It's a vision of the future of healthcare. So, Okan, how can people reach out to you if they'd like to learn more about what you're doing? If they're here in the Houston area or in one of the other markets that you're in, how can they learn more about the work that you're doing and getting this kind of care? [00:47:30] Speaker A: So you can reach out to me at www.campusmotion.org, our website. You can reach us at infoampusmotion.org, which is our email address. And you can connect on social media. I'm on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook. And so you feel free to DM me on any of those platforms, comment on anything that I've posted or a response that I have to anyone else. Feel free to chime in if you've got anything to hear. We want anything to say. We want this to be an open discussion about how we can benefit the public, benefit organizations, employees and clubs. And, you know, if we can cut out the insurance companies that are, you know, bleeding everyone dry, all the better. So yeah. [00:48:32] Speaker B: Thank you so much for coming. If you are watching folks, what we have learned again yet again is that prevention and connection can and should happen where people live, work and play. Your work Okon is proof that when we move health into the community, we don't just improve outcomes, we literally transform lives, businesses and entire communities. To you, yes you our viewers, this is where health meets real life. From burnout and overuse to breakthrough fitness. Forward healthcare is here. It's not just about six pack abs. It's about longevity, energy and changing how we take care of ourselves and our body. I'm Jan Gode. This has been a vital signs on NOW Media Television empowering you to take charge of your greatest asset, your health. One step at a time. We'll see you same time, same station next week. Have an amazing rest of your day.