The People's Doctor with Ray Altamirano - MD, Artist, Humanitarian & Founder Casa Salud Family Medicine Clinic, Ep #127

I am so inspired by my friend Dr. Ray Altamirano’s mission providing accessible, affordable, transparent healthcare to the Latino community. He is part of Latin Talks, the San Antonio series, where he will be speaking on a panel this summer. Ray Altamirano MD is a first generation American. His parents came from Coahuila, Mexico to contribute and thrive in this great land. He is native of South Side San Antonio and a graduate of Harlandale High School c/o 1998, and Texas A&M Aggie c/o 2002. He is the founder of the Casa Salud Family Medicine Clinic, which is reinventing how people can access healthcare.

The healthcare system is broken.  Health insurance companies and healthcare administrators' greed are the problem. At Casa Salud, they elected to exclude them and want to work directly with their patients. That is their way of contributing to the solution: making healthcare predictable, affordable and pure.

You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in...

  • How Ray has been able to combine his passions to take care of patients through Casa Salud (4:19)

  • How painting became therapy for Ray (14:28)

  • Why working in his father’s meat market gave him life lessons (21:30)

  • The hurdle of the MCAT that changed his journey in life (31:53)

  • How he learned supreme confidence while at med school in Guadalajara (38:21)

  • Why making financial plans for the future will prepare his kids for success (45:20)

How being a doctor and an artist elevates both skills

Ray loved making visual art long before he thought about ever selling it. It’s a therapeutic way that he processes what he has going on and has been a helpful creative outlet for him. But when he decided to open Casa Salud and reinterpret what healthcare could look like for his patients, he decided to hang his art on the walls of his clinic so that it felt better to be there. As people wanted to buy these paintings, he opened up to the idea of being a professional artist. Two very different skill sets became complimentary in a way he could never have imagined, but they uniquely elevate what he is doing.

What cost-conscious medicine means

I asked Ray what cost-conscious medicine meant because it’s such an uncommon way to describe healthcare. He explained that he trains the students at his clinic to treat people, not patients. He tells them to make sure they are communicating at eye level. He makes sure his students know what the prices are for each medication or treatment and that they work with the patient to make sure they can afford the treatment prescribed. If that means educating their clients to improve their own health, they do it. If that means helping them find a generic medicine that can fit their budget, they do it. 

A vision for the best possible healthcare

Ray remembers being a kid and going to the doctor, where you got the help you needed and it was straightforward and doable. Now the healthcare system has become so complicated that it seems like every treatment requires a series of calls and checks and approvals and you never know what you will have to pay and what is covered by insurance. Ray wanted to create the same kind of accessible healthcare he remembered from childhood – direct care that he can provide to his patients. His journey to becoming a doctor didn’t follow the mainstream path and he learned that making your own path to success can be better than going the traditional route.

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