BC Business
Rebalance's multidisciplinary team is working to alleviate the healthcare crisis
The Kickoff: I start the interview with Stefan Fletcher by acknowledging his tremendous wealth of experience and expertise in the world of health care. “Yeah, I know, I’m an old fart,” he responds. Fletcher came to Canada from New Zealand in 1987 with a background in engineering, but ended up pivoting to physiotherapy, including a stint working with the Canadian national rugby team in 2003. When the squad played against the New Zealand All Blacks at the Rugby World Cup, Fletcher felt conflicted about working against his hometown squad. “That was a bit challenging,” he says. The game itself could also probably be described that way: the All Blacks won 68-6.
Action Plan: After growing a chain of physiotherapy clinics (later acquired by Ontario-based health-care giant Lifemark) from five locations to 15, Fletcher became disillusioned with the Canadian health-care industry and how it worked (or didn’t). So it felt serendipitous when he was approached by a group of Victoria orthopaedic surgeons in 2011 who wanted him to join their venture and try to transform health care in the region. “It was the right stage in my career to do something different,” he says. “It was a leadership opportunity, a transformational opportunity to really get my teeth into something I was complaining about. I had no idea what I was getting into.”
Closing Statement: RebalanceMD launched in 2013 with the goal of creating a multidisciplinary care team that unifies physicians and health professionals in a single allied group practice. Put another way, if you go into Rebalance with a knee issue, the company handles the assessment, education and pre- and post-surgery support. “Public care is in crisis,” says Fletcher. “Nobody is really doing what we do. We have better integrations, systems, team approach, layers. Patients have a home they can go to.” Rebalance has some 250,000 patients in its registry and about 175 employees across its two locations, both of which are located in Victoria.
Describe your dream employee in three words:
Passionate, loyal and cheeky.
What would your co-workers say is your greatest strength?
My height. No, I listen. I think I find rational, logical solutions and I don’t back down from the difficult conversations.