An Interview with Rob Bessler, MD
Healthcare is at a breaking point. Costs are climbing, reimbursement is shrinking, and the economic foundation of American healthcare is no longer sustainable. Hospitals are absorbing losses, physicians are working harder for less, and Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund is projected to become insolvent by 2031, according to the 2024 Medicare Trustees Report.
And the pressure is only growing.
“Every eight seconds, another baby boomer ages into Medicare.” says Rob Bessler, MD, CEO of Honest Health. “We have to find a better way to care for them.”
Honest Health was built to do just that. By helping health systems, provider organizations, and physicians shift from fee-for-service to value-based care, we deliver infrastructure, analytics, care management, and physician-led support to lower costs, improve quality, and restore sustainability to healthcare.
“Sustainable healthcare means improving outcomes while controlling avoidable costs — that’s what it takes to bend the cost curve and create a model that actually works.”
Growth with purpose
Since launching in 2022, Honest Health has grown to support health systems and providers across multiple states, driven not by volume but by a shared commitment to transform how care is delivered and paid for. With new collaborations on the horizon, we’re continuing to expand our support to those ready to lead in value-based care.
“Growth isn’t our challenge,” says CEO Rob Bessler, MD. “The hard part is alignment — getting health systems, providers, and payers to take the view that we can win together, alongside better care for the patients.”
We’re intentional about how we scale, focusing on alignment over acceleration because sustainable transformation requires more than infrastructure.
It takes the right partners, working together on the highest impact problems with the right infrastructure.
Unsustainable pressures, proven results
Most hospitals today lose money on Medicare Medical admitted patients.
According to the American Hospital Association, Medicare reimburses at roughly 84 cents on the dollar, leaving systems to absorb the difference or offset it through higher commercial rates.
It’s a financial model that cannot be sustained, as employers will continue to push back on solving the problem for government payers, and ultimately, the cost gets absorbed by employees.
When asked what keeps health system leaders up at night, Bessler doesn’t hesitate: “Hospitals lose money on every Medicare Medical admission. Our model helps them not have that happen.”
Honest Health also addresses one of the most overlooked pressure points: the cost of employing primary care providers.
Many systems subsidize their employed primary care doctors by $250,000 annually per physician — a figure confirmed by MGMA and other national benchmarks.
Bessler says Honest’s model can lower that burden by more than $100,000 per physician, while improving patient experience and outcomes.
Achieving lasting success takes more than tactics — it must be supported by both cultural alignment and the right technology infrastructure.
A model built for health systems
Where many value-based care platforms focus on independent providers, Honest Health was purpose-built for hospital-employed physician networks, who today represent nearly 70% of the primary care workforce.
“Health systems don’t need another pilot,” says Bessler. “They need a partner with infrastructure, analytics, technology, and clinical leadership already in place.”
Honest’s physician-led model includes market-based chief medical officers, centralized teams in actuarial science, IT, population health, and quality, and embedded resources like nurse care managers, care coordinators, and practice transformation leaders.
“Putting meaningful data in the hands of physicians, is what I have been focused on my whole career as a physician leader.”
Built for this moment
The macro trends are clear:
- The Medicare population is growing.
- CMS continues to push for value-based care models, such as ACO REACH and MSSP.
- Systems are struggling to absorb cost-shifting.
- Physicians are increasingly strained by unsustainable fee-for-service demands.
“Over 70% of physician revenue goes to overhead,” Bessler notes. “Meanwhile, reimbursement has gone negative. It’s no longer sustainable.”
In this environment, Honest Health is helping health systems address the full equation: outcomes, economics, and experience.
“We’re not making potato chips,” Bessler says with a smile. “It’s easy to get out of bed when you know your work is improving quality and lowering cost — for real people, in real ways, every day.”
Redefining what’s possible
The challenges facing healthcare aren’t theoretical — they’re economic, operational, and deeply personal. Systems can’t afford to absorb losses. Physicians can’t continue doing more with less. And patients can’t wait for a better model.
Honest Health was built to meet this moment, with infrastructure, clinical leadership, and a model designed for real results.
We’re not here to patch the old system. We’re here to help build the next one—one that rewards better care, supports physicians, and makes healthcare financially sustainable for the long term.
Sources:
https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/12/by-2030-all-baby-boomers-will-be-age-65-or-older.html
https://www.cms.gov/oact/tr/2024
https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2024/01/31/physician-burnout