Why I Joined The Karis Group
A few months back, my good friend Zac Jiwa called me asking, “Have you ever heard of a company called The Karis Group?”
To which I replied, “The Karis Group?”
Zac proceeded to explain that it was the greatest healthcare company in Austin (in his typically exuberant voice) and they were actually making healthcare work far better via their patient advocacy services. I pride myself in staying up to date on the healthcare world, especially in the surprisingly small ATX health community, so needless to say I was a bit dumbfounded that I’d never heard of this 20-year-old healthcare company in Austin. After some googling I felt like I had a good handle on the company and what they did, but it wasn’t until Zac took me to breakfast and shared with me his improbable story that I was really intrigued.
It involved a retreat in Colorado, a surprise CEO interview and a number of fortuitous events that had to go just right for this to come together. If you have a few minutes, you can hear the full behind-the-scenes story in this recent podcast with Zac & the former CEO, Mike Martin, as they go into detail on how Zac’s path to CEO was divinely orchestrated. I’ve come to believe that my path to joining the team was as well.
My first official day as Director of Marketing at The Karis Group was last Monday. Leaving my amazing team at W2O was one of the most difficult things I’ve done in my professional career. The folks there are top notch and I was blessed to call them colleagues. However, when Zac called and gave me the opportunity to join a team with such close alignment to my professional skillset, personal values, and passion to make a difference in healthcare, it was an adventure I simply couldn’t pass up. And after only one week there I am confident I made the right decision. The team is the real deal and they are positively impacting the lives of patients on a daily basis. We have big plans to grow significantly and drive innovation in patient advocacy over the coming years and I am stoked to be a part of the team making it happen.
So, what does The Karis Group actually do? Well, we have two main offerings that help patients navigate the complex healthcare system:
Karis360 is a bundle of services that supports members before, during & after a healthcare event. The services are generally provided to members as an embedded part of a group or individual insurance policy or a healthcare related product or service offering. The services include:
- Healthcare Navigator — A medical concierge style service helping patients find doctors and healthcare facilities, obtain best available pricing for procedures and prescriptions, and even schedule appointments or transfer medical records.
- Surgery Saver — With this service each member has access to an advisor who will shop up to five surgical facilities in the member’s designated area to get the best price, quality, physician privileges, and availability for non-emergency procedures. Anyone who has ever tried to get a hospital to share simple pricing knows how important this is!
- Bill Negotiator — When a member incurs large, out-of-pocket medical bills, we work directly with the member’s healthcare providers & hospitals to negotiate lower medical bills that are more manageable. Discounts are often available, you just have to ask!
- Chaplaincy Services — Healthcare situations can be hard, so we provide on-call Chaplains, available to speak with members on the phone, listening and providing support and encouragement.
Karis Health Choice is a non-insurance approach based on healthcare sharing for churches and other faith-based organizations. We’ve partnered with Samaritan Ministries to package our Karis360 services with their long-established healthcare sharing offering to augment or replace existing insurance at a significantly lower cost while maintaining the benefits employees love and count on. Groups can either add this offering to their current employee benefits or can displace their existing insurance program.
I am incredibly excited to employ my skillset to help drive the growth of The Karis Group and expand our ability to make healthcare work for each of our members. If you are still a little unsure about what all of the above means or you are curious about how our services might be able to add value to your group, feel free to send me an email at SCutbirth@TheKarisGroup.com or hit me up on Twitter at @SvenC.
And stay tuned, as I’ll be sharing my next blog in a month where I’ll recap what I’ve learned during my first 30 days at The Karis Group!
Steven Cutbirth is Director of Marketing at The Karis Group. Follow Steven Cutbirth on twitter @SvenC; Follow The Karis Group on Twitter; Like us on Facebook; Follow us on LinkedIn
