The Root Cause - Business of Medicine Podcast

Erik and Davin have had physicians, recruiters and founders on this show. This week they have the first chiropractor — who also holds a PhD, a Harvard postdoc, and a master's from Harvard Medical School.Dr. Datis Kharrazian is a clinical research scientist, Associate Clinical Professor of Preventive Medicine at Loma Linda University School of Medicine, and the founder of the Kharrazian Institute. His books Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms? and Why Isn't My Brain Working? reframed how a generation of clinicians approaches thyroid and brain care.Ask him what drove all of it and he doesn't say curiosity. His family left Iran in 1979. His mother was severely ill for most of his childhood — psychiatric admissions, electroconvulsive therapy, drug after drug, no response — until a chiropractor working with nutrition made a difference nobody else had. Decades later he would learn she had neurological autoimmunity: antibodies to her own serotonin and dopamine. "I don't think I was just curious," he says. "I think I was just a scared kid that never stopped being scared, and was just trying to figure out how to help someone who wasn't getting help."The business conversation is unusually concrete. He ran a small practice three days a week, scheduled six hours for a new patient, and priced a filter at the front door.In this episodeLeaving Iran in 1979, and a childhood spent watching the healthcare system fail his motherFinding Jeffrey Bland's literature reviews as a student — checking out five years of them and flow-charting every one to learn how he was thinkingTaking over Harry Eidenier's blood chemistry seminar series in his mid-twenties: "You're a kid, what are you doing here?"Brain dissection at Bastyr — twelve brains, three weeks, pulling pathways apart "like string cheese"The PhD in Aristo Vojdani's lab: how chemicals can change the configuration of albumin, create a new antigen, and cross-link to neurological autoantibodiesHarvard as a research fellow, then a master's in clinical investigation — going back to school because he felt intimidated when someone cited a study he couldn't evaluateThe practice model, in numbers: a $1,500 case review (raised from $500, because $500 didn't filter), a $5,000 exam and workup including four hours in the chart, and $500/hour follow-ups — three clinic days a weekWhy 10–15% of case reviews get sent somewhere else first: chronic patients who gave up on medicine and still have undiagnosed diseaseThe expectations conversation — "the minute I'd hear cure or reverse, I'd have to have that discussion" — and the Parkinson's patient who was furious about itHome runs are 10–15% of a practice. Erik's breakdown of the rest, and why nobody tells new practitioners this before they burn outTime as a clinical skill: reading how long a patient actually needs, and refusing to charge when he ran latePractitioner bias — "whatever helped them is what they think everyone has"Filming his own patients for two years, including the partial responders and the failures: "It wasn't theoretical anymore"Why the seminar junkies never grow, and what he tells master-class teachers to do insteadCash practice reality: "if you're not top dog, you're irrelevant"An introvert who taught almost every weekend for fifteen years — and hid at lunchWhere he thinks it all goes: individualized medicine, or no careerAbout Dr. Datis KharrazianDatis Kharrazian, PhD, DHSc, DC, MS, MMSc, FACN is a Harvard Medical School–trained clinical research scientist and Associate Clinical Professor of Preventive Medicine at Loma Linda University School of Medicine, where his research centers on autoimmune molecular mimicry and environmentally induced immune reactivity. He is a Fellow of the American College of Nutrition and of the Royal Society of Medicine, and a two-time Researcher of the Year of the International Association of Functional Neurology. Through the Kharrazian Institute he has trained more than 5,000 clinicians across some thirty countries.LinksThe Kharrazian InstituteDr. K NewsWhy Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms?Solving the Puzzle with Dr. Datis Kharrazian — his own podcast

Erik and Davin have had a lot of physicians on this show. This week they have someone who talks to physicians all day long — from the other side of the table.Teona Ducre is a physician recruiter with Pinnacle Health Group, specializing in concierge, direct primary care, and membership practices. She screens seven to ten doctors a day across primary care, urology, rheumatology, and gastroenterology, and works markets from Texas and Kansas to Chicago, California, and the UAE.Ask a physician what their practice is worth and you'll usually hear about the build-out, the equipment, the years. Teona's answer is much shorter: your patient panel. Almost nothing else counts.She didn't arrive here through healthcare. She was a journalist, then spent eleven years in education. Then, on April Fool's Day 2016, at 41 and a single mother of two teenagers, she was diagnosed with stage 3 pancreatic cancer — when the five-year survival rate was seven percent. The advocacy work she took up afterward put her in rooms full of physicians, and a recruiting firm owner noticed. Ten years out, she screens candidates for compassion and connection as hard as she screens for clinical skill, because she has been on the other side of that exam room.In this episodeJournalism, then eleven years teaching, then a stage 3 diagnosis — and how advocacy turned into a recruiting careerWhat being the patient permanently changed about how she screens physiciansThe numbers behind the shift: concierge and DPC practices grew more than 80% between 2018 and 2023, with physicians entering the model up nearly as much. "This isn't a niche market anymore."Why employers — airlines, big-box retail, car dealerships — are now buying direct primary care for their staffSpecialty direct care on the rise: the Chicago endocrinologist who flipped to a membership model and kept about 70% of his panelThe compensation conversation nobody has in medical school: RVUs vs. income guarantee vs. straight salary, and the answer she hears most ("I have no idea what you're talking about")The 1,800–2,000 patient panel rule of thumb for converting to concierge — and when it still works with lessHow to vet a management company: track record, panel-growth forecast, a specific marketing plan, territory, and the 10–12% vs. 15–20% fee questionDavin on his own exit from a health system — the sabbatical year, and why a physical office mattered more than he expectedSuccession planning from day one, and the question that reframes it: would you buy your own practice today?What a valuation actually looks at — subscription rate times panel, 7–10% expected attrition, real estate in, furniture and equipment essentially outWhat she's seeing from private equity in functional and integrative medicine, and why more fellows are heading into private practiceLongevity medicine abroad — her UAE client, and the thought she had in Portugal after treatmentAbout Teona DucrePhysician recruiter with Pinnacle Health Group, the Atlanta-based national search firm, focused on concierge, direct primary care, and membership practices. A ten-year survivor of stage 3 pancreatic cancer and an advocate with the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, she came to healthcare recruiting by way of journalism and more than a decade in education. She writes an ongoing LinkedIn series on the business of concierge medicine and direct primary care.LinksTeona Ducre on LinkedIn — her concierge and DPC seriesPinnacle Health Group

Season 2 opens with a conversation Erik and Davin have wanted to have for a long time.Dr. Richard Horowitz is a board-certified internist, the creator of the 16-point MSIDS model, and the New York Times bestselling author of Why Can't I Get Better? — the book patients call "the Lyme Bible." Over 41 years he treated more than 13,000 patients with chronic Lyme and tick-borne disease. In November 2025 he closed his clinical practice, and more than twenty advocacy organizations jointly honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award.But this isn't a victory lap. It's the story of what it actually cost.Early in his career, Horowitz did what a well-meaning doctor does: he brought the insurance companies in to look at what he was finding. They told him he'd "spent $70,000 on a disease that doesn't exist." The medical boards investigated him. The panels threw him out. He lost 2,000 patients in one stroke and remortgaged his house to keep the doors open. His wife told him she'd understand if he wanted to stop.He didn't stop. In this episode he explains why — and the answer turns out to be less about stubbornness than about a two-hour-a-day meditation practice he started in medical school, precisely because he knew he'd need it.In this episodeBringing the HMOs in to validate his findings — and what happened insteadLosing 2,000 patients, remortgaging the house, and deciding whether to keep goingWhy he's never been successfully sued in 41 years, and what his documentation had to do with itMeditating two hours a day through medical school — and a Jewish physician's path into a Tibetan Buddhist practiceHow the MSIDS model was discovered by listening to patients, one unexplained finding at a timeDapsone combination therapy, now backed by eleven peer-reviewed papersThe Alzheimer's case: reversing p-tau 217, the most sensitive biomarker, in a live patient with chronic LymeWhy Ending Chronic Illness argues all 16 MSIDS factors apply well beyond Lyme — including cancerWhat he'd tell a physician who is certain they're seeing something their specialty says isn't thereAbout Dr. Richard HorowitzFounding member and past president-elect of ILADS. Served on the HHS Tick-Borne Disease Working Group and co-chaired its co-infection subcommittee, which delivered recommendations to Congress. Founder of the MSIDS Foundation. Author of Why Can't I Get Better?, How Can I Get Better?, and Ending Chronic Illness (Simon & Schuster, October 2026).Linkscangetbetter.com — books and consultingMSIDS FoundationMedical Detective — his Substack

Twenty episodes in, brother doctors Erik and Davin Lundquist step out from the interviewer's chair to reflect on Season One of The Root Cause Business of Medicine and tee up Season Two. The Lundquist brothers — Erik a longtime functional-medicine physician, Davin newer to the path — talk candidly about launching the show as self-described novices, figuring it out episode by episode, and why shipping something imperfect beat waiting for polish.Looking back across the first 20 episodes, they revisit standout moments: Chris Magryta's work securing local funding to feed underserved pediatric patients; a physician's pivot from high-end concierge care to building a direct-primary-care company that helped catalyze the membership movement; and one-liners that stuck — "ready, fire, aim," the two-stakeholder simplicity of cash-pay care, and Tieraona Low Dog's "knee to knee" patient connection. They credit guests like Jeffrey Bland and Jill Carnahan for pairing rigorous science with genuine human healing.Most tangibly, the brothers share how the show reshaped their own practice — layering a membership model over insurance-based care, tightening compliance, and refining their niche and branding. They close with what's ahead: all 20 episodes rolling out as videos (~2/week on YouTube) and Season Two's topic-driven episodes. For clinicians weighing a move toward integrative, membership-based care, it's both a recap and an invitation.

In the most tech-forward episode yet, brother doctors Erik and Davin Lundquist sit down with Travis Garland — co-founder and COO of My Compliance Citadel and a two-decade healthcare-operations veteran (United Healthcare, UF Health, and earlier work that earned an award for redesigning Florida's foster-care system) — to map the collision of AI, innovation, and compliance in medicine.Travis breaks down a distinction most clinicians miss: a GPT prompt simply answers, while an AI agent makes decisions and acts autonomously — sometimes spawning other agents. He explains why prompts are only ~50–60% reliable ("a pinky swear with a robot"), how one rogue agent erased a company's entire production database, and why the deploying practice, not the developer, is who regulators hold accountable. My Compliance Citadel acts as a fortress around that risk: a runtime layer that intercepts agent actions and renders one of three verdicts — pass, pause, or prevent — logging everything to a tamper-proof audit chain. Erik stress-tests it against two real scenarios: pasting patient labs into open ChatGPT, and using AI to comb an EMR for high-risk patients.For clinicians, students, and small-practice owners excited about AI but wary of HIPAA and PHI exposure, it's a grounded primer on innovating boldly without betting the license.

Brothers, and Doctors Erik and Davin Ludnquist sit down with health reporter Jess Craig to unpack what "cash-based care" actually means — and why it's quietly tripled over the past several years. Drawing on her reporting at Straight Arrow News and her decade in infectious disease epidemiology, Jess maps the landscape: direct primary care (now 11% of family physicians, up from 3% in four years), cash-based specialty and surgical centers like the Surgery Center of Oklahoma, longevity-focused practices, and the rapidly growing world of direct-to-employer contracting (40% of large companies and 20% of small ones now negotiate directly with health providers).The conversation moves through the structural forces driving the shift — flat insurance reimbursement against rising overhead, the stakeholder problem of insurers and PBMs sitting between patient and physician, and what Jess in her recent reporting calls the demoralization of America's doctors. They wrestle with the inherent scaling tension in cash-based care, how AI is more likely to be deployed to maximize insurance margins before it relieves physician burden, and what international models (Kenya, Canada, global health insurance) can teach Americans about price transparency and personal responsibility. Jess closes with a journalist's challenge: keep questioning, follow the evidence, and resist letting health policy collapse into political tribalism.For physicians evaluating a model change, employers reconsidering benefits, and anyone trying to understand why so many doctors are walking away from the insurance-based system.

Dr. Erik Lundquist and Dr. Davin Lundquist sit down with JJ Virgin for a candid playbook on what it actually takes to build a brand, marketing engine, and scalable practice in integrative and functional medicine. JJ walks through her Trusted Authority Triangle — Trust (built through vulnerability and showing humanity), Authority (built through absolutes and contrarian beliefs you'll defend, not credentials alone), and Proof (the patient transformation stories no one can copy) — with YOU at the center, because the best part of building a business is who you become in the process.She reframes imposter syndrome as evidence you're stepping into a bigger game, makes the case that "people seek experts, not generalists," and offers concrete tactics: a signature talk that doubles as lead-magnet content for YouTube, podcast, and social; capturing email lists everywhere you speak (since 50% of prospects buy within 18 months — but only 3% buy now); collaborating with 5–10 aligned partners who share your patient avatar; and optimizing for both SEO and AEO (AI-engine optimization) so AI assistants surface you to the patients you're meant to serve.The conversation closes on the bigger shift — moving from transactional fee-for-service to transformational programs, why AI is actually creating more demand for trusted human authorities, and JJ's mantra: "You shouldn't have to sacrifice your life to save others."For practitioners ready to stop trading time for money and build a sustainable, mission-aligned practice.

Dr. Samir Qamar — one of the original founders of the Direct Primary Care movement and creator of MedLion, MedWand, and AstroDoc, joins Brothers, Dr. Erik Lundquist and Dr. Davin Lundquist, for a wide-ranging conversation shaped by a childhood spent across four continents with a UN-diplomat father. Samir traces his arc from Ross   University to England's socialized NHS to Penn Medicine-Lancaster General, where as an intern he cold-called MDVIP from his scrubs after  discovering concierge medicine. His first post-residency role was House Physician for Pebble Beach Resorts; that seeded MedLion, the nation's  largest DPC network across 27 states, which in turn led to the MedWand — a handheld telemedicine device that lets remote clinicians capture real  physical-exam data.His current obsession is AstroDoc and its AI health agent Astrid ("A System To Reinforce Infinite Doctors"), designed to be for billions of patients what Samir became for his own parents when they were sick. The conversation digs into healthcare versus sick care, why AI will change the physician's role without replacing it, the ethics of non-clinicians building medical AI, and Samir's view that the next generation of doctors will function as coaches and cheerleaders — not gatekeepers of knowledge.For physicians weighing DPC, founders building health AI, or anyone thinking about how the doctor-patient relationship evolves in an era of voice-enabled, multilingual, clinician-led tooling.

In this episode, Doctors and Brothers Erik and Davin Lundquist sit down with Erik Goldman, the co-founder and editor of Holistic Primary Care, a publication that has spent 25 years bridging conventional and integrative medicine for over 60,000 physicians. Goldman shares his journey from covering dermatology news to becoming New York bureau chief at International Medical News Group, where he realized mainstream medicine was almost entirely focused on end-stage disease with little attention to prevention or whole-person health. That realization led him and Publisher Meg Sinclair to launch HPC in 2000.The conversation dives deep into the structural forces shaping healthcare — the rise of managed care and HMOs in the 90s, how the "gatekeeper" model distracted primary care from its healing mission, and why insurance-based reimbursement remains the biggest barrier to integrative medicine adoption. Goldman draws on his experience  producing the Heal Thy Practice conferences (2009-2016) to share what made practitioners successful: confronting their psychology around money, breaking out of professional silos, and being willing to take risks even when the path isn't clear.Looking forward, Goldman argues the tipping point won't come from government but from Fortune 500 employers demanding better care models from insurers. He calls for the field's "different tribes" — naturopaths, MDs, nurses, chiropractors — to present a unified front and position integrative medicine as the core of healthcare, not a side dish. Essential listening for any clinician navigating the business side of integrative practice.

Dr. Mehrdad Soleimani — Emergency medicine physician in Temecula, CA, and founder of a med spa and wellness practice. Former ICU nurse turned surgeon turned ER doc, with a deep focus on physician wellness and community engagement. Chair of his hospital's department of wellness and organizer of the "Wellness in the Vines" physician retreat in Temecula wine country.Dr. Mehrdad Soleimani joins Dr. Erik Lundquist and brother Dr. Davin Lundquist to share the journey from ICU nurse to emergency medicine physician to med spa entrepreneur — and the common thread through all of it: taking care of people. Mehrdad discusses how his nursing background gave him a fundamentally different perspective on physician behavior and burnout, ultimately leading him to switch from surgery to emergency medicine when he didn't like the person the lifestyle was making him become.  On the business side, Mehrdad offers candid lessons from building a med spa in Temecula: the importance of hiring the right people over the cheapest option, partnering with an experienced practice manager, starting lean without a large space, and the costly trial-and-error process of finding a marketing firm that actually delivers. His advice: hold vendors accountable, set deadlines, and fire fast when it's not working. Instagram and organic community engagement — including Chamber of Commerce involvement and supporting small businesses during COVID — proved more effective than expensive agencies.  The conversation closes with Mehrdad's passion for physician wellness, his root cause analysis approach to physician behavioral issues, and the simple power of asking a colleague "how are you doing?" — a question many physicians say no one has ever asked them.  For practitioners exploring med spa models, navigating marketing vendors, or thinking about physician burnout from a systems level.

Dr. Erik Lundquist and Dr. Davin Lundquist sit down with Dr. Jeff Bland for a sweeping conversation that traces the entire arc of functional medicine — from its pre-history to its future. Bland shares his origin story: an insatiably curious kid who worked with Nobel laureate Sherwood Rowland at UC Irvine, pivoted from medical school toa PhD, then exposed deadly arsenic pollution at Tacoma's ASARCO smelter in a saga that reached 60 Minutes. A sabbatical next door to Linus Pauling's office led to the pivotal question — "Is your classroom big enough?" — that pushed Bland to abandon tenure and build a nutrition-education business with his family.He recounts co-founding IFM with Dr. David Jones, coining the term "functional medicine" in 1990 (over considerable pushback), and personally investing millions to institutionalize the movement. The conversation turns to today's convergence of wearable tech, AI, and portable health records, which Bland sees as empowering patients while elevating the clinician's role to teacher and guide. He warns that ultra-processed food is an existential threat — citing declining fertility — and describes his Big Bold Health ventures in regenerative agriculture and minimally processed fish oil. His parting advice: find your peer group, start with high passion, and the world will protect you.For practitioners exploring functional medicine, students seeking inspiration, or anyone curious about the movement's origin storyHere is the link to the publication in the IMCJ (Integrative Medicine: A Clinician's Journal)*** Note from the Editor. There was a mistake in what link I posted. Here is the link to the actual article mentioned"The Paradigm-Shifting Future of Health Care: Rise of Predictive, Personalized Lifestyle Medicine - PMCThe Paradigm-Shifting Future of Health Care: Rise of Predictive, Personalized Lifestyle Medicine (2025) takes that foundation and projects where it's heading — a tech-enabled, predictive, continuously monitored health system.Functional Medicine Past, Present, and Future - PMCFunctional Medicine: Past, Present, and Future (2022) makes the case for why functional medicine works based on history and evidence. 

In this episode of the Root Cause Business of Medicine podcast, Brothers and hosts, Dr. Erik and Dr. Davin Lundquist interview Dr. Tieraona Low Dog, a pioneer in integrative medicine. Dr. Low Dog shares her unconventional path — leaving high school early, training in martial arts, becoming a midwife, herbalist, and massage therapist before going to medical school — and how those experiences shaped her philosophy that healing is fundamentally relational, not transactional.She emphasizes the power of presence and stillness in clinical care, arguing that being fully attentive with patients sharpens diagnosis more than extended appointment times alone. A deeply personal story about a dying AIDS patient who hadn't been touched in months crystallized her belief in the healing power of human connection.On the business side, she reflects candidly on the challenges of running one of Albuquerque's first integrative clinics — overloading on Medicaid/Medicare patients, lacking a common clinical language across disciplines, and learning to charge appropriately for her time. She advocates for micro-practices, sliding-scale cash models, and an entrepreneurial mindset — being flexible, iterating on your model, and not waiting for perfection before starting.She closes with a hopeful vision for the future: integrating functional and lifestyle medicine into all medical training, nurturing clinician wellbeing to combat burnout, and empowering patients and communities to demand better care.

Kristin Oja, DNP and founder of Stat Wellness, joins hosts Dr. Erik Lundquist and Dr. Davin Lundquist to share how she went from personal trainer to building a multi-location functional medicine practice with 55 employees, five offices across Georgia, Nashville, and South Carolina, and roughly 10,000 patients. She launched in 2019 with one employee, an $8,000/month lease, no formal business plan, and didn't pay herself for two and a half years — driven entirely by passion and an unwavering belief that she wouldn't stop until it succeeded.Kristin walks through the origins of her cash-based membership model, which bundles provider visits with health coaching and dietitian access to keep patients engaged and avoid the "excitement and drop-off" cycle she saw at other practices. She explains why she built a brand around the mission rather than herself, invested early in scalable systems, and prioritized patient retention as her number-one marketing strategy. She's candid about the emotional toll of scaling — the loneliness of entrepreneurship, the whiplash between feeling like everything is thriving and everything is falling apart — and how joining an entrepreneurial peer group helped her feel less alone. She shares her leadership mantras ("find peace in the chaos," "let the fires burn," "delegate and elevate") and encourages practitioners to focus on one priority at a time, hire people better than themselves, and cast a wide net for mentors outside their immediate field. Looking ahead, she sees functional medicine moving fast toward AI and genetics-driven personalization but hopes brick-and-mortar care will remain central to the patient experience.Note from TRC-BOM Podcast - Kristin mentions using a 3rd Party software for her clinics for taking calls etc. That software is "Weave"Here is a link to their site. https://www.getweave.com/

In this episode of The Root Cause Business of Medicine, Brothers Dr. Erik Lundquist and Dr. Davin Lundquist interview naturopathic physician Michelle Leary about how naturopathic training overlaps with—and differs from—MD/DO pathways, especially its outpatient focus and deeper emphasis on nutrition, lifestyle, supplements, and (in some states) pharmaceuticals. Michelle explains key challenges in the ND profession, including limited post-grad residency funding and variable scope of practice by state, while arguing for more collaboration between conventional and naturopathic clinicians to address chronic disease and access gaps. She then details how she helped grow Vita’s functional medicine arm—from an insurance-based model through COVID-driven demand—into a tiered membership program launched in 2023 to reduce burnout, improve access, and fund higher-touch care. The discussion closes with her vision of functional medicine converging with precision/P4 and “Medicine 3.0” prevention—using objective metrics (e.g., VO₂ max, DEXA/body composition) plus better data synthesis (including AI) to prevent the major chronic disease “four horsemen.”

In this episode of the Root Cause Business of Medicine podcast, Dr. Erik Lundquist and brother Dr. Davin Lundquist interview Nicole Fox, co-founder of the Temecula Center for Integrated Medicine, about how to build and run a clinic that is “healthy” as a business and as a healing environment. Nicole explains how a practice’s outcomes often mirror the wellbeing and alignment of the practitioner—stressed clinicians, chaotic systems, and overextended staff tend to produce poor experiences for everyone, including patients. She emphasizes starting with clear mission and vision, designing a clinic model that fits the practitioner’s authentic strengths (rather than copying trends), and using expert support or planning to avoid expensive “shortcuts” that create unsustainable financial models. A key practical takeaway is their 3-tier decision filter for new initiatives (e.g., adding peptides or choosing software): patient impact first, then staff/practitioner impact, and financial impact third—so growth stays aligned with values while remaining viable.

In this episode, brothers Dr. Erik and Dr. Davin Lundquist interview attorney Scott Rattigan (“The Functional Lawyer”) about the legal landmines and best practices for running integrative/functional medicine and concierge-style clinics. Scott emphasizes that re-labeling clinical care as “coaching” does not avoid medical practice laws—especially for telemedicine across state lines—and can also jeopardize malpractice coverage if something goes wrong. The conversation also clarifies “scope of practice” versus “standard of care,” arguing that additional training and documentation (clear consents, clear patient agreements, and expectation-setting) materially reduces risk and disputes. Finally, they cover Medicare realities (including that opt-out is effectively all-in or all-out), plus practical guidance like remaining “ordering/certifying” so patients can still have Medicare cover tests and prescriptions through third parties.Scott's BookThe Practice of Telemedicine: A Complete Legal Guide for Licensed Healthcare Professionals

In this episode of the Root Cause Business of Medicine podcast, Dr. Erik Lundquist, with his brother Dr. Davin Lundquist interview Dr. Jill Carnahan, who shares her deeply personal and professional journey into functional medicine and the business lessons learned along the way. Jill reflects on how early health struggles shaped her mission as a healer and how vision, intuition, and alignment—not traditional business rules—guided her entrepreneurial decisions.She describes launching an ambitious hospital-backed integrative clinic early in her career, the overwhelming overhead it created, and the misalignment she felt working inside a system driven by metrics opposed to her healing philosophy. This led her to restart her career in Boulder with low overhead and a deep sense of autonomy, eventually partnering with functional medicine leader Dr. Bob Rountree.Jill explains how authenticity, storytelling, and spiritual alignment helped her grow her brand, become a national speaker, write her book, and create a documentary. She encourages clinicians to trust intuition, embrace imperfection, and take courageous first steps—even before feeling “ready.” With AI poised to shift medical practice, she believes the future of functional medicine lies in deep human connection, community building, and purpose-driven care—things no technology can replace.

In this episode of the Root Cause Business of Medicine Podcast, Dr. Erik Lundquist with his brother Dr. Davin Lundquist interview longtime friend and integrative medicine leader Dr. Robert Bonakdar, Director of Pain Medicine at Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine. Robert shares his journey from early inspiration in Iran to a formative fellowship in Asia, where exposure to Eastern healing practices—such as acupuncture, Tai Chi, and meditation—deeply shaped his medical philosophy.He describes the challenges of maintaining integrative ideals during traditional medical training, and the importance of mentors who helped him blend functional, conventional, and Eastern approaches. Robert discusses building an integrative pain program within a major health system, navigating reimbursement obstacles, and using team-based care to stay financially viable in insurance-based medicine.The conversation also explores burnout, the power of teaching, the value of lifestyle medicine, and how personal practices like Tai Chi and writing sustain his well-being. They touch on the future of integrative medicine and how AI could complement clinicians by handling complexity and freeing physicians to focus on human connection.NSCC brings together a world-class faculty to translate emerging science spanning botanicals, chronic disease, neurodivergence, environmental toxins, and AI-enhanced nutrition into actionable clinical practice. Through immersive sessions and hands-on learning, you’ll sharpen your skills in assessing supplement quality, dosing, safety, and efficacy. Elevate your integrative care approach and earn AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ while doing it.Register at the link belowNutrition & Supplementation in Clinical Care Conference 2026 

In this episode, Dr. Jeff Gladd shares his journey from burnout in traditional family medicine to becoming a leader in integrative and functional medicine. After transforming his own health through nutrition and lifestyle changes, Jeff shifted into whole-person care and eventually built GladdMD, a thriving cash-based consultative practice that emphasizes longer visits, transparency, affordable labs, and strong patient relationships.His entrepreneurial path—from early digital health ventures to developing clinical tools—led him to his current role as Chief Medical Officer at Fullscript, where he now helps scale integrative care for clinicians nationwide while still maintaining a small patient panel. Jeffery discusses the challenges of leaving insurance-based practice, the ethics of selling supplements, the importance of honest communication, and how clinicians can take actionable steps toward independence.He also predicts continued rapid growth in integrative medicine as patients become more informed, influencers expand direct-to-consumer health content, and AI tools reshape expectations—all increasing the need for skilled practitioners who can offer deeper expertise and relationship-centered care.

In this episode of The Root Cause: Business of Medicine, Dr. Erik Lundquist and Dr. Davin Lundquist talk with Dr. Aaron Wenzel, founder and CEO of Brentwood MD in Nashville. Dr. Wenzel shares his journey from family and emergency medicine to building a thriving concierge practice focused on restoring the sacred doctor-patient relationship. He discusses the risks, lessons, and rewards of creating a membership-based model free from insurance constraints—and why clarity, excellence, and focus are key to practicing medicine with purpose.

In this episode of The Root Cause Business of Medicine, Drs. Erik and Davin Lundquist interview Dr. Linda Matteoli, who shares her inspiring journey from conventional family medicine to founding a thriving cash-based membership practice and the Origins Incubator, a mentorship program for clinicians. Linda discusses how burnout led her to embrace functional medicine, build patient-centered systems based on trust and empathy, and grow through community outreach and feedback. She now helps other practitioners design practices that align with their values—restoring balance, purpose, and authentic healing to both doctors and patients.

This episode of The Root Cause - Business of Medicine features pediatrician Dr. Chris Magryta, who shares how he integrated functional medicine into a traditional pediatrics practice serving many Medicaid patients. He shifted focus after observing rising chronic illnesses in children and applied “five pillars of health” principles (stress, nutrition, movement, sleep/sun, toxins) in affordable, practical ways. Despite longer, less profitable visits, his egalitarian group model and Medicaid-funded care management make the approach sustainable. The episode highlights how culture, leadership, and a child-centered ethos enable better outcomes in underserved populations.

In this episode, Davin recounts his transition from a successful yet unfulfilling career in conventional medicine and healthcare technology to practicing functional and direct primary care. He explains how personal challenges, systemic pressures, and the pandemic prompted him to rethink his approach to medicine, ultimately leading him to create a low-overhead, cash-based practice centered on holistic, patient-focused care. Erik and Davin also discuss the legal considerations of moving from insurance-based to cash practices and explore how AI can help clinicians practice more meaningfully. Davin closes by sharing his “why” in medicine: empowering people to feel their best so they can pursue their dreams.

Erik shares his long journey from traditional family medicine to founding the Temecula Center for Integrative Medicine, shaped by dissatisfaction with conventional approaches, inspiration from mentors, and pivotal patient experiences. Davin, newer to functional medicine, reflects on his own career in traditional systems, physician burnout from technology and regulations, and his desire to practice more holistically. Together, they discuss the differences between functional and integrative medicine, the importance of aligning practice with authentic values, the role of collaboration and vision, and the challenges of building a sustainable clinic. Their goal is to inspire clinicians, students, and patients by sharing real stories of practitioners who found fulfillment and effectiveness outside the conventional system.