Get Off The Dime: The Secret of Changing Who Pays for Your Health Care

It s Time to Take Control
We ve become sophisticated consumers of cars, computers, clothes, and homes. Why not health care? That s the question noted entrepreneur and physician Dr. Sreedhar Potarazu probes in his groundbreaking new book, Get Off the Dime.
Who really pays for healthcare and how do we finally improve cost and quality?
The answers he reveals are innovative, measured, market-tested and, if implemented, capable of revolutionizing the American health care system. Some the country s leading employers have successfully adopted his principles.
Having spent over 20 years on both sides of the health care cost equation, Dr. Potarazu, whose credentials include an MBA from Johns Hopkins University, sounds a clarion call to action for anyone who pays for health care employer or employee: It s time to take control of the process and drive change throughout the health care system. Inside Get off the Dime, Dr. Potarazu provides a series of cogent arguments that:
Employers and employees working together can be a true catalyst for improving the cost and quality of health care;
Greater transparency throughout the health care system will make it easier for consumers to understand how the system works;
Improved technology can provide the transparency the system currently lacks; and
A new and improved health care system has the power to create not only a healthier America, but a more productive America, better able to compete in today s world economy.
The new platform, Dr. Potarazu introduces is buyer empowered, not consumer-directed, and relies on the interconnection of all health information on one technology platform to enable medical data to flow smoothly between all the links in the health care supply chain. Collaborative networks are the means by which the world communicates today and for the first time Dr. Potarazu reveals how this same concept improves the cost and quality of healthcare in the hands of the buyer.
With new concepts and detailed case studies, Get Off the Dime offers a compelling vision of health care the way it should be and could be if consumers and employers begin to work together.

Dr. Sreedhar Potarazu, is an acclaimed opthalmologist and entrepreneur who has been recognized as an international visionary in the business of medicine. He is the founder and CEO of VitalSpring Technologies Inc., a privately-held enterprise software company focused on providing employers with applications to empower them to become more sophisticated purchasers of healthcare.
Dr. Potarazu received his medical degree from The George Washington University and subsequently completed his internship in surgery and residency there as well. He completed fellowships in Neuro-opthamology and Glaucoma at the esteemed Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami in Florida. Dr. Potarazu practiced seven years in the Washington area, during which time he was on the faculty of the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University. While practicing, he earned an MBA at Johns Hopkins with a focus on Health Information Technology. It was his thesis that ultimately served as the basis for the original business plan of VitalSpring.
Dr. Potarazu is widely recognized as an industry leader in healthcare and healthcare technology and is a sought-after speaker on the topic. He currently resides in Maryland with his wife and two daughters. Dr. Potarazu is also involved in the promotion of fine arts and education to the underprivileged.