#communityovereverything Patrick Robinson

Providing work solutions for businesses is just a small component of CityCentral. We look forward to getting to know our members and their businesses so that we can help them excel even further. We had the opportunity to sit down and speak with Patrick Robinson, founder of Advantage PHC and CityCentral Plano veteran, to learn about how his company has helped teams and individuals navigate and understand the confusing world of healthcare.

Tell us a little bit about your business:

My name is Patrick Robinson and I am the founder of Advantage PHC. We are a healthcare concierge and health advocacy service that helps everyday consumers navigate through healthcare.

Things as simple as finding a doctor in your healthcare plan’s network to negotiating on a medical bill on your behalf.

What led you to working in healthcare?

I was on the sales insurance side right out of college, so the healthcare space is one of the only things I’ve done. I was an independent insurance broker for about 16-17 years where I explained benefits to employees, enrolled them in their benefits plan and gave them other health insurance options. I wanted to not be in that space because I thought people basically bought health insurance for the price they can afford, and they really didn’t know how to navigate through healthcare and that’s when I started Advantage PHC in 2016.

What sets your business apart from other companies?

I think there’s two things in business—you either have a creative idea and no one has done it so you patent it and grow it, or you see what someone else is doing and you think you can do it better. So, Advantage is not a new idea. Healthcare concierge services have been around, but I just thought that some companies weren’t really doing it right. So, our competitive advantage is how we handle our members and our services.

What is something you wish you’d known when you were just starting your business?

I wish I would have taken a data analysis class in college. To be able to understand data and how it makes an impact. In terms of healthcare data and operational data. For example, we have thousands of members but to be able to break that data down on what percentage of members use certain things. Just overall, I wish I would’ve known a lot more about data analysis.

How do you navigate your work life balance?

My significant other works with me in the business so that makes it a little bit easier. We’ve both have been married before, so we know what it’s like to cut off work time to give quality time. We like to travel, and both of our kids are adults and so that makes it a little bit easier. We don’t have to do the soccer practice and baseball league stuff. So, once every couple months we try to get out of town and go somewhere.

The beauty of this business is that we can work remotely, and we do work remotely. We can work from anywhere.

What is the most rewarding part of your job?

Helping our members. I’ll have a member e-mail back and say, “I thought I was going to go into credit card debt because I had a $20,000 medical bill and you guys negotiated on my behalf to get it down to a couple hundred bucks.” Just seeing that overall satisfaction from a member; that they were able to be helped with something they were lost in.

How has being a part of the CityCentral community affected you and your business?

We started [at CityCentral] in 2019. I will honestly say when I started with CityCentral I was going through a lot of struggles in my personal life and then Covid hit. CityCentral gave me that place to obviously work from, but also gave me a second home away from home. I love the atmosphere here. I love how there’s other companies that you can interact with that make you feel a little bit bigger than you are. And I love the flexibility with CityCentral. Y’all never shoot down ideas and are always open minded because you know that’s how most start-ups are in the beginning.

If you had a friend in town and you could take them to one of your favorite restaurants or local spots, where would it be?

My favorite restaurant is ‘I Declare’ in Addison on Beltline. I think the food is amazing, the southern comfort and the atmosphere is great!

We want to thank Patrick for taking the time to speak with us! If you are interested in learning more about Advantage PHC or have any healthcare questions for their team, you can visit www.advantagephc.com!