If you’re a provider trying to deliver great patient care while battling the business of medicine, you’re not alone, and you’re not crazy.

In this episode, Blake Bourque introduces The Business of Medicine, a new podcast built to help physicians, mid-levels, clinic owners, and ancillary healthcare leaders survive payer pressure, Medicare rules, audits, recoupments, and the messy reality of healthcare billing, without losing their health, marriage, faith, or mission. Blake shares why he’s qualified to host this show: years as a private banker who banked doctors, structured healthcare deals, and learned finance inside JP Morgan Chase and Iberia Bank, then transitioned into healthcare operations as an owner/operator across diagnostic labs (toxicology, infectious disease, pathology, oncology) and real-world payer contract fights. He’s also lived the patient side through a complicated fertility journey, surgeries, injuries, and years of navigating providers firsthand.

The core message is simple: no money, no mission, and when providers get financially squeezed, burned out, or blindsided by audits, patient outcomes suffer. This podcast exists to bring clarity, expert guidance, and practical strategies so you can protect your practice, your purpose, and the patients who depend on you.

Highlights:

→ You’ll learn why medical training leaves most providers unprepared for business realities like contracts, reimbursement, payroll, compliance, and audit risk, and how that stress leaks into family life, health, and decision-making.

→ Blake shares his own wake-up call: chasing money, losing discipline, drinking more, working out less, and watching the personal cost rise as the professional pressure increased.

→ You’ll also hear what it’s like to stare down high-stakes Medicare audit exposure, survive payer conflict, and operate inside healthcare through COVID with a front-row view of how it changed medicine.

→ This episode sets up the mission going forward: bringing in experts to help you ask better questions, make smarter business moves, improve wellness and longevity, and build systems that keep patient care at the center.

The business of medicine has become so complicated that both providers and patients are getting crushed, and the people least in control are the ones paying the price.

In this first episode, Blake Bourque breaks down what’s happening behind the scenes in modern healthcare: Medicare clawbacks, unchecked auditing power, shrinking reimbursement, confusing copays and deductibles, and why the healthcare billing system often feels designed to trap everyone involved. If you’ve ever wondered why your doctor seems rushed, why the EMR (electronic medical record) is running the appointment, or why the same test is covered at one place but not another, this episode lays the foundation. You’ll learn how providers are forced to “check boxes” just to get paid, why audits can spiral into six-figure disasters, and how bad incentives ripple through the system, especially in rural and low-income communities where policy decisions can translate into worse wound outcomes, more hospitalizations, and higher amputation risk.

This show exists to make the economics of healthcare understandable in plain language, so you can ask better questions, avoid catastrophic decisions, and protect patient care.

Highlights:

→ You’ll hear why reimbursement keeps dropping while documentation demands keep rising, and how EMRs can quietly dehumanize care by turning visits into box-checking.

→ How Medicare audits and “rubber stamp” recoupment strategies can trigger massive clawbacks, legal costs, and compliance chaos, sometimes over patterns that look harmless until auditors weaponize them.

→ You’ll also learn why so many doctors struggle financially despite high income (no training in finance, billing, payroll, contracts, or risk), and how burnout can push providers into bad deals, questionable partnerships, or predatory business arrangements.

→ This episode sets up what’s coming next: expert guests, practical breakdowns of value-based care and ACO trends, and real-world strategies to help providers, patients, and ancillary healthcare businesses navigate the system.

If you’re a doctor, practice owner, or healthcare leader trying to survive the business of medicine, this podcast is built for you. Between Medicare rules, payer contracts, surprise audits, and constant pressure to produce more, it’s easy to feel like your practice is running you—not the other way around. In this new show, Blake Bourque breaks down the realities of medical practice management in plain language and shows you how to protect your revenue, reduce risk, and make smarter decisions with confidence. But this isn’t just another healthcare admin podcast. We’re also tackling what most physicians ignore until it’s too late: your health, wellness, longevity, and the habits that keep you sharp for the long run. We’ll go deeper into faith, purpose, and the real-life challenges of building a successful practice while staying present for your marriage, your kids, and the life you’re working so hard to create. If you want better contracts, fewer audit nightmares, stronger financial strategy—and a healthier, more meaningful life—this is your next subscribe.