At medical centers such as the Cleveland Clinic and Kaiser

Hear, O seekers of wisdom, the words of Matthew Heineman, who cast light upon the hidden structures of healing: “At medical centers such as the Cleveland Clinic and Kaiser Permanente, teams of doctors and nurses provide coordinated care while working for salary instead of getting paid for every procedure.” In this proclamation is not only a description of practice, but a vision of how healing can be reclaimed from the clutches of profit and returned to the service of life itself. He speaks of coordinated care, of teams of healers, and of service rendered not for the coin of each action, but for the greater harmony of the patient’s well-being.

For in many lands, the art of medicine has been twisted by the weight of transaction. Too often, the healer’s hand is guided by the tally of procedures rather than the wholeness of the one who suffers. This system, though clothed in the language of care, risks becoming a marketplace where every test, every cut, every pill is counted not for necessity, but for gain. Heineman reveals that in places like the Cleveland Clinic and Kaiser Permanente, another way has been chosen: the physician is not a merchant, but a steward; the nurse not a laborer paid by the task, but a guardian of health, working for a just wage, free from the pressure to multiply unnecessary acts.

The ancients, too, understood this sacred principle. In the Hippocratic tradition, the healer swore to place the life of the patient above all else, to guard against harm, and to resist the lure of greed. But as empires grew, some healers became bound to kings and nobles, receiving gold for their presence rather than justice for their craft. The great physicians who endured were those who remembered that medicine is not a trade, but a covenant: to align one’s skill with the flourishing of others, not with the filling of one’s purse.

Consider the story of Dr. Sidney Garfield, the physician who laid the foundation for Kaiser Permanente. In the 1930s, he tended to workers on the Colorado River Aqueduct project, and he discovered that if care was paid for by subscription rather than per service, doctors could focus on keeping people healthy rather than treating them only after illness struck. The workers flourished, injuries declined, and a model was born that prized prevention and cooperation over fragmentation and profit. This story lives on as proof that when physicians are freed from the pressure of procedure-based reward, the health of whole communities may rise.

The lesson in Heineman’s words is not for physicians alone, but for all who walk the road of life. We must learn to prize coordination over fragmentation, service over transaction, and the long view of wellness over the fleeting gain of momentary fixes. In our own lives, this means choosing systems, leaders, and communities that elevate cooperation and compassion rather than division and competition. It means asking not, “What did I gain from this moment?” but “What was truly healed, truly strengthened, for the journey ahead?”

Practical action flows from this wisdom. Support institutions that value the team over the individual reward, that pay healers fairly for their time and dedication rather than by the procedure. Seek out care that looks at the whole of your life, not just the symptom of the day. And in your personal dealings, whether in family, work, or friendship, practice the same spirit of collaboration—see that the bonds you weave bring wholeness to all rather than benefit to one.

Thus, Heineman’s words resound as a call to restore medicine to its noble roots. Let doctors and nurses stand not as merchants at a bazaar of procedures, but as fellow travelers guiding us through the perilous valleys of illness toward the highlands of health. Let us, too, walk in this spirit: choosing unity over profit, and healing that is measured not by coin, but by the strength of lives restored.

So let it be remembered: where teams of healers labor together with shared purpose, where salaries free them from the temptation of excess, there is born a truer form of medicine. It is not the glitter of countless procedures that saves us, but the steady flame of coordinated care, fanned by trust, wisdom, and love for life itself. This is the teaching Heineman delivers, and this is the path we are called to honor.