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A practical plan for change

About the Book

Every year, Americans spend more on healthcare than any other nation on Earth. Yet we live shorter lives, experience worse health outcomes, and face medical bills that can bankrupt families even when they have insurance.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Flatlined: How Profit Broke American Healthcare

A clear, compelling examination of why American healthcare increasingly rewards profits over patients, and what it will take to build a better system.

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INSIDE FLATLINED

A frontline view of a system that too often works against the people it was built to serve.

In Flatlined: How Profit Broke American Healthcare, Doctor of Medical Science, Physician Assistant, healthcare entrepreneur, and healthcare policy subject matter expert Garrett Soames pulls back the curtain on an industry that increasingly rewards profits over patients.

THE BOOK

Flatlined: How Profit Broke American Healthcare

Flatlined is more than a critique of the current system. It examines the structural problems driving rising costs, declining access, provider burnout, administrative complexity, and poor patient outcomes.
Garrett connects real-world clinical experience with the financial, regulatory, and policy decisions shaping American medicine, while presenting practical, evidence-based ideas designed to spark meaningful reform.
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READ CHAPTER ONE

Rising Costs

Why healthcare becomes more expensive while value declines.

Declining Access

How complexity and incentives keep people from timely care.

Provider Burnout

Why clinicians are carrying an unsustainable burden.

Practical Reform

A people-first path toward accountability and better outcomes.

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A RARE PERSPECTIVE

Nearly two decades inside American healthcare.

Drawing on nearly two decades of frontline experience in emergency medicine, urgent care, healthcare leadership, and medical practice management, Garrett offers a perspective few are able to provide.
His experience includes practicing medicine in resource-limited healthcare systems in Malawi, Africa, serving in leadership roles within American healthcare organizations, and leading regional clinical operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, helping develop policies and guide thousands of frontline healthcare professionals through one of the most challenging periods in modern medicine.

From Malawi to frontline clinical leadership during a global pandemic.

BEYOND THE BOOK

The beginning of a broader movement.

For Garrett, publishing Flatlined is not the final destination. His commitment to a better healthcare model extends through public speaking, education, media, policy advocacy, community organizing, technology, and entrepreneurship.

Public Speaking

Engaging audiences with an accessible case for reform.

Education

Helping people understand how the healthcare system works.

Media & Advocacy

Bringing practical ideas into the national conversation.

Community Action

Turning shared knowledge into organized progress.

Key themes

What readers will discover.

The Cost Problem

A clear look at the structures that make care more expensive and harder to navigate.

The Care Problem

Why more spending does not always create better outcomes for patients.

The Reform Opportunity

A practical framework for transparency, accountability, and people-first policy.

WHAT THE BOOK REVEALS

The problems hiding in plain sight.

Through compelling patient stories, hard data, and accessible explanations, Flatlined reveals the structural failures shaping the everyday experience of American healthcare.

Rising Costs

Why routine medical care can cost thousands of dollars.

Provider Burnout

Why physicians and nurses are burning out at record rates.

Rural Hospital Closures

Why access continues to disappear across American communities.

Pay More. Get Less

Why Americans consistently spend more while receiving less.

BEYOND BLAME

The problem is bigger than any single profession, institution, or political party.

Rather than placing blame on any single profession, institution, or political party, the book demonstrates how decades of misaligned financial incentives, regulatory complexity, corporate consolidation, and policy decisions have created a system that too often works against the very people it was designed to serve.

Audience

A book for everyone affected by healthcare.

Patients and Families

Understand why care is expensive and which reforms could make the system easier to navigate.

Healthcare Professionals

Explore how incentives and policy affect clinical work, patient trust, and outcomes.

Leaders and Policymakers

Review a practical framework for lowering waste and improving accountability.

MORE THAN A DIAGNOSIS

A roadmap and toolkit for meaningful reform.

Flatlined does more than explain what is broken. It examines successful healthcare systems around the world and presents practical, evidence-based solutions that show high-quality, affordable care is possible.
The question is not whether better healthcare models exist. The question is whether the United States is willing to learn from them and build a better path forward for US citizens.

High-quality, affordable healthcare is not only possible, it already exists.

Flatlined shows what can be learned, adapted, and improved.

WHO SHOULD READ FLATLINED

For anyone who has wondered why American healthcare feels so broken.

Patients

Understand the forces shaping cost, access, and care.

Healthcare Professionals

See how systemic incentives affect clinical practice.

Policymakers

Explore practical, evidence-based paths toward reform.

Business Leaders

Understand the financial structures influencing healthcare.

Concerned Citizens

Gain the knowledge needed to participate in meaningful change.

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Join the movement.

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