Making health care affordable

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Aug. 28, 2024
Contact: Janese Heavin, [email protected]

Brian Whorley, B.S. '03, came to the University of Missouri in 1999 with a head full of ideas. He excelled at math and physics. He was enthralled by engineering. And he wanted to start his own business someday.

Mizzou equipped him with the skills and exposure necessary to realize his ambitions, culminating with the founding of a startup that now helps millions of Americans get the health care they need.

Six years ago, Whorley founded Paytient to improve the ability of people to self-pay for health care, making care more accessible and affordable for more people.

"The moment someone walks in a hospital or clinic, they're often worried about cost," he said. "You may feel you have no voice, no choice, no control. I wanted to empower people and give them more certainty in life's most uncertain moments. Paytient is the culmination of my experiences and lessons. It's what I'm supposed to be doing in life, and I wouldn't be here without Mizzou."

Early inspiration

Whorley grew up in Springfield, Missouri, started working nearly full time at 14, clipped newspaper articles about successful entrepreneurs from history and won a national physics team competition. When it came time to make his college decision, Whorley originally planned to enroll elsewhere until he attended a high school camp at Mizzou.

"I felt like attending Mizzou would help me graduate with broader and deeper experiences, and that was important to me," he said.

Whorley opted to pursue a degree in industrial engineering, a branch of engineering that focuses on optimizing systems and processes. During a capstone project his senior year, he was able to apply classroom lessons to a healthcare setting, working with University Hospital to streamline day-to-day operations.

"Industrial engineering gave me the best opportunity to learn to build teams instead of things," he said. "It provided me with mental models and frameworks to understand the complexities of the world and find simple solutions to complex problems."

An 'incredible responsibility'

After graduation, Whorley worked as a process engineer at a hospital and started a business on the side along with Daniel Lynn, B.S. IT '08. Seven years before national delivery apps became popular, Whorley and Lynn created a software platform used by local delivery services across the country. By 2013, nearly a million people were using the software, and they sold the business.

With lessons from the trenches, Whorley kept watch for another glimpse of the future and a window of opportunity to solve a larger societal problem.

He would see it after spending a decade working in health care. The experience not only heightened his empathy for patients but also deepened his understanding of the operational and financial challenges healthcare providers confront daily.

"Health care has infinite needs and finite resources," he said. "Everybody in the system wants people to get care. We needed innovation in a business model that helps the health system be healthier for all stakeholders."

Whorley was thinking about those challenges during a bike ride along the MKT trail one day when he got the idea to start a company that would help employees cover medical care costs. He again teamed up with Lynn, and Paytient was born.

Paytient is employer-sponsored, interest-free credit, structured as a benefit, for both health care and veterinary expenses. Referred to as a health payment account, members use the Paytient card to smooth out-of-pocket costs over time.

"Paytient is reducing costs for employers while also empowering people with the ability to decide for themselves how and when they self-pay for care," he said.

It's a benefit more Americans will soon experience thanks to the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan. Beginning in January, Medicare Part D plans will give beneficiaries the option to pay prescription drug costs over time in the form of capped, interest-free monthly installments. Paytient has been selected to the power the initiative for nearly half of the 54+ million Americans with a Part D plan. Once again, Whorley and Lynn were perfectly positioned years before the wave.

"Paytient will be powering nearly 25 million Americans' health care plans," Whorley said. "It's an incredible responsibility and affirmation of our mission to help people better access and afford care. We're growing and building every day to help our health plan partners meet this historic moment."

Innovation starts at Mizzou

To aspiring innovators, Whorley's advice is: "Understand the natural tendencies that shape behavior, have faith and believe in your abilities."

And, he added, take advantage of everything Mizzou has to offer.

"The only way we'll live better lives is through innovation - making tomorrow better than today," Whorley said. "Mizzou teaches the art and science of how to do that and provides an incredible springboard that catapults the best and brightest into the world."

Editor's Note: We all have ideas. At Mizzou, students learn to turn them into something real. Innovation Starts at Mizzou is a series that highlights Mizzou Made changemakers who are impacting the world. Innovation. It's in our DNA.

MU College of Engineering

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