Building a Better Future for Healthcare
On the latest episode of Take Charge with HELPcare, we had the privilege of sitting down with Matt Ohrt, a nationally recognized leader in direct primary care (DPC) and direct specialty care (DSC). Matt’s journey from corporate HR executive to healthcare reformer offers valuable lessons for employers, providers, and patients alike. His work demonstrates how innovation and persistence can transform health plans, reduce costs, and restore relationships between patients and physicians.
From HR to Healthcare Pioneer
Matt spent nearly 25 years in human resources before an unexpected challenge changed the trajectory of his career. In 2016, as Vice President of HR at Merrill Steel, he was tasked with addressing skyrocketing healthcare costs. With premiums climbing and the company absorbing the expense, he realized that if nothing changed, their plan would soon unravel.
That crisis sparked his exploration into direct primary care. With the support of company leadership, he helped establish an on-site DPC clinic—an experiment that quickly proved its worth. Within just five months, the clinic had already paid for itself. Employees and their families gained better access to care, and the company saw measurable financial savings. It was a rare and powerful win-win.
Why Direct Primary Care Matters
As Matt explains, DPC is the heartbeat of the direct care model. About 80% of medical needs can be met through primary care, yet in the traditional system, patients are rushed through seven-minute visits that often lead to costly referrals. In contrast, DPC restores what primary care was meant to be: longer visits, chronic disease management, smaller patient panels, and stronger patient-doctor relationships.
When DPC functions properly, it not only improves health outcomes but also creates a gateway to more affordable specialty care. Without it, patients too easily get swept into the high-cost hospital system.
The Free Market Medical Movement
Matt’s success at Merrill Steel attracted attention from across the country. He became a leader within the Free Market Medical Association (FMMA), helping to expand chapters and connect like-minded employers and providers. The FMMA’s mission is simple but powerful: bring buyers (employers and patients) together with sellers (physicians and independent providers) in a transparent, market-driven system.
This philosophy inspired Matt to write Save Your Company: Don’t Feed the Beast, a book that has already reached thousands of readers and opened doors to speaking engagements nationwide. His mantra, “Mooove the Movement,” reflects the urgency of raising both demand from employers and supply from direct care physicians at the same time.
A New Chapter: Rise Up Health Plan
Today, Matt is helping launch the Rise Up Health Plan in Texas, his third major health plan initiative. While in Wisconsin he and other pioneers had to build independent imaging, infusion, and surgery options from scratch, Texas already has a stronger base of independent providers. That makes it fertile ground for expanding direct care solutions and demonstrating how health plans can be reimagined to serve patients and employers rather than large hospital systems.
As Matt reminds us, true change won’t come from within the entrenched system. Instead, it requires constructing a new model alongside the old—one rooted in transparency, affordability, and patient-centered care.
Watch now:
👉 Stay tuned for the next episode of Take Charge with HELPcare, where we’ll dive deeper with Matt into how direct care health plans are structured and what principles make them successful.
Be sure to subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or watch the video edition by subscribing to the HELPcare YouTube channel.
If you know a family medicine practitioner — a physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant — who would be a good fit for HELPcare Clinic, or a specialist interested in exploring direct specialty care, pass along this link to our HELPcare Careers page.
If you're an employer responsible for selecting and paying for employee health plans - check out how we've worked with like-minded partners to develop Health Insurance with HELPcare plans built on the foundation of HELPcare Clinic membership, such as the one Mower County has implemented.
And join us in September for special screenings in Austin and Rochester of this documentary co-produced by the FMMA and presented by our Minnesota chapter, that outlines the major problems in the U.S. health care and what we're doing to fix it.
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