Ep 42: From career break to founder of an innovative health care startup with Janis Powers

So often mothers look at their career break as a significant negative to overcome when they look to return to the workforce. But in the case of Janis Powers, founder of the cutting edge start-up Longitudinal Health Care, it was so much more than that. By taking advantage of different developmental opportunities, Janis was able to return from her break not only with a fresh perspective on the industry in which she worked, but also with new skills that are serving her well now as founder and fundraiser for her company. Janis and I talk about the importance of exercising your brain while on career break, why you should do something you’re interested in unrelated to your kids, and how strategic volunteering can help launch your next career.   Check out Janis’ fictional story on professional motherhood, Mama’s Got a Brand New Job, and her nonfiction analysis of the American health care system, Health Care: Meet the American Dream.   About the Guest: Janis Powers is the CEO and Founder of Longitudinal Health Care, a start-up on a mission to eliminate health insurance. Today’s insurance model is based on spreading risk across multiple constituents in the health care ecosystem. Janis’ company thinks this model is flawed because there should be very little risk due to advancements in genetics and predictive analytics. Prior to Longitudinal, Janis worked as a health care strategy and operations consultant and became fixated on health care’s cost accounting problem. The electronic medical records that many providers use are really billing systems, not cost accounting systems. That means there’s a lack of understanding about how much goods and services delivered by providers actually cost. It’s an important reason why consumers can’t get their hands on good pricing information. Addressing this pricing issue is a critical component of Longitudinal’s business strategy. Prior to Longitudinal, Janis published the Amazon Bestselling book Health Care: Meet the American Dream. The book describes why the current health care system needs structural change and then lays out a “perfect world” model for how it could be. Check out articles, podcast interviews and videos on Janis’ Media page or listen to The Powers Report Podcast to get Janis’ unshackled, candid perspectives on health care. www.janispowers.com www.longitudinalhealthcare.com     About the Host Janice Scholl helps moms navigate the money and career transitions that come with the different stages of motherhood through her work as coach, speaker, workshop facilitator, and host of The Money, Career & Motherhood Podcast. Janice is passionate about helping mothers gain confidence and understanding about money, career & business topics as they relate to motherhood and family – the way many women actually think about money.  Her key areas of focus to help mothers succeed are navigating maternity leave, career breaks & transitions, and  values-based budgeting.   Sign up for a FREE 30-minute strategy session with Janice here. Visit the Money, Career, & Motherhood website, Facebook page, Facebook group, or on Instagram.   Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher. You can also subscribe from the podcast app on your mobile device. Leave us an iTunes review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on iTunes, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on iTunes.