We The Patient: Completing the Circle of Trust in Medicine

For generations, the physician–patient relationship was the foundation of medicine. It was built on trust, time, understanding, and personal connection. In that space between a patient and a physician, hope was restored, healing began, and care was guided by wisdom and compassion.

Over time, and especially during COVID, that relationship was strained and, in many cases, broken. Healthcare became increasingly shaped by corporatization, insurance interference, rising costs, and shrinking access. Policies and systems removed the human element from medicine, replacing relationship-based decision-making with rigid rules, metrics, and mandates. Patients felt unheard, rushed, and confused. Physicians felt silenced, constrained, and unable to care for individuals the way they were trained. The very heart of medicine, the physician–patient relationship, was pushed aside as profits and systems took priority over people.

COVID did not create this crisis. —> It exposed it.

Faced with this reality, Dr. Greg Wheeler and Dr. Chaminie Wheeler reached a defining moment. They could continue participating in a system that often benefited from illness or they could build something rooted in integrity, prevention, and genuine human connection. They chose the latter.

They opened CCC Health, a Direct Primary Care practice where patients and physicians once again met as partners, not transactions. By removing third-party barriers, they witnessed something powerful return to care: trust. Relationships deepened. Healing flourished. Patients felt known and supported. Physicians regained the time and autonomy needed to care thoughtfully and compassionately.

As they embraced independent practice, they quickly realized they were not alone. Across Pennsylvania, physicians, independent and employed alike, were wrestling with the same concerns. Over time, organized medicine had shifted physician autonomy away from the bedside and into the hands of corporate and administrative leadership, weakening the physician–patient relationship at its core. In response, a physician movement began to emerge, focused on reclaiming autonomy, restoring professional integrity, and returning medicine to its relational roots.

But it also revealed a deeper truth —>

The physician–patient relationship cannot be fully restored by physicians alone.

Healthcare is a relationship, a circle, and for too long, only one side of that circle had been organized, represented, and supported. To truly restore trust, patients must also be informed, empowered, and engaged as active partners in care.

That is why We The Patient was created.

We The Patient exists to Educate, Empower, Engage, and Encourage individuals to reclaim control of their healthcare and their healthcare dollars. Through the 4E Path to Patient Power, we help patients understand how the healthcare system works, make confident and informed choices, and build trusted relationships with physicians and their communities. Our goal is not to fight a system, but to help build a better one, together.

Our vision is a healthcare system built on the Five Pillars of Hope in Medicine: Access, Care, Time, Transparency, and Trust. In this future, patients are seen when they need care, experience thoughtful and preventive support, have time to be heard, understand their choices and costs, and make decisions guided by trusted relationships. When the doctor–patient relationship leads, healthcare becomes centered on the patient, more effective, and more sustainable for everyone.

This spring, We The Patient plans to officially launch the movement at the Pennsylvania Capitol Steps in Harrisburg, alongside a Senate hearing and public rally. This launch is our goal not as an endpoint, but as a beginning. It represents our intention to bring patients and physicians together to help complete the Circle of Trust in Medicine.

We move forward with humility, knowing that while we can plant seeds through education, advocacy, and relationship-building, only the Lord can bring true healing and allow this work to flourish into reality. With faith, perseverance, and community, we trust that He will guide this effort restoring relationships, rebuilding trust, and shaping a healthcare system that serves people, not systems.

This is We The Patient.

Completing the Circle of Trust in Medicine —> together.

Dowload a PDF of this article. Click Here!