Founder, Vitalis Health Strategies · Physician executive
Dave Verkh, MD MBA
Through Vitalis Health Strategies, I help medical, dental, and veterinary practices across Canada build well, run well, and grow on purpose.
Clinical training on one side, business strategy on the other. I work with practice owners, physician groups, and healthcare boards at every stage, from the first conversation about a new clinic through operations, accreditation, acquisition, and governance.
The background
Medicine teaches you to solve hard problems. It does not teach you to run a business.
Almost every physician, dentist, and veterinarian who opens a practice becomes a business owner by default. I spent years watching capable clinicians carry that weight without the training to make it lighter. The clinical work was strong. The business underneath it was quietly wearing them down.
So I went back for the MBA, with the intention of being more useful to medicine rather than leaving it. The combination turned out to be rare. Most healthcare consultants have never examined a patient. Most physicians have never built a financial model or structured an acquisition. Working across both is where I have spent my career.
That work now runs from new builds and accreditation through operations, revenue recovery, recruitment, transactions, and fractional executive leadership. The subject changes. The standard does not.
More about my backgroundThe firm
Vitalis Health Strategies
Vitalis is the core of my work. I founded the firm to give medical, dental, and veterinary practices access to operator grade strategic support from people who understand how a clinic actually runs.
Vitalis is a physician led consulting firm built on a simple position. Medical, dental, and veterinary practices deserve operator grade strategic support from people who understand how a clinic actually runs. Healthcare practices are complex, regulated, relationship dependent organizations, and understanding them from the inside is not optional. Board and advisory seats sit alongside that work and are informed by it.
How I work
Four stages, one standard.
Every Vitalis engagement moves through the same four stages, whatever the size of the problem.
- 01
Discover
We start with what is actually happening. Financials, schedules, billing data, team structure, patient flow, and the parts of the business nobody has had time to look at.
Typical outcome: An honest picture of where the practice stands.
- 02
Diagnose
Symptoms get separated from causes. A revenue problem is often a scheduling problem. A staffing problem is often a role design problem. Finding the difference is most of the work.
Typical outcome: The two or three issues actually worth your attention.
- 03
Design
A plan built around your practice, your market, and your appetite for change, with the sequence, the cost, and the expected return attached to each step.
Typical outcome: A plan you can act on and afford.
- 04
Deliver
I stay through execution. Decisions get made, systems go in, the team gets supported, and results are measured against the baseline we started from.
Typical outcome: Change that holds after the engagement ends.
What I do
Three ways to work with Vitalis.
Every Vitalis engagement is structured around what the organization actually needs.
Retained Advisory
Long term strategic partnership for practice owners and physician leaders.
Fractional Executive Leadership
Senior physician executive leadership embedded in your organization.
Board and Advisory
Physician executive perspective at the governance level.
Impact at a glance
Revenue added across engagements
Average revenue increase
Average EBITDA improvement
Average overhead reduction
Average annual billing recovered
Practices served across Canada
Figures reflect outcomes from individual client engagements or estimates derived from client reported data across the Vitalis portfolio. They may represent a single engagement, an average across several, or a combination of financial and operational outcomes. Individual results vary with practice type, size, specialty, market, and starting position.
Selected work
Engagements that moved practices forward.
A selection of development, operational, and advisory engagements across Canada. Names and identifying details are changed for confidentiality.
Start here
Two assessments. One honest picture of where you stand.
Both are free, and both are useful before we ever speak.
Clinic Build Readiness Assessment
Planning a new medical, dental, or veterinary facility? This tells you what needs to be in place, regulatory, financial, operational, and physical, and which gaps to close before you sign a lease or break ground.
Request the assessmentPractice Performance Assessment
Already running a practice? This looks at operations, revenue cycle, team structure, and growth position, and shows you where the highest value opportunities are sitting.
Request the assessmentReady to build something that lasts?
Whether you are planning a new clinic, fixing what is not working, preparing for an acquisition or an exit, or considering fractional leadership or a board seat, the conversation starts the same way. No pitch deck, no pressure, just an honest look at your situation and what is possible.