Solidarity HealthShare’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Oertle joins Brenda Aikin of Mater Dei Radio on the Morning Blend to talk about how precision medicine has the potential to redefine the current medical landscape.
Brenda Aikin (00:46):
In this just vastly growing and evolving healthcare landscape. Precision medicine, also referred to as personalized medicine, has emerged as this new approach that tailors medical treatments to the individual patients. Joining me today to tell us more about how this exactly affects our healthcare and what we can look forward to it is Dr. John Oertle. He is the co-founder and Chief Medical Officer for Solidarity HealthShare. Good morning, Dr. Oertle. I must say I feel like I know a lot about the healthcare system and just in my own dealings with my professionals, but nobody’s ever approached me with precision medicine. What are we talking about here?
Dr. John Oertle (00:46):
Well, I’m so grateful to be able to be on your show today and be able to be talking about this important topic. Essentially, what we’ve seen is that there’s been so much new testing and new information and research and development in the healthcare landscape that with these new evaluation of being able to say, instead of just treating people as a one size fits all approach, which we’ve done for years in medicine, being able to have double-blind placebo controlled trials, and with the pharmaceutical industries looking at people as far as let’s take a one size fits all approach and look at the national population statistics. What this is saying is that majority of time, standard of care works really well when it’s 80% of the population and it takes care of diseases and it takes care of the personnel and people really well. But when you fall outside of that and you have specific genetic issues or you have specific conditions that do demand more of a deeper level approach, unfortunately, standard of care oftentimes misses this, and this is really those on the margins of healthcare, specifically those that are dealing with really difficult to treat chronic diseases or terminal diseases.
(01:56):
And so this is where when you actually have more options available to see how do you treat this condition when the first line isn’t working or the second line isn’t working, and you need to go deeper to look at root causes and evaluate with the precision testing that’s been developed and the new technology that’s around you get better outcomes. I mean, fancy that, right? Again, treating somebody as an individual to say, I want to be able to make sure I’m treating the root causes of you and what you are dealing with versus somebody that has a similar condition, but it’s not you. There’s different root causes, there’s different genetic factors. There’s such a variability in the human body that, again, being able to really go deeper and evaluate those personalized diagnostics and then being able to have treatment plans that are supportive of what you find seem to be, again, really, again, one of the most exciting things in medicine right now, and you’re seeing some amazing life-changing outcomes with some people,
Brenda Aikin (02:58):
Dr. Oertle, with some people, they’re getting the specialized care, but overall, are we seeing a favorable response in healthcare when specific treatments are focused on a person’s specific genetic issue?
Dr. John Oertle (03:15):
Yeah, you do. So again, one of the things that it’s challenging, one of the obstacles that you see in current healthcare is many times insurance companies don’t want to be able to cover these personalized treatments. But one of the things that we really promote at solidarity is this ability to be able to have doctor patient relationship, and especially when your first line therapy isn’t going to work, being able to support doctors that are able to look deeper, treat you as an individual and find what’s actually the root cause or what’s going on with that personalized reason why you’re sick and be able to develop a personalized plan around you. And so we are supportive of this as far as this because we have many labs that we work with that actually have this kind of testing, and we have practitioners across the country that do this as well.
(04:02):
But it’s really this area where, I’ll give you an example. I’ve been practicing personalized precision medicine in my own practice and I treat cancer patients, and we do a holistic approach to cancer and we do individualized personalized medicine. Why? Because when you have a cancer patient that, again, much of the actual improvement is from being able to say, I don’t want to just treat you as an individual disease or a colon cancer, but I want to look at specifically what is your cancer in the genes and why it developed in the genetic breaks and the immune system and looking at all of those factors in developing a personalized plant, we see amazing responses. So this is really where I think when I look at the overall landscapes of healthcare, one, there is a dynamic of, I truly believe two, that there’s a dynamic of the culture of death that wants to be able to say, well, let’s not fight for your life or that it’s not worth it, or an insurance company that’s not willing to be able to actually cover these, the latest advancements to be able to get best outcomes.
(05:03):
But what we see is that when you actually do this, you can actually give best outcomes and a lower cost in the actual care. And this is why we support this at Solidarity, because if you’re ever in this aspect of needing that higher level of care, I mean that 20% that falls outside of that bell-shaped curve of that standard of care model that really needs additional options. Again, it’s incredibly valuable to have a healthcare system that actually supports you and your physician to be able to find those personalized treatment plans to be able to really give you a fighting chance at being able to beat disease. We see this with cancer. We also see this with various autoimmune conditions that there’s some really beneficial things that can occur with personalized medicine. Again, finding practitioners that will again, investigate root causes and evaluate maybe the reasons why the disease continues to progress.
(05:57):
You see, I really, I fully believe that God’s given us this ability to create our bodies complex and beautiful, and the more we actually see in medicine, the more we realize that it’s incredibly complex. But when we’re seeing this ability of this self-healing that occurs given us an immune system that regulates, he’s given us a body that heals when we remove some of these obstacles and can support the body with the precise personalized plan that gives the body the support to heal, you see some beautiful things, and I always like to say it’s not the practitioner it, it’s the patient. It’s the body I always like to throw in too. It’s always good when you’re dealing with difficult disease, forgiveness and the spiritual dynamic. You’re not just a physical body, but you’re a whole person, which is a critical thing too. But again, that’s where you start to get into.
(06:50):
If the reason is Unforgiveness, boy, support the body with being able to forgive, and we see this in the confessionals. We see this in the actual ability of being able to heal with, again, being able to forgive. So I always like to say, what are those obstacles to cure, obstacles to healing that are preventing the body from living in being able to be supported, to be able to heal because the body wants to heal, and this is where the technology can be around to be able to evaluate that. If you’re giving the support and practitioners that want to support and help,
Brenda Aikin (07:23):
Oh, I love that the body wants to heal. I mean, that is just the body naturally working in conjunction with God’s will, MINDBODY and Spirit. That is the way that solidarity is taking care of their members. Dr. John Oertle joining us today, the co-founder and Chief Medical Officer at Solidarity HealthShare. Well, one last thing before we go. I mean, these are great, but it’s important to continuously look after your healthcare and it’s even more important to be a part of Solidarity HealthShare before conditions occur. Remind us a little bit about why that’s valuable and important for people.
Dr. John Oertle (08:03):
Well, I think it’s really important that everybody’s thinking about, oh, well, I’m okay until you have a disease, and then you’re focused on, okay, what does my insurance company cover? And then you’re looking at, okay, where am I going to get care? I just want to be able to say, it’s really important to be able to have a company that’s able to take care and having these options and this comprehensiveness and what you can get in that doctor patient relationship to respect that, because once those conditions occur, you want a system that’s going to be supportive to really help you in your actual healthcare to be able to get well. And so that is where, when it comes to Solidarity, it’s really an important thing to be able to actually make sure that you’re coming on and joining our community to be able to support one another in their healthcare journey and sharing into those treatments and the comprehensiveness and care, but do it before you get sick because then you’re there when it comes to needing those resources and the support.
(09:06):
And so I can just tell you when being involved in the insurance and the actual, the work of healthcare sharing for years and being in medicine, I will tell you that there’s this ability to be able to find life-saving treatments that are unavailable in standard insurance, and that again, at solidarity as we really value and respect the restorative ability to be able to have healthcare that fights for your life and finding practitioners that do the same and being able to be a part of a community that advocates for this kind of healthcare is really unique and it really comes out of our Catholic belief that it is something that is, we want, you don’t have to be Catholic to join, but it’s really, it’s one of these fundamental truths that we dignify the human person as Christ himself, and so we want you to be able to receive the kind of healthcare that’s dignifying and restorative to your health as God is designed. So that’s what we belong to, it’s solidarity, and so being able to belong to a group of people that can provide that level of support, and especially when times when you get sick, so we can be there for you and support you in that.
Brenda Aikin (10:12):
Dr. Oertle, always a wonderful morning to be able to talk with you. Thank you so much for being with us today.
Dr. John Oertle (10:19):
Thank you. Have a wonderful day.
Brenda Aikin (10:21):
You too. Again, that is Dr. John Oertle, co-founder and chief Medical Officer at Solidarity HealthShare. I will be sure to add that link that’ll get you right to solidarity. You can find out more information and talk to one of their member service experts. I will include that link and a phone number on the podcast of this interview@materdeiradio.com and the Hail Mary Media app.
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Solidarity HealthShare is a non-profit healthcare sharing ministry rooted in the teachings of the Catholic Church. Established in 2016, we operate on the Catholic principles of solidarity and subsidiarity, in accordance with the Church’s commitment to promoting life-affirming, faith-based healthcare.
We strive to provide an ethical, community-driven alternative to traditional health insurance. Through direct Member-to-Member sharing, Members are able to access quality healthcare services while preserving their family’s financial, physical, and spiritual health, all at once. Members never need to worry about their healthcare dollars funding immoral medical procedures. We promote a holistic approach to healthcare, emphasizing the importance of physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.
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