The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: CEO Dennis Pullin Talks Virtua Health, Affordable Healthcare, NYC Nurse Strike + More

Episode Date: February 16, 2026

Today on The Breakfast Club, CEO Dennis Pullin Talks Virtua Health, Affordable Healthcare, NYC Nurse Strike. Listen For More!YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human. Every day I wake up. You're all finished or y'all done? Morning, everybody. It's DJ NV. J.N.V. Jess O'Hallamee. We are the Breakfast Club.

Lawlerosa is here as well. We got a special guest in the building. We have the president and CEO of Virtual Health, Dennis Pullen here. Welcome, brother. Thanks for having me. How you feeling, man? I'm good. Good morning.

Thank you. What is virtual health, my brother? Virtual Health is a academic health system. in South Jersey. So we have about 400 locations taking care of the people of South Jersey and Philadelphia, Delaware. Dope.

I mean taking care of people, is this for people that don't know? Is this older people or is this people that just have, break it down a little bit? We provide health care for the community. So no matter what you need, from birth to hospice,

and everything in between, we take care of all that needs our care. Now, break it down a little bit. I mean, that's needed now more than ever, especially with the way that, you know, they've gutted the health care. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. You know, it is, and particularly in the communities that you guys all represent

and sort of communicate with, it's even more important to me. Y'all, you're black, too. Oh, you? I don't have the community that you have. Very. I don't have the audience that you have. When I say, y'all I'm talking about the people that tune in to listen to you. And so that community is very important to me.

It's important to our organization. I was glad to see. I didn't know that you were a black man in this position. but glad to see it because I know a lot of what you guys focus on is early detection. You know, the thing that a lot of people don't realize of the top five largest health systems in the country, three of them are run by black men. And so we have a special affinity to try and do what's right, particularly in light of everything else that's going on in the country. We're committed to taking care of our community. I was going to ask with everything that's going on, like she kind of mentioned, the health industry,

what should people do, right? So, you know, there's so many different scenarios, right? You hear from people that they go get a surgery in December, right? Now when they go back for post-op in January, their insurance is no longer covered by that hospital, so now they have to find new doctors or not covered at all, or they can't afford it, and they're saying that their surgery or whatever they have is not necessarily, insurance doesn't cover it, so they have to go through the emergency room. So what do you tell those people and those individuals that are going through all the things

that I've been talking about? You ask a great question. You know, I think the number one problem in health care today is health literacy. It's people understanding how to navigate the system, understanding how to take care of their bodies. I mean, you're a car guy. Most people spend more time focusing on the maintenance of their vehicles than they do their own bodies. And so people showing up at the emergency room, which could be, you know, $1,500, $2,000 visit when it's something they may have been able to do through a virtual care or through a primary care at $40 to $60. So it's really about trying to educate people on how to better navigate a very complex system.

How do you ensure you're showing up with purpose every day and not just treating this like a business? First of all, you got to try and better understand the people that we're taking. taking care of and understanding what their needs are and demonstrate that we're going to be there for them when they need us, how they need us, and where they need us. And being consistent, you know, a lot of she was asking about taking care of certain population and black men in particular. You know, there's a lot of distrust in health care and it's warranted. You know, our history has told us that certain individuals don't get treated the same. Yeah, yeah. And so for me, you know, I try and create an environment where we have cultural competencies

where people understand the needs of certain communities and we show up and we do what's right and not always, you know, what's best for the moment. How could I get that information? You talk about, you know, people should understand more, but where can people get that information from? And usually it's, you know, it's bottom of the ninth and they can't look for that information. It's something's happening now and I need to get it fixed. Yeah, because, you know, if you're, you know, if you're, you know, it's bottom of the ninth and they can't look for that information.

Yeah, because, you know, if you know, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's it's it's it's it. look at it, black women have a much higher incidence of death from cancer, particularly breast cancer, not because cancer shows up more in black women, it's because they get diagnosed at such a later stage than the disease have already progressed. So how do you prevent that from happening? You know, there's more information now than ever. But the problem is there's also a lot of misinformation. So finding a reliable source, finding somebody you can trust, you know, not on TikTok, but maybe a community physician, having a relationship with a health system like a Virtua

or many others, that's what's important. Educate yourself. You guys have these like clinics or like these communities, right, where it's just like people don't even got to come in just to be seen. It's just like y'all can come and have a conversation about certain things in certain areas. We do. And what's really important is that.

We have over 400 locations throughout South Jersey, Philadelphia, Delaware. We open our arms to anybody that needs our care and want to come to see us. The problem is not everybody can get to us. And so we have to extend the hand to those that can't. And so educating, reaching out our community programs, you know. We take care of a community in the city of Camden, New Jersey. We also take care of the community of Cherry Hill, New Jersey. They are six miles apart, but yet there is a 17-year difference in life expectancy

because of all of those issues that we call social determinants of health that prevent people from getting to us. You know, transportation, education, you know, stable housing, all of those things impact the person's well-being. Why don't people, that's the one thing that bugs me out about the health care system. Like, they don't ever factor in the socioeconomic issues. Like, you know, they'll just say Camden, New Jersey has the highest rates of this and the highest rates of that. But it's just like, do you know what Camden, New Jersey is? And what's the reason behind that? Behind that.

And that's what we call social determinants of health. Listen, about 80% of your health status is determined by your zip code and not by your genetic. for that very reason that you just talked about. You know, when you don't have, let's keep talking about Camden for a moment, it's considered a food desert. Doesn't have a grocery store. And so food is medicine.

And so if you're not eating well, you're not taking care of yourself, it's going to manifest itself in poor health. You know, not having stable housing, not having education and transportation. All of those things impact the person, mental health and physical health. And so for me and others like me that are committed to what I call creating communities of

wellness, you have to focus on those things. So what do we do? We create it and now have a mobile grocery store. We initially converted a city transit bus into a mobile grocery store. We now have been able to afford a customized to actually mobile grocery stores where people can get healthy, nutritious foods at a subsidized cost in those areas that are considered food desert. So it's kind of like Instacart, but way cheaper.

Exactly. I've never put it that way, but yeah, it's exactly that. But this grocery store shows up at the same place every week at the senior homes, at community centers, at low-income housings, every single week, same time. And what you're saying is so true because even if you look at it on the flip side, like neighborhoods with high socioeconomic status, they usually, like, show like incident, like people go get screenings more for things and people visit the doctor war for things. So it shows that it's location. It is.

And so what we've tried to do when I mentioned extending our hand, not only do we have the mobile grocery store, we have a mobile pediatric unit that goes to these vulnerable areas to provide pediatric care. We have a mobile cancer screening unit that goes out and do. mammographies for women that can't afford or can't get to us. And so you're right. Sometimes you have to meet people where they are and take the care to them. You know, the misnomer so often is people sometimes look at life trauma as character flaws and sort of avoid it, whereas I see it as an opportunity for us to do things differently. I was going to ask, you know, a lot of A lot of times people feel like hospitals in the quote unquote hood are worse than hospitals in different areas.

They feel like doctors in the hood, you'll get better treatment in different areas. What do you say to those? Because some of your hospitals and your care centers are in the hood. As they should be. As they should be. But I will tell you, unfortunately, some of that is true. Really? Sometimes, you know, people show up with their own biases.

And that, when I'm talking about people, some of the staff, we have to educate folks. And so at Virtua, we do unconscious bias training because there's this misnomer oftentimes when some of us show up in emergency rooms that we're either drug seeking or our pain isn't as severe as we make it out to be. And a lot of that is because people have their bias about those individuals that are coming in. And then the other part of that, urban care, it is tough, you know, because of the social economics of it. You know, when you have a community that, unfortunately, may not be able to afford insurance and rely on the government as its payer, people don't realize that the government is the largest payer of health care there is. We always want to talk about if we had a socialized medicine or one pay. Well, right now, the government is the largest payer. And unfortunately, it's through Medicare and Medicaid.

Medicare pays us $0.85 cents on the dollar. Medicaid pays us roughly $0.55 cents on the dollar. And so that's at a loss. And so it's difficult to have an ongoing, you are all business people, to have an ongoing business enterprise when your biggest payer pay you less than what your cost is. That's why I asked you the question earlier

about how do you ensure you showing up with purpose every day and not treat it, you know, just like a business because you do have some of these hospitals that are being these, you know, pouring distant franchisaries. And when the people come in there, they treat them, you know, different based on if they got insurance or not. Like they kind of already, they're already kind of assuming they don't have insurance. Absolutely. And so what do I do differently? First of all, I have to make sure that my organization understands the need of that community. And I know it firsthand because I grew up in the community like that on the west side of the,

San Antonio. I make sure that my board reflects the community that we serve. You know, I have a 15 member board. Five of them are African American. You know, half of them are women. And so we make sure that we bring that to the table, that understanding, that social consciousness. And so the care that we provide, we take care of the haves and we take care of the have-nots. And nobody gets treated in it. You got to be with people who care, man. That's one thing I would say that I dislike about certain hospitals. When you go into the hospital... He had a bad frothy screen at once, so he...

Oh, my God. He was with me, so he held my hand on the job. He holds your hand. I'm glad y'all shared that experience, and I didn't have to be there. So, um... You're all in the parts of it. One thing that bothers me.

I feel like when you go to the hospital, they care more about insurance than the actual problem. You know what I mean? Because they'd be like, yo, put her in the chair. All right, I need you to sign this than he ever. And no disrespect.

my mind is not on these people. My mind is on that person that's crying, that's, that's hurt, that's sick, that's that. And that's the one thing that always bothers me. It's like, it's so quick to throw that paper in your face than to worry about, and I know we all got a job and I know it's a business, but if my kid is crying or my wife is this or somebody's that, like I feel like it's not personal enough. You know, I will agree and disagree with you.

because I think in general people that work in health care actually care. They're there because most of us have a higher purpose. It's not just about the money. It's not just about the title. You absolutely want to take care of folks. But there's a business side of it as well. And, you know, we have at virtual, I have about 16,000 employees that I have to be able to make sure we have the resources

to pay for their salaries to provide the care that you want to receive. And so should you experience that when you walk in to be made to feel like a number or made to feel like if you don't have insurance, then you sit over here and we'll get to you when we get to you? No, that should not happen. Does it happen? It does, unfortunately. And we have to take responsibility for that,

which is why you need more people that actually give a damn, you know, about all the people that come in. At Virtua, and one of the things that I sort of pride myself on as being a champion of humanity. You know, it doesn't matter what you look like. It doesn't matter your ability to pay or not. What matters is we need to provide you to care when you need it.

What is your thoughts on the nurses strike in the New York City? What's your thoughts on that? That's a loaded question. It's all over the news. You know, it is all over the news. And listen, and I have two. nursing unions in our organization. I believe the best way to mitigate some of the problems is having great relationships with the people that provide the care and those of us that are empowered or in

positions to manage the business. And everybody needs to be paid a fair wage. Everybody wants to be treated like they matter. Everybody wants to feel like they have a voice. And so I know those nurses feel like they need to be represented such that they could have a voice, but also know the management side want to make sure that we are good stewards of our financial resources, and we have what we need, what we need to have an ongoing enterprise. And so I can't answer in favor or against. I believe both sides are doing what they believe is the right thing, and that's a situation that they have to resolve. I'm blessed. we don't have that problem right now because I don't think anybody benefits.

Absolutely. And I was going to ask, too, with the shooting that happened a year ago, do you move differently? Of course, talking about the shooting of the CEO of the health company? I do. You know, unfortunately, a lot of people don't distinguish the difference between an insurance executive CEO or a health care provider side CEO and it's unfortunate.

They may be cutting their nose off the spike in their faces. Yeah. Absolutely. And, you know, we take care of people when they're at their worst. People show up, you know, when they're at the worst and we try and do our best. So unfortunately, oftentimes when we travel and move in and about, we have to have a security detail with us as well.

It's scary. What are our precautions would, are y'all taking it? Virtua to ensure the protection of people's, like, patient data and stuff, because you know, we got a lot of data breaches, cyber threats, and things like that. So how can you ensure that people? That's a great question. And it goes beyond just the data. One of our biggest problems is when healthcare workers are subjected to the most violence of any other working class. The violence against health care workers coming from patients, coming from family members. And so we have to go above and beyond, one, to protect them.

And so, you know, these evolved systems that you walk through and you go into a stadium that screens for, we have that at all of our hospitals. That feels crazy, too. By the way, it does feel crazy, but I understand. I think every building, especially in America, should have that. You know, and I agree with you because you have to be able to protect. So that, on the one hand, is an area we have to focus on. And then the privacy aspect of it, particularly as we're looking at a digital age,

we go to great lengths also to protect your health information, such that it is not out there on the dark web or anything else. Well, how can somebody find out more information about what you guys are doing on the other side of Jersey and in Philly, just in case they need the help? Just in case they need some guidance, some advice, what would you guide them to? You know, first of all, I'd guide them to our website, virtua.org. You know, there are not just virtual. There are a lot of reputable organizations out there

that actually want to do the right thing and want to treat people like they matter. Problem is they don't all understand what the needs of all of our communities are. You know, you guys keep talking about, you know, those that have, you know, they're privileged that comes with that. And what it requires are individuals, I'm so proud to be here and so happy that you guys are using this platform as a forum to talk about these things.

We have to get other people to care. That's right. We got to get people to care about people that don't look like them. We got to get people to care. I don't really care about your ability to pay or not. I care about are we treating you as a unique individual? Are we giving you the care that you need? You care about that first.

You do care about to pay leader, though. Oh, you know. Oh, yeah, yeah. Because I've got to pay doctors, nurses. You know, that it comes with the territory. A lot of people have difficulties talking about health care as a business. I just wish it wasn't. I wish it was just a public service.

But then how would you pay for it? Other countries do that. If we could be for it. They could have health care in other countries. So let's talk about. And by the way, we're supposed to be paying for it through our taxes. Taxes. So you go to a country like Canada, you know, which has socialized medicine.

But the tax rate of Canadians exceed 50%. And just because it is a all-peer system doesn't mean that everybody get the care that they need. If you need an MRI because you may need a joint replacement, one, you may be lucky to get it. Secondly, it may take you six months or a year before you even can get it. And so even people in those countries, they have private insurance as well. And so... But even in America, we can afford to have...

America can afford to have affordable health care. Like, it don't have to be a... I'm about to say an arm and a leg, but nowadays, you're giving up everything. You get up everything. You know what? And I only represent a small part of that ecosystem, but you're right.

It is way too expensive. And I say that for somebody that runs a health care organization, but it is just not the provider. You've got to look at big pharma, you know, the cost of medication and the cost of drugs is enormous. One of my home girls was complaining me the other day. I was going to show you the text. She was telling me about how her daughter went to the GYN and spent like $196 for just like a visit. And had insurance.

Yeah. And then with the way that things are now, like, you know, they're capping you had a certain amount of money. Like my grandma switched from Medicaid to Medicare. But she has to pay certain times when she goes and sees the doctor, right? she don't like I make her go for checkups she won't go because she's like I'm not spending $300 you just go sit and talk to her tell her to call me and I'm like no she needs to see

you but she does because and that's one of the problems we run into learn is when when people don't go when they wind up showing up the severity of their illness has progressed and it becomes even more expensive to take care of than it would if they

had gone in for this routine visit but when you can't afford even the routine visits you know I'm saying it discourages you from going until you really can't sit home no more. And you know what? You're right because one of the flaws in our system is that the reimbursement for preventive type care is not there. And so people choose not to pay for it. You know, the areas that we have, I think some of the biggest challenges are preventive care,

mental health and things of that nature. Yeah, which is difficult to get paid for. Yeah, actually she said, my daughter is at the doctor for a visit Texas Children's Hospital right now, and the bill is $700 with insurance. Damn, you know. The daughter texted the mom to say, does this look right? Right.

Like, that's crazy. Wow, wow, wow. Well, thank you for joining us to stopping in today, man. We really appreciate you. Dennis Pulling, ladies and gentlemen, and like he said, you can go to avertua.org. That's v-I-R-T-U-A-D-org. and Charlemagne apologizes for using a lot of your doctors

for colonoscopy. He goes every couple of months. What's wrong with going to get checked? You know, I'd rather him come in when he needs to as opposed to when he apt to. So I appreciate you guys having me on, giving me an opportunity to encourage people to invest in themselves and taking care of themselves.

And keep doing a good work, bro. That's right, keep doing a good work, bro. Thank you, guys. It's Dennis Pulling. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. This is an I wake up. Wake your ass up.

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