IAM058 – Co-Owner Starts Medical Facilitation Business After Experience Frustration with Canadian Health Care System

Christy Evon is the Director and Co-Owner of Health Vantis, a medical facilitation business. She started her business after experiencing the Canadian healthcare system and her frustrations with it while living there. Her background consists of a 14-year career in the US insurance industry and she has a Master's in Business from Indiana Wesleyan. She currently resides in Indianapolis, IN with her 2 boys.

• CEO Hack: Time and scheduling to organize and do certain activities
• CEO Nugget: Get organized
• CEO Defined: Create something unique and helps people

Website: http://www.healthvantis.com
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/healthvantis/
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/christyevon/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/HealthVantis
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/healthvantis/

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Transcription:

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:27

Hello, hello hello, this is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Christy Evon of Health Vantis. Christy, it is awesome to have you on the show.

Christy Evon 0:37

Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Gresham Harkless 0:39

Me too. I'm excited to get the opportunity to learn a little bit more about your business and all the awesome things that you're doing. But what I wanted to do is just read a little bit more about Christy so you can get a better idea of some of those things. And Christy is the Director and Co-owner of Health Vantis, a medical facilitation business. She started her business after experiencing the Canadian healthcare system and her frustrations with it while living there. Her background consists of a 14-year career in the US insurance industry. And she has a master's in business from Indiana Westland. She currently resides in Indianapolis, Indiana with two of her boys. Christy, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Christy Evon 1:18

Yes, I am.

Gresham Harkless 1:19

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, the first question I have is if we can learn a little bit more about you and your CEO story and what led you to start your business.

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Christy Evon 1:26

Yeah, absolutely. So I'm originally from the US. But I had spent five years living in Canada. And when I moved up there, my boys were young, I had a six-month-old and a two-year-old. And shortly after I'd moved there, my six-month-old started having difficulties with eating and he started to lose weight. I tried to get him medical attention but kept hitting roadblocks. First of all, I couldn't even find a doctor that was taking new patients. And the only option was to go to a walk-in clinic. And finally, after having a complete meltdown with a new friend I had made, she asked her family doctor if they could take us as patients, and was able to get in with them. And then I was referred to a pediatrician, which they consider a specialist in Canada, but they were not interested in helping me. I mean, he was a perfectly healthy baby.

And he had dropped off of the health or the growth chart and had become considered a failure to thrive. And I was so distraught after this, that after six months of trying to find help, I ended up just flying him back to Charlotte, North Carolina to the pediatrician I had seen before I even moved to Canada. And she had her son to a pediatric GI doctor the very next day, and he was diagnosed with reflux, which is very simple, and very easy to diagnose. And it took all of one day to do after I spent six months trying to get answers from the doctors in Canada. And then the same types of things kind of continued to happen while I was living there. And another example, I was having an issue with my shoulder, they wanted to make sure I didn't have a tear.

So she ordered an ultrasound, and to my horror, found out that they couldn't get me in for 10 months to get an ultrasound, which is a very simple test. And you know, many doctors in the US have the ability to do those right there in their office. And I just began talking about this with other people and other Canadians about their whole health care and realize that this was pretty normal. And the worst part about it is that it's very acceptable, which to me, it was not because I've always had great healthcare in the US. I mean, it is, you know, US healthcare is very expensive and very complicated. But I've never had any issues in getting in to see a doctor.

And so a friend of mine, and I started to do some research on this because she had experienced the same frustrations. And we found out that the waitlist up there is it was at the time was almost a million Canadians that were on it. And it took an average of like 20 weeks to see a specialist and get treated. And those numbers now are even much higher than that it's now over a million and it can take 21.4 weeks on average, just to get into see a specialist.

And that doesn't include the time that you have to wait to get, you know, like an MRI or if you need surgery or something like that. And some people can wait months, if not years to even get some of that when it's all said and done. And because of the way that the system is designed, you have no option to go to a private clinic and pay out of pocket if you want to have something done sooner. And so we decided that we wanted to help others that were in similar situations as us and decided to start this whole medical travel business where we can help Canadians that are on the waitlist, having trouble getting specialists, someone that might need a second opinion or even something that like a treatment that's unavailable in Canada, because there are quite a few things you don't have access to there.

And there are some provinces where they just don't have the resources and the capability to do certain things. And you know, to find certain things that to meet those people's needs, and help them out and try to get their needs met much sooner than what they were getting through the system. And that's kind of how we started our business.

Gresham Harkless 5:26

Yeah, and I'm sorry to hear that. But I'm glad your son is doing so much better, but kind of in true entrepreneurial form, that you have an issue and there's something that you feel like a need that's not being met, and you kind of create something to kind of help facilitate that. So appreciate you and your co-founder for doing that. And I wanted to drill a little bit deeper into Health Vantis in here, I guess, how exactly do you help serve the clients that you work with?

Christy Evon 5:48

Well, so we're what they call medical facilitation company, and we help them find private healthcare options. And that's the reason why we say that is because, in Canada, the way this system works is that it's what's called one tier where your other social medicine businesses are two tiers. So you can have private care if you don't want to go through the system. And we help individuals that are on the waitlist for a surgery diagnostic test, looking for a second opinion or treatment that's unavailable to them something like a cancer treatment, which is huge.

And we will find facilities for them to go to where they can pay out of pocket and have it done immediately, as opposed to waiting. And all the facilities that we work with are in the US, and depending on what their needs are, we will find two to three options for them for what it is that they need. We coordinate any kind of medical record transfer, any kind of communication with the doctor facility that they're going to be seen at, we make all of their travel plans, any kind of air or hotel accommodations, any kind of transportation, things like that.

And then we also make sure that any type of post-op care, they might need like, for instance, if they had a hip replacement, and they're going to need physical therapy, when they get home, we make sure that we have all of that setup so that when they get home, they can get right into their therapy so that nothing gets left out or forgotten. And just basically anything that's required to meet their needs, so that all they have to do is you know, show up and have their surgery and go home and recover and not have to worry about anything else.

Gresham Harkless 7:33

Yeah, that helps out a ton, especially when you're going through any type of medical issues or difficulties and frustrations. You don't need to worry about all those additional things. So it's great that you guys kind of take care of that. And now I want to ask you for what I call your secret sauce, so to speak. So what do you feel like it's kind of your organization's kind of differentiator, what kind sets you apart?

Christy Evon 7:50

You know, we are a little different than other medical tourism businesses for a couple of reasons. The first is that we only send our clients to us. And a lot of facilitators shy away from that because of the expense. But what a lot of people don't realize is that there are fabulous facilities in the US that do not charge the ridiculous prices that you see advertised. You know, we did quite a bit of research and found wonderful Hospitals and Facilities that are used to taking international patients and dealing with cash-paying customers, and they give them what's called a bundled price. And a lot of facilitators don't take the time to do that research. And they will send their customers to places like Mexico, Costa Rica, India, places like that. And we decided we didn't want to do that. Because, first of all, it's not safe to travel a long distance after you've had surgery.

So anything over a four-hour plane ride increases your risk of having a blood clot or DVT. And so we try to keep those types of things in mind. And Canada is right across the border. And it just makes sense to keep the customer's safety in mind. Another reason is that we're very transparent in our process with pricing. We don't take any kind of kickbacks from any of the hospitals that we work with. And that's an attractive thing for facilitators and why they send people to places like Mexico, India, Thailand, all those places, because those facilities are paying the facilitator to bring them, patients. And in our minds, that's kind of unethical and not always in the client's best interest.

We want to send our clients to the facility that's appropriate for them and their needs, and not because the facilities pay us so we don't get paid by any of our facilities. We only get paid by the client directly. And that's for the services that we provide to them. So it's just kind of a couple of little things that we do a little differently.

Gresham Harkless 9:55

That's big and that's huge. And I think for you know, especially when you're going through some type of you know like I mentioned issue, are you having any type of pain or anything, you don't want to kind of delve through all those things. So it's good to be able to turn to somebody and be able to tap into that knowledge and information and the due diligence that you all have done so that you know that you're making the best decision for your health because they say health is wealth. So it's important to kind of. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app or book or habit that you have that makes you more effective and efficient as a business owner.

Christy Evon 10:27

You know what, it's just hard because I do have two boys. And there when I have to do is make sure that I get organized, I have to sit down every week, or sometimes just once a month, and schedule everything out. Because it is hard being an entrepreneur trying to balance everything out. And especially with what I do, you have to wear so many hats, and it's easy to get distracted.

So if I have a calendar in front of me, and I know exactly what it is that I need to do, having that helps keep me focused, and also keeps me accountable for things that I need to get done. Even something as simple as reading emails, I don't know how often I'll be working on like, say, one of our blogs, and I'll see an email pop through, you know, on the screen, like the notification. And I used to like immediately go and try to read it. And then I would just get distracted, and then go back to what I was doing and have to kind of start all over. And it's like, okay, I have to figure something out here. So even something you know, like scheduling to read my emails at a certain time during the day, helps keep me a little more focused and less distracted.

Gresham Harkless 11:36

Yeah, I can you know, test that I get really big on time blocking, because, you know, you can easily spend all your time chasing emails, phone calls, and all that stuff and never actually get anything done. So having a dedicated time to do that is huge. So think that's a great CEO hack. And now I want to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this might be a word of wisdom or piece of advice you might have for entrepreneurs and business owners.

Christy Evon 11:56

I guess to just get organized, I just feel like the more organized you are, the better you can run your business if you know what's expected daily. And you follow that I just feel like your business runs a lot smoother. And there are fewer hiccups when you know when you have things already organized, and you know what's expected to do.

Gresham Harkless 12:17

Yeah, I would agree with that. As well as a lot of times, because there are so many different things going on in business, I always say control what you can control. And if you can control your organization and your managing of your calendar, as we spoke about before, those are things that can kind of increase your success rate, so to speak.

Christy Evon 12:32

Exactly.

Gresham Harkless 12:33

Awesome. I wanted to ask you, which is what my favorite question is when I went to ask you what it means to be a CEO to you.

Christy Evon 12:39

You know, why it's fun being your boss. But you know, the biggest thing with this business that we started is that I like that I get to create something unique for people. You know, medical tourism is kind of a newer term for people, it's been around for years, but a lot of people are unaware of it. And especially you know, a Canadian, when you explain to them that, hey, I can help you get treatment sooner, a lot of them don't realize that.

So you know, that's the fun part of that is that it's something unique and we get to help other people and you know, kind of get to lead them or help them navigate their way back to better health. And then that way, they don't have to spend months in pain waiting for their surgery or things like that. So really, just to that, it's something unique, and we are helping other people achieve good health.

Gresham Harkless 13:31

I love it, I love it. And I always sometimes think of an entrepreneur or business owner, a CEO is like an artist. And that kind of speaks to that to be able to create and to build something that helps out, you know, the clients that you work with. So I think that's, that's an awesome definition. And I think it's awesome that you're able to kind of implement that into your business. So what I wanted to do now is just pass the mic, so to speak to you and see if there's anything additional, you want to let us know about your business, or just any pieces of advice or word or wisdom that you might have, and then how best people can get in touch with you.

Christy Evon 13:59

Yeah, sure. You know, we we do also are able to help individuals that are in the US that are looking to keep their healthcare costs down. Because like I said, the facilities we work with, they deal with a lot of small businesses that are self-insured, or people that have high deductibles, they're used to people that don't have like, like a group insurance kind of thing. And so we're always happy to help someone out in a situation like that. I know, I've helped some just some friends of mine that have high deductibles, and for instance, one needed to have a colonoscopy and was quoted like $4,000 And it's like, oh my goodness, no, I can find you one you know, at another facility for like $400.

So it's we can help individuals in the US as well. And then we also have relationships with the Cancer Treatment Centers of America and they give us like 40 to 50% discount on pricing. So if anybody ever has, you know, an issue like that we're usually able to have helped get them treatment and to where the cost can be kept to a minimum as well.

Gresham Harkless 15:04

Awesome, awesome. And if people want to follow up with you, what's the best way for them to do that?

Christy Evon 15:08

Yeah, sure. So you can reach me at a Toll-free number which is 877-344-3544 and extension 1, our email address, or my email address is christy.evon@healthvantis.com. Or you can go to our website, which is healthvantis.com.

Gresham Harkless 15:34

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Thank you so much, Christy. And what we'll do is we'll have those links and information in the show notes just in case anybody wants to follow up. But I appreciate you for all you're doing and all the great impact that you're having upon the world and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Christy Evon 15:48

Thanks so much for doing this. I appreciate it.

Gresham Harkless 15:50

No problem.

Outro 15:52

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co

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