Dave Verkh, MD MBA

I trained as a physician in the United States, then spent a number of years in executive management before building the firm I run today. That order matters. I learned how clinical work feels from the inside before I learned how to read the business holding it up.

Medicine trains you to solve complex problems under pressure. What it does not prepare you for is ownership, and almost every physician, dentist, and veterinarian who opens a practice becomes an owner whether they planned to or not. I spent years watching that gap cost good clinicians their margins, their teams, and sometimes their enthusiasm for the work.

The MBA was a decision to close that gap rather than leave medicine. Most healthcare consultants have never examined a patient or led a clinical team under pressure. Most physicians have never built a financial model or structured an acquisition. Working fluently across both is unusual, and it has shaped every engagement since.

I founded Vitalis Health Strategies in Calgary to give practices access to that kind of support across the full lifecycle, from the first conversation about a new build through operational improvement, revenue recovery, acquisition, and exit. The work is measured by outcome. If the numbers do not improve and the practice does not run better, the engagement has not worked.

The focus is building sustainable practices and running them well. We have guided practices through first attempt NHSF accreditation, recovered significant uncaptured billing revenue, reduced overhead by double digits, and supported physician groups through acquisitions from both sides of the table.