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Podcast Show Notes

“Unstable condition, A symptom of life, In mental and environmental change, Atmospheric disturbance, The feverish flux, Of human interface, And interchange.” – Rush, Vital Signs

Many of you that follow my podcast know that I like to associate the message with a song (typically from the 80’s) to resonate the point of the interview. Our podcast discussion today between Michael Andrade and Jeff Kessler of Allergychoices. He told me that he’s a huge Rush fan so of course I had to find something to validate his claim!

This Tom Sawyer is a mean mean allergy guy. Jeff Kessler is the President of Allergychoices and Practice Executive of Allergy Associates of LaCrosse. We talk a bit about Jeff’s passion for what he does and also the accidental introduction coming from treatment he sought for his daughter with severe asthma. He saw dramatic and life-changing improvement through her treatment and when asked to be a part of their clinic, jumped at the chance.

Allergychoices is a company that helps individuals better manage their allergies by using a unique protocol to treat the condition. Protocol uses sublingual immunotherapy. They’ve treated over 250,000 patients over last 20 years and work through physicians, local clinics, and DPC providers to deliver a unique treatment protocol aimed at eliminating suffering for those with mild-to-severe allergies. Employers that able to see the bigger picture by treating disease, not symptoms can help their employees realize a tremendous improvement in productively and more importantly, their quality of life.

Podcast Notes:

We begin with a history of Allergychoices and some context for how Jeff was introduced to the company by living through the transformation of his asthmatic daughter thriving through and improving her condition through allergy treatment through Allergy Associates. Dramatic and life changing event for his family as a result of the treatment.

20% of the US population suffer from allergies and a significant number of people impacted. A serious amount of money spent by employers and employees however is difficult to quantify as most of the costs are embedded in comorbid conditions. The program positively impacts spend, productivity, and quality of life. No one really addresses the cause of allergies through a traditional medication management. Allergychoices seeks to address the source cause of the allergy rather than treating the symptom.

Typical Asthma patient cost is $10k – $12k per year. Non-asthmatic is around $4k-$5k. But employers need to contemplate the impact on productivity as a result of improving allergies. Can improve absenteeism and presenteeism. Direct medical spend is impacted but productivity impact is even higher when proper allergy protocol addressed.

We discuss the the La Crosse Method™ Protocol and how it addresses a wide variety of allergies and related conditions:

The protocol is different than traditional allergy therapy because it’s easier to administer and you don’t need to get a shot, rather you place drops under your tongue. Treatment is customized to the allergies of each individuals. Treatment is not just for those with airborne allergies as their protocol is effective for many other allergies and because it’s easy to administer can be given to younger children as a result. Treatment modality is a differentiator compared to traditional injection therapy.

If you’d like to learn how this and other programs can fit into your benefit strategy please feel free to contact me: Michael Andrade (832) 236-8966

“Everybody got to deviate from the norm!” – Rush