About Us

About Longitude Healthcare Partners

Disrupting the healthcare status quo.

Our Why

Why Longitude Exists

We are physicians and operators who believe American health care has accumulated too many transactions between the physician and the patient. Every claim, every prior authorization, every denied referral, every explanation-of-benefits statement is a point at which the relationship can fracture — and the sum of those fractures is the system we now work inside. Longitude exists to remove as many of those transactions as possible, so physicians can practice medicine, patients can receive care, and the health plans that cover them can see a cost they can build around. We structure every partnership around a single predictable per-member-per-month (PMPM) rate — and use PMPM throughout this site to refer to that arrangement.

The Problem

What We Are Solving

Specialty and surgical care in the United States has become one of the most transactional experiences in medicine. A primary care physician requests a referral. An authorization is requested. A denial is returned. An appeal is filed. A scheduler is navigated. A coinsurance amount is estimated, then corrected, then billed. An explanation of benefits is mailed, interpreted, and sometimes disputed. At every step the patient and the physician are further from each other, and the plan paying for it is further from predictable cost.

Longitude is built for the populations where this transactional burden is most consequential — employees at self-funded employers, Medicaid MCO members, and enrolled members of Tribal health plans. The structural answer is the same in each context: remove the transactions, keep the relationship, and give the plan a rate it can build around.

Our Commitments

How We Operate

  • Every physician and facility in our network is individually selected for the quality of their clinical work.
  • We price transparently — one PMPM rate based on a defined menu of covered services, adjusted for population age at renewal.
  • We remove administrative barriers: no prior authorizations, no claims, no EOB statements for covered services.
  • We assign a dedicated Patient Advocate to every enrolled member.
  • We report performance honestly — utilization, access, and outcomes — to every plan partner.
Our Leadership
DR
David Rothwell, MD
Co-Founder & Managing Partner

A practicing physician with over 25 years of clinical experience, David co-founded Longitude to rebuild the direct relationship between specialists, surgeons and the patients who need them — and to remove the transactional friction that drives up cost without adding clinical value.

EB
Ed Bertels, CMPE
Co-Founder & CAO

With a career built in medical group administration and provider network development, Ed leads Longitude's operations and network infrastructure — translating the clinical vision into a durable, scalable delivery model.

Why Longitude Is Different

Traditional PPO networks have expanded to cover 97% of providers — losing the leverage that made them valuable. Longitude takes a fundamentally different approach.

Predictable Annual Expenditure

A predictable per-member-per-month (PMPM) rate that does not fluctuate with utilization.

Transparent Pricing

The rate is transparent and based on a defined menu of covered services, adjusted for the age profile of the enrolled population at each renewal.

Reduced Administrative Costs

TPA or other claim processing costs are reduced significantly, especially when paired with Direct Primary Care (DPC).

Volume-Driven Stability

As enrolled-member volume grows across plan partners, the shared network relationships improve access, continuity, and pricing stability for every participating plan — including individual level-funded plans that would not have that leverage alone.

Direct Access for Members

Covered services delivered without copays, deductibles, EOB statements, or pre-authorization waits — so members can move from referral to appointment without the usual delays.

Provider Cash Flow Stability

The PMPM payment method creates steady cash flow for network providers — no receivables aging on books for months.

Who We Serve

Longitude partners with three distinct communities — each through a model structured around how their health coverage actually works.

Employer-Sponsored Plans

Self-funded and level-funded employers looking for predictable specialty-care spend and a better benefit experience for their employees. Longitude replaces variable specialty claim costs with a single PMPM rate — and replaces the friction of prior authorizations and cost-sharing with direct access to a curated network. Employees get the care they need without the paperwork. Employers get a specialty cost they can plan around.

Medicaid MCOs

Medicaid managed care organizations that have identified specialty access as a measurable gap in the member experience — showing up as network adequacy pressure, ED utilization, or member disengagement. Longitude integrates as a cost-stable specialty layer alongside the MCO's existing network, with no new administrative burden and no transactional barriers for members.

Tribal Health Plans

Tribal Nations operating health programs under 638 contracts, compacts, or self-funded arrangements that have recognized the gap between what their members need in specialty and surgical care and what PRC-dependent referrals reliably deliver. Longitude works alongside IHS benefits and Purchased/Referred Care under a governance structure set entirely by the Tribal Nation.

Ready to Learn More?

Whether you're considering Longitude for an employer plan, a Medicaid MCO, or a Tribal health plan, a first conversation is the best way to see if there is a fit. Start one today.

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