John Dils opened ImageWorks in July 2021
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In an era of increasing consolidation and decreasing competition in the healthcare space, John Dils has found the concept of adding value to be a formidable business strategy. It’s a formula that served him in his earliest days in the insurance industry, right up to his recent success opening the first free-standing diagnostic imaging facility in his hometown of Richmond, Indiana.
As an athletic kid growing up in the Midwest, Dils gravitated toward the diet and exercise habits associated with healthy living. But it wasn’t until after college in the mid-1990s that he really started connecting the dots between lifestyle choices and a clean bill of health. Once he saw diet and exercise through the lens of health insurance, he never looked back.
“I came back to my father’s insurance agency and started pushing healthy living initiatives within the business,” he says. “We had smokers, dad being one of them, and we went smoke free.”
His insurance agency, RMD/Patti Insurance, implemented a division called Wellness Works, offering fitness programs and services to their policyholders. By encouraging clients to eat right and exercise regularly, the company was essentially reducing the likelihood of costly medical emergencies. A win-win.
“I went to local gyms that I was friendly with to establish discounted membership programs for our clients, anything that would set us apart within the insurance world,” Dils recalled. “We ended up buying a gym and experiencing tremendous growth within the community.”
The gym, Family Fitness Works, went from 600 members to 3000 members in the span of about four years, according to Dils. In a town of about 30,000 people, like Richmond, that meant 10% of the population was now part of the RMD/Patti health and wellness hub.
Playing the hand you’re dealt
Like many sectors in healthcare, the health insurance industry has been undergoing intense consolidation in recent years. Juggernaut payers like Anthem, UnitedHealth, Aetna, and Cigna have taken bigger slices of the pie, leaving patients and physicians at the mercy of higher prices and fewer alternatives. Smaller insurance providers are left scrambling for some kind of competitive value proposition.
“[In the old days] you had your carriers, but now with mergers and acquisitions, it’s like everybody’s got everybody,” says Dils. “No differentiation between me and the guy down the street, other than the individual. We all had the same market, same pull, nothing to separate us from them.”
