We had the good fortune of connecting with Sonjay Shrinivas and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sonjay, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I have been a practicing physician for 18 years now. I started my career as a hospitalist. As a hospitalist, I was responsible for taking care of patients at their sickest. I would treat patients who were hospitalized and coordinate their care with other specialists. As they improved and were ready to be discharged, I would also coordinate their care with primary care physicians. I did that for nearly 7 years, and immensely enjoyed helping people get better. It was rewarding to see patients come to the hospital in a very sick condition only to improve enough to get back home to their loved ones in a timely manner. However, as time went by, I started to see the gaps and flaws in our healthcare delivery system. Patients would bounce back to the hospital because they couldn’t get to a pharmacy to pick up the medications that were prescribed to them when they left the hospital. Primary care physicians had a full schedule and couldn’t quickly see a discharged patient for needed follow up. Self-employed patients struggled to make it to appointments during standard business hours, unless they were willing to take time off work.

After 7 years as a hospitalist I transitioned to an administrative role. I became the Chief of Hospital Medicine and ultimately the Chief of Internal Medicine. As an administrator, the flaws in healthcare started to become even more apparent. Insurance companies would often deny payment for needed services. Pricing for services was never transparent. I recall suffering a small fracture of my kneecap during a climbing trip. As a physician I knew I needed an x-ray. I went through the traditional channels, only to find out that my insurance company denied coverage for the x-ray. I was shocked that a simple x-ray of the knee ended up costing me $800.

I started to think about all these issues I was seeing. Surely there had to be a more patient centric, efficient, cost-effective way to deliver healthcare!

In 2020 I moved from Boston to Denver. My wife is an educator, and during the pandemic she was cooped up indoors the whole week. We would spend weekends in the mountains in New Hampshire hiking to help alleviate the stress of the week. We ultimately fell in love with the outdoors and the mountains. And what better place to experience those things than Colorado! We were excited for the adventures in this state, but for the first time since I graduated medical school I wasn’t sure what to do professionally.

When I told my good friend Rob Ayala that I was moving and wasn’t sure what to do next from a career standpoint, he asked me what issues in healthcare need fixing. I recited the issues I had seen during my career: poor pricing transparency, a convoluted insurance system, overwhelmed primary care physicians, lack of accessibility to providers, difficulties with picking up prescriptions. He asked if I was interested in trying to solve these problems. I enthusiastically said yes, and the idea for Jettison was born.

Jettison is a mobile based healthcare platform. We offer patients unlimited visits with a clinician for $40 a month or single visits for $49. We have partnered with laboratories and imaging centers to offer discounted prices for lab work and radiology studies. Patients know what they will pay for those before the test, not afterwards. We have partnered with mail order pharmacies to have medications delivered to your doorstep at an affordable price. We generally have providers available from 9am to 9 pm so patients can see a provider at times other than standard business hours. We haven’t figured out how to solve all the problems I saw, but we have a good head start!

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
At Jettison we strive to put the patient first. We offer flexible hours to help our busy patients be able to see a provider on their schedule. We pride ourselves on timelines; most patients are seen within minutes after requesting a visit with a provider. We offer an affordable and efficient experience that enables most patients to get their basic health care needs met…all from the convenience of their mobile phone!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
It’s so hard to come up with just a few, because Denver has so many outstanding venues. I’m a sushi aficionado so Sushi Den is at the top of my list. As is Death & Co because of their amazing cocktails. I also love Indian food, so the Sherpa House never disappoints.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Lynni, my wife….for being patient while I pursued the startup dream. Robert Ayala, for coming up with the idea. And Mark Tacchi, for helping develop it.

Website: https://www.jettison.md/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonjay-s-86b51235?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

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