Mark Collins, Chief Strategy Officer, OneHealth

In an interview with Invest:, Mark Collins, chief strategy officer of One Health, talked about the organization’s significant growth over the past year, expanding from fewer than 50 to 170 providers across 30 locations in Charlotte and Winston Salem. He discussed OneHealth’s consumer-centric approach to healthcare delivery, focusing on open access and provider wellness, along with its three-pillar approach emphasizing same-moment access, physician governance, and leadership development. 

What have been some significant achievements or milestones for OneHealth from the last 12 months? 

We are a very young organization, still less than 4 years old. I would say one of our biggest achievements is our growth, having started with fewer than 50 providers, and at the end of 2024, we will have 170. We have now grown from a few sites to 30 locations based here in Charlotte. Patient experience is a top priority as well, and our providers consistently have very high net promotor scores and growth in their patient panels, attributed to the quality care and access they provide. We are achieving our mission of changing the landscape of healthcare by introducing our modern primary care platform, placing emphasis on the provider-patient relationship. All of our work is to enhance that relationship.

How are you addressing changes in healthcare delivery? 

The first is patient access. With the number of people moving to the Charlotte area, the biggest challenge for patients is access to new providers. Existing patients also struggle with getting scheduled in a timely fashion. Our model is consumer-forward thinking and open access. We do that in a couple of ways, one of which is embedded urgent care in our family medicine offices so that patients can walk in for same day visits. We take care of the whole person there as well, and make sure they are scheduled for their preventative care. Addressing that open access model has really been one of our strong suits and something we believe strongly in.

Equal to that is provider wellness. Nationwide, we are facing a crisis right now in terms of provider burnout. So, we prioritize creating the best environment possible for our entire team. A healthy team of providers is better equipped to take care of the patients.

How does your three-pillar approach enhance the work you do for patients? 

It really encompasses the question of how we are there for the patient when they need it. We often talk about same-moment access. This includes in a virtual capacity, walk in. or scheduled visit. We have an incredible operations team working behind the scenes to make sure things are flowing smoothly, and we are breaking down barriers for our patients. A key part of our culture is physician governance. Throughout the organization, we have front line providers making decisions about strategy, growth, consumerism, and operations as it relates to patient care. We want as many clinicians at the table making decisions as possible because they are seeing the direct impact on patients. 

How are your leadership development programs benefiting the average professional? 

We have an onboarding program focused on our mission, vision, and values for every new provider. By definition, anyone who influences others is a leader. We emphasize this to all our providers and challenge them to personally own the OneHealth mission in their spere of influence. Beyond that, we utilize our provider leaders to ensure our strategy and innovation match our mission and culture. We strive to live out what we say and look to our provider leaders to model that in all our OneHealth clinics.

What is the group’s approach to actively include marginalized and underserved groups?

We like to say we are concierge medicine for all; it doesn’t matter if you have the best insurance or no insurance, we see everyone and treat everyone the same. We want to make sure every patient experiences open access and a great connection regardless of the ability to pay. That is something we believe in strongly. We have a great partnership with Atrium Health and have created a unique model that does not exist in many places. A key aspect of our relationship with Atrium Health is providing care for all. We are fully integrated with them to make sure the patient is at the center of all we do. 

What initiatives are in the pipeline for the next couple of years? 

We launched our Collaborative Care Program in 2023. North Carolina was one of 8 states in the country picked to introduce this embedded behavioral health therapist program, and we wanted to be at the forefront of that. For patients suffering from depression or anxiety, behavioral therapy is a big part of their treatment plan. Historically, patient adherence to therapy has been low. By attaching therapists to primary care and working together as a team, we see many more patients taking part in treatment. Feedback from patients has been positive, and the depression and anxiety scores are improving at a much quicker rate.

Starting this year, we have a Food as Medicine Program that will be offered to our OB maternity patients. They will be matched with a registered dietician to develop a personalized dietary plan, identify any food insecurities, and connect the patient with community resources to ensure healthy nutrition during the pregnancy. We hope to show a reduction in gestational diabetes and prevent nutritional deficiency that can result in low-birth-weight infants.

Thirdly, we are about to launch a program incorporating artificial intelligence as a point of care solution for our providers. It also has the capability to enhance our interactions with patients in terms of access, education and communication. We want to be innovative in the use of technology, but make sure the provider-patient relationship is at the heart of all we do.

What is your outlook and what are your priorities for the near term?

Our priority is always the provider-patient relationship. The current state of healthcare is fragmentation. There are a multitude of reasons for that, some of which were introduced to provide access to patients, like telemedicine. One of the unintended consequences is that patients feel as though they don’t belong to anyone in terms of their overall care. We envision our role at OneHealth to bring care back under primary care as the owner of the team. 

We are also partnering with other organizations that have new ideas and innovations to help us provide the most comprehensive care.