Oldřich Šubrt (Health Plus): A doctor is nothing more than a well-educated barber

In this episode of the CEO na ostří nože podcast, we talk to Oldřich Šubrt, a physician and founder of the private clinic Health Plus. He ran Na Homolce Hospital in Prague for fifteen years, served under twelve health ministers and has worked in healthcare management for more than thirty years. Today he values being able, as an owner, to say openly what he thinks.

Czech healthcare, he says, is still paternalistic. Patients feel subordinate, and doctors protect their social status with an attitude of “I’m saving you, so be grateful”. That’s why he used to tell doctors at Homolka that they were nothing more than well-educated barbers. Their job is to explain what’s good for the client and refuse what would harm them. Otherwise, they are a service that has to listen. He compares medicine to a pie in three slices. Medical school teaches only the first: diagnosis and treatment. The second is cost-effectiveness, because no country can give everyone everything. The third is the patient’s wishes. That doesn’t mean more time, but knowing how to ask the right questions.

Health Plus is built on the idea that clients don’t pay for treatment but for staying healthy and satisfied. Around ten thousand clients pay an annual fee of roughly €1,000 and get coordinated care, in-depth prevention and round-the-clock access. A GP at the clinic has 600 registered patients instead of the usual 1,800. Payments from public health insurers make up only seven percent of the clinic’s revenue.

Šubrt sums up the company culture in one sentence: “We like people.” Doctors, he says, shouldn’t be fighters against diagnoses but guides for people who are ill or could become ill. The clinic, with around 190 employees, invests two to three percent of revenue in training and pays for it itself. It doesn’t let companies pay for conferences or courses, so that doctors aren’t indebted to anyone. After Covid, Šubrt also revised his old principle that the client is always right. The new code says that both employees and clients matter most, because “I do everything for my employees so that they can do everything for their patients”.

The clinic collects feedback smartly. Clients receive a short questionnaire within five days of a visit, but not after every check-up, so they aren’t bothered. Every useful comment must get a reply within two days. Doctors meet at regular breakfasts and nurses every three weeks. Anyone who flags their own mistake is thanked, not punished. Šubrt calls himself a “servant” to his doctors. He respects their exceptional status and treats them to small pleasures, such as dinners for doctors only. But there is one condition: they have to like people.

What else will you learn in the podcast?

• Why Czech healthcare is still paternalistic

• What three slices make up good medicine

• Why hospitals should be able to fund themselves

• What private clinic clients pay for when they already have health insurance

• How to manage top doctors with strong egos

• Why connecting health data matters more than a new machine

According to Oldřich Šubrt, the culture at Health Plus doesn’t rest on the best specialists or the most advanced equipment. It rests on whether a doctor is glad the patient came and wants to help them in a way that leaves them satisfied. And on a system that doesn’t punish mistakes but fixes them.