An Arm and a Leg

A place where they do health care more cheaply and effectively. (And yes, it’s in the U.S.)


Listen Later

For our Season 2 finale, time for some inspiration.

For 30 years, James Gingerich has run a super-effective clinic in Indiana, delivering great results at low cost — to high-need, low-income patients.


James Gingerich stands in front of shelves holding books that Maple City Health Care Center distributes to families with young children.

He’s not a modest guy, and two of his brags stand out — as a study in contrasts.

One is a quote from a board member that makes him sound like a big dreamer:

“People think of us as a medical organization. We’re not. We are fundamentally a peace and justice organization that happens to be engaged in our community through medical care.”

The other is the way he stands at his desk and nerds out on stats that show his clinic beating the pants off the competition, on preventive-care measures like screenings for cervical cancer, vaccination rates for two-year-olds, etc..

“OK, next: diabetes control,” he says. “Are you getting the idea here?”

At the heart of it, he says, is listening to people’s stories. The rest he calls “housekeeping.”

It’s not a fix for our whole broken system — you can’t just copy-and-paste what’s happening here — but it’s definitely pretty inspiring.

There’s a bit more in this write-up I did for our pals at Kaiser Health News.

But first! How about taking our listener survey?

It just takes a few minutes, and you’ll be helping us out a TON: https://armandalegshow.com/survey/

Thank you! You’ll be helping us get Season 3 made.

 


See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

An Arm and a LegBy An Arm and a Leg

  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8

4.8

1,070 ratings


More shows like An Arm and a Leg

View all
Fresh Air by NPR

Fresh Air

38,493 Listeners

Planet Money by NPR

Planet Money

30,681 Listeners

Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

Hidden Brain

43,563 Listeners

Reveal by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX

Reveal

8,395 Listeners

Embedded by NPR

Embedded

11,975 Listeners

The Daily by The New York Times

The Daily

112,360 Listeners

Up First from NPR by NPR

Up First from NPR

56,536 Listeners

What the Health? From KFF Health News by KFF Health News

What the Health? From KFF Health News

494 Listeners

The Nocturnists by The Nocturnists

The Nocturnists

598 Listeners

Throughline by NPR

Throughline

16,362 Listeners

Becker’s Healthcare Podcast by Becker's Healthcare

Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

190 Listeners

Tradeoffs by Tradeoffs

Tradeoffs

391 Listeners

Short Wave by NPR

Short Wave

6,535 Listeners

Consider This from NPR by NPR

Consider This from NPR

6,392 Listeners

The Wirecutter Show by The New York Times

The Wirecutter Show

1,172 Listeners