I am very excited to welcome Dr. Garrison Bliss as a contributor to DPC News. He is truly one of the originators of Direct Primary Care. I think I had to twist his arm a bit but I wanted his viewpoint to be expressed in an appropriate forum. Here is his bio:
Garrison Bliss was born and raised in Salt Lake City. He went to public High School and somehow found his way to Harvard University in 1968. with the Vietnam War raging and tear gas in the dorms, where he tried on majors in Mathematics, then Philosophy (mostly to pursue issues around Ethics) and finally Biology after deciding to pursue a career in medicine. He spent a year working in a Biochemistry lab at the University of Utah before enrolling at the University of Utah School of Medicine. He graduated with honors in Internal Medicine and did his residency at the University of Washington, initially in the Academic track but after experiencing some time in rooms with patients, decided to go into Clinical Primary Care Internal Medicine. He co-founded Seattle Medical Associates in 1980. In 1995 two of his partners left to start MD2, the first concierge practice in America. In 1997, he partnered with Mitchell Karton MD in starting what would eventually be called the Direct Primary Care (DPC) movement, in hopes of rebooting primary care in America as a high functioning patient-centered care system independent of the problematic insurance-driven fee-for-service system. After a few years, he joined the board of a new Primary Care organization (Initially called the American Society of Concierge Physicians, then the Society for Innovative Medical Practice Design) which provided education and inspiration for Primary Care physicians hoping to create independent affordable Primary Care practices designed around the needs of their patients (not their payors) at pricing that was affordable for them without 3rd party interference. In 1997, he created the Direct Primary Care Coalition in Washington DC with the help of lobbyist Jay Keese who became the political Guru of DPC, both at the state and federal level. His first act was to help Dr. Bliss pass federal legislation (in the Affordable Care Act), then to help pass the first state bill in Washington State (with the brilliant work of Lisa Thatcher in Olympia who miraculously got us over a finish line) that made it legal for a Primary Care Physician to charge a monthly fee for care without being labeled as an insurance company. It also for the first time included the term “Direct” as an alternative to the mislabeling that preceded it (Concierge and Boutique). Also In 1997, Dr Bliss left Seattle Medical Associates to create Qliance, with the able support of his brother-in-law Norman Wu MBA and his cousin Erika Bliss MD. This company survived for almost 10 years as it led the fight for the survival of high functioning affordable Primary Care against a host of roadblocks and helped clear a trail for successful scaled companies that followed. Dr Bliss spent his last 5 years as a solo practitioner of DPC at BlissMD in Seattle, with the support of his talented and feisty MA/Office Manager/Superwoman Becky Payne. Dr Bliss retired in September 2020. He lives with his wife of >50 years Suzanne Wu on Bainbridge Island. He is eternally grateful for all of the support and understanding from amazingly tolerant son, daughter and wife. He continues to work with Jay Keese as Chairman of the Board of the Direct Primary Care Coalition to remove the remaining roadblocks to DPC in America. His greatest pleasure is watching this movement grow and mature.
It’s great to have you Dr. Bliss!