Why Price Transparency?

David Silverstein is a highly regarded strategist, innovator, author and public speaker with a passion for addressing the dysfunction plaguing the American healthcare system. A repeat entrepreneur, he’s built and operated everything from his management consulting firm, Lean Methods Group to a small novelty business to his non-profit, BrokenHealthcare.org.

Experienced in methodical approaches to strategy, innovation and process improvement (the focus of Lean Method Group), David has most recently focused his strategic intentions on what he refers to as “America’s economically dysfunctional healthcare system.”

A frequent speaker and media source on topics related to innovation, strategy and global trends, David is best known for his deep insights and ability to see the common threads among seemingly disparate concepts while at the same time making complex subjects easy to understand without losing their significance. He has been featured in or has written for The Washington Post, The Economist, Inc. Magazine, The Robb Report, CNBC, NPR, Fox News and many other media outlets.

David has also published several books on innovation, business management and executive leadership, including the most recent book in his Connect the Dots series, Three Steps Ahead. He also co-authored The Innovator’s Toolkit: 50+ Techniques for Predictable and Sustainable Organic Growth and Insourcing Innovation: How to Achieve Competitive Excellence Using TRIZ.

He is a former U.S. Navy Nuclear submarine officer and holds dual degrees in Math and Physics from Ithaca College and an MBA from George Washington University.

Martin “Marty” Makary is an English-American surgeon, New York Times bestselling author, and Johns Hopkins health policy expert. He has written for The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, TIME, Newsweek, and CNN, and appears on NBC and Fox News. He is the author of The Price We Pay, a book about how business leaders and families can lower their health care costs and the grass-roots movement to restore medicine to its mission of serving patients.

Dr. Makary practices surgical oncology and gastrointestinal surgery at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and teaches public health policy at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He works in health care innovation, quality measurement science, frail and vulnerable populations, and public health disparities. He served in leadership roles at the United Nations World Health Organization for the Safe Surgery Saves Livesinitiative. Makary was named one of the most influential people in healthcare by Health Magazine. In 2018, Makary was elected to the National Academy of Medicine.

Makary is an advocate for disruptive innovation in medicine and physician-led initiatives such as The Surgical Checklist, which he developed at Johns Hopkins, and which was later popularized in Atul Gawande’s best-selling book, Checklist Manifesto. In 2016, Makary and his colleagues exposed loopholes in the Orphan Drug Act accounting for higher drug pricing. His article “The Orphan Drug Act: Restoring the Mission to Rare Diseases”, covered by Kaiser Heath News, led Senator Grassley’s office to announce an investigation into the problem. Makary has advocated for the need for more transparency in healthcare and better-quality metrics for hospitals and physicians. The American College of Surgeons recommended Makary for the position of Surgeon General of the United States.

Dr. Makary and David Silverstein have worked closely together on public policy initiatives aimed at bringing greater transparency to healthcare pricing and quality. Through Brokenhealthcare.org, they also teamed up to help patients dispute unfair medical bills, forcing hospitals to drop more than one million dollars’ worth of law suits in 2019.

A visionary leader who is always on the cutting edge of disruptive business practices, Felix is a seasoned operations executive who knows how to get things done. Felix is an expert in transforming business processes, leading organizations through change, and building foundations for sustainable growth. With a customer-centric view, and a bias for action, Felix has led large teams of seasoned professionals in world-class organizations such as Accenture, First Data and Axiom. Now he brings his experience to Broken Healthcare and its efforts to transform the American healthcare system.

With a scientific mind, Felix balances innovation and tactical execution of new ideas. Getting down into the details, while maintaining a long-term strategic perspective on organizational success has allowed Felix to become the go-to person for some of the world’s most complex and abstract business problems.

Felix is a former Israeli Airforce officer, holds degrees in Economics and Finance from the University of Massachusetts, and an MBA and Ph.D. in Organizational Performance and Change from Colorado State University, where he is also an adjunct professor.

Felix joined the board of Broken Healthcare in 2019 to bring his considerable skills leading complex change efforts to bear on the dysfunctional American healthcare system.

Aaron Starr brings more than 15 years of wide-ranging legal experience to his role as Chief Legal Officer and Board Member for BrokenHealthcare.org. He is a solutions-focused, problem solving attorney with extensive domestic and international corporate, transactional, and litigation experience.

In his role as Chief Legal Officer, he is responsible for the overall legal strategy and operations, organizational governance matters, litigation and risk management, transactions, and legal and regulatory compliance. Aaron also supports the organization’s advocacy efforts and development of healthcare public policy initiatives.

In addition to being an integral member of the BrokenHealthcare.org team, Aaron serves as Chief Legal Officer for Amaze, a start-up public benefit corporation, which provides employer-sponsored education along with a subscription-based mobile service that enables employees and their families with everything they need to manage their own health care. He also serves as General Counsel for Lean Methods Group, a management consulting firm specializing in the application of highly collaborative and methodical approaches, including Lean and Six Sigma, to business performance improvement. In both roles, Aaron provides counsel on a wide variety of complex legal issues, including drafting and negotiating all contracts and licenses, ensuring data privacy and security compliance, advising on corporate and board governance matters, and managing all litigation and claims.

Prior to his current roles, Aaron enjoyed a successful career in private practice at the law firm of Conrad O’Brien PC, Philadelphia, which is ranked among the top firms in Pennsylvania for commercial litigation practice by Chambers and Partners. He had a broad based litigation practice focusing on complex commercial and employment matters involving Fortune 500 companies, and defense of legal and medical professional liability claims against AmLaw 100 firms and a world-renowned pediatric hospital.

Aaron earned his law degree from Rutgers University Law School and his Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Gettysburg College.