Posted:
Updated:
MONTGOMERY,
Ala.
(WAKA)
—For
years,
they
treated
some
of
the
most
serious
medical
emergencies
imaginable
—
heart
attacks,
strokes
and
gunshot
wounds.
But
now,
two
former
emergency
room
physicians
are
taking
a
different
approach
to
health
care.
They’re
trying
to
stop
those
emergencies
before
they
ever
happen.
After
spending
more
than
a
decade
treating
life-threatening
emergencies
in
hospitals
in
Detroit
and
Montgomery,
Dr.
A.J.
Burandt
began
asking
himself
a
difficult
question:
Why
were
so
many
patients
returning
to
the
emergency
room
with
preventable
illnesses?
Dr.
A.J.
Burandt,
co-founder
of
Plotline
Health,
said,
“We
were
seeing
the
same
things
over
and
over
in
the
ER,
same
people
with
chronic
illnesses,
and
just
seeing
their
quality
of
life
just
not
improve,
and
I
kind
of
had
a
light
bulb
moment
of,
‘We
can
do
better.’”
That
realization
led
Burandt
and
fellow
physician
Dr.
Jeremy
Rogers
to
launch
Plotline
Health
—
a
concierge
medical
practice
built
around
prevention
rather
than
crisis
care.
Instead
of
waiting
for
symptoms
to
appear,
the
doctors
use
advanced
testing,
genetic
screening
and
detailed
imaging
to
identify
health
risks
years
before
they
become
serious
problems.
Dr.
A.J.
Burandt
said,
“It’s
called
ASCUD,
but
basically
heart
disease
and
strokes
are
the
number
one
killer
in
the
United
States
and
the
number
one
killer
worldwide.
It
has
been
that
way
for
a
long
time.
It
shouldn’t
even
be
on
the
list
of
the
top
10.
We
have
the
tools
to
diagnose
it,
treat
it
and
prevent
it,
but
still
it’s
number
one.
That
tells
you
we’re
missing
something
here.”
One
of
those
tools
is
a
sophisticated
heart
scan
called
a
Clearly
Coronary
CTA
that
gives
physicians
an
unusually
detailed
look
inside
a
patient’s
arteries.
Dr.
Jeremy
Rogers,
co-founder
of
Plotline
Health,
said,
“It
lays
out
your
coronary
arteries
in
great
detail,
so
you
can
see
all
the
plaque
buildup,
you
can
see
calcification
buildup,
you
can
see
lesions
that
are
potentially,
we
call
it
unstable,
and
you
can
check
for
any
restrictions
in
flow
and
any
blockages
that
you
have.
This
is
the
kind
of
information
that,
historically,
you’ve
had
heart
catheterizations,
which
are
invasive
tests,
to
get
the
same
kind
of
information.
Now
it’s
available
to
anyone.”
The
doctors
said
the
goal
is
personalized
medicine
—
focusing
on
the
individual
patient
rather
than
broad
population
averages.
Dr.
A.J.
Burandt
said,
“Now,
we’re
starting
to
see
people
get
sicker
younger,
and
people
just
aren’t
following
the
normal
statistics
that
we’ve
seen.
So
we
kind
of
shift
to
this
different
style
of
medicine.
We
call
it
an
N
of
one,
where
I
care
about
you.
I
don’t
care
if
you
fit
the
mold
of
what
you’re
supposed
to
fit;
I
care
about
you.
So
that’s
your
genetic
makeup,
that’s
your
family
history,
that’s
some
very
in-depth
lab
markers,
that’s
some
very
in-depth
imaging
to
where
we
get
a
picture
of
you,
and
we’re
not
hoping
you
fit
this
box
over
here.
We
can
tell
you
exactly,
‘Hey,
this
is
what’s
going
on
in
you.
This
is
what
we
need
to
worry
about
for
you.
This
is
what
we
need
to
do
for
you.’”
The
physicians
also
help
patients
navigate
the
flood
of
health
advice
found
online
and
on
social
media.
Dr.
A.J.
Burandt
said,
“Things
are
changing
so
quickly
right
now
with
AI
and
software
and
health
care,
and
it’s
almost
impossible
to
keep
up,
and
my
goal
is
to
bring
to
the
table
awareness
of
what’s
out
there
to
people,
and
things
that
are
safe,
things
that
are
validated,
things
that
are
FDA-approved,
things
that
have
research
behind
them,
not
snake
oil,
because
there’s
a
lot
of
that
out
there.”
The
practice
operates
on
a
membership
model
because
many
of
the
advanced
tests
aren’t
yet
covered
by
insurance.
You
can
find
out
more
information
about
Plotline
Health
here.