Thomas J Salvucci, DO
Founder, CEO Centurist ProHealth, PLLC
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Thomas J. Salvucci, DO is an Osteopathic physician that is Board Certified in Cardiology and Internal Medicine whose medical career commenced in 1980 and included serving as a Public Health Service medical corps officer as a primary care physician for three years before transitioning to post-graduate training in Internal Medicine, followed by sub-specialty training in Cardiology.
His early Cardiology practice was primarily as an Interventionist during the most technologically innovative days of Interventional Cardiology when the field evolved from balloon angioplasty to directional and rotational atherectomy, then subsequently the implementation of early FDA approved stents. Additionally, his role as Director of the Osteopathic Cardiovascular Fellowship training program at Deborah Heart and Lung Center in New Jersey, also included participation in the early development and use of balloon valvuloplasty.
With commencement of the 21st century Dr Salvucci dedicated the rest of his career to clinical Cardiology, focusing on the front line of cardiovascular care, and it was here that his ideas developed, recognizing the dangerous direction the American healthcare system had taken. In particular, corporate healthcare systems seized control of local hospitals and successfully lobbied for favorable reimbursements over private physician practices, forcing transition of the private independent practitioner to employee status. In-patient hospital care is primarily provided by a rotating team of employed providers (Hospitalists; not patient advocate physicians) and essentially every facet of care delivery has become corporate-centric as large conglomerates, often from cities or states far away, struggle to focus on anything other than solvency and profits.
His conception of the solution to the two decade long deterioration of patient advocacy and personalized care led to the formation of Centurist ProHealth, designed to liberate patients from the critical forces that are hurting patient care and advocacy: corporate healthcare systems, insurance corporations and the federally run Center for Medical Services (CMS), better known as Medicare and Medicaid.
Together, CMS-mandated federal regulations and ill-conceived revenue distribution, along with industry-driven influential DC lobbying, have comprehensively resculptured healthcare and lost focus on the individual.
Consider the following:
Television advertisement of pharmaceutical and medical devices directly to the public did not exist prior to 1977 when a misguided decision by the FDA opened the door to TV advertising. The United States and New Zealand are the only two countries in the world that participate in direct-to-patient TV advertising.
The United States ranks first in the world in obesity, reflecting the fact that the system has performed poorly in directing care towards prevention, choosing instead to spend more healthcare dollars by far than any other country by treating the results of lack of prevention.
Despite its dubious distinction as the most expensive in the world, the American healthcare system ranks a lowly 34th in the world in terms of quality.
According to data derived nationally by Johns Hopkins, medical errors in the U.S. healthcare system are responsible for 150,000 deaths annually, ranking medical error as the third leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer.
The ultimate goal of Centurist is hopefully to be the inspiration that re-establishes the physician, the ONLY consummate health expert and the strongest patient advocate in the system, at the helm of health care.
Systematic change in healthcare has begun and Centurist is leading the way.