FALL/WINTER 2025 | 25 “When people visit insurance websites to choose plans, they’re bombarded with information that is not easy to sift through and interpret alone, especially the Medicare Advantage elderly population,” says Gokhan Metan. “And when you try to reach a human customer service representative, from experience, it’s not always easy, and they may not have the answers you need. A lot of people don’t want to deal with that. They want a self-service solution that works and offers plan recommendations personalized to their needs.” Demet Metan adds, “We’ve entered the world of AI now. It’s going to revolutionize so many industries, including health care. Our goal is to harness that revolution now to make sure that every individual receives the best possible coverage tailored to their unique needs while having an excellent user experience.” RESHAPING EXPERIENCES DR. HASAN BAYAT AND DR. AMER ALNAJAR FIRST MET IN A LEHIGH BIOLOGY CLASS, quickly becoming lab partners and close friends. Faris Ghawi met Alnajar soon after, and the three—all of Middle Eastern heritage—became inseparable. Their Lehigh experiences formed a bond and a set of critical thinking skills. Together they learned to solve problems and work as a team. These skills became the foundation for their entrepreneurial journey that led to Vytalize Health. After graduation, Bayat and Alnajar pursued medical school in Philadelphia, while Ghawi began a career in consulting at EY and later earned his Master of Business Administration at Columbia University. Even as their professional paths diverged, their conversations increasingly turned toward health care’s inefficiencies—and how they might fix them. Their first Uber-style idea involved Medicare home visits for complex patients, still staffed by nurse practitioners and physician assistants while supported by telemedicine. They built their own marketing capabilities, slowly growing to a few hundred patients in New York and New Jersey. The real turning point came in 2018, when the team recognized the potential of accountable care organizations (ACO)—a model that rewards physicians for keeping patients healthier and lowering costs. Initially, they joined an existing ACO. But within a year, they made the bold decision to launch their own. Starting with the required minimum of 5,000 Medicare lives, they built a physician-led organization from the ground up, investing in data analytics, clinical teams and patient engagement programs. By July 2019, Vytalize Health was officially operating as an ACO. Vytalize’s philosophy is simple yet radical: deliver the right care at the right time—and avoid care that isn’t needed. That last part might sound like denying care, but it’s about eliminating unnecessary tests, hospitalizations and specialist referrals that don’t improve patient outcomes. Instead, Vytalize focuses on strengthening the patient–primary care physician relationship, providing more time, support and personalized care. It has created savings for Medicare, improved patient satisfaction and increased the autonomy of primary care physicians. One patient’s story illustrates their approach. A woman repeatedly hospitalized for heart failure refused a needed valve replacement. The providers at Vytalize built a relationship with her and discovered the reason for her noncompliance: The woman had a dozen parakeets. If she went in for major surgery, no one would care for her birds. Vytalize found bird sitters, introduced them to the woman and built trust. The woman had her surgery and hasn’t been readmitted since. Today, Vytalize operates in 30 states and partners with hundreds of primary care practices. Its patient population has roughly doubled each year. While the scale has changed, the founders’ mindset remains rooted in their Lehigh days: challenge assumptions, pivot quickly and focus relentlessly on outcomes. “We know we can’t control every variable,” says Alnajar, “but we can control our preparation, our actions and how we respond. That’s where the impact happens.” L Hasan Bayat ’07 Amer Alnajar ’08
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