Patrick Frank ‘14: Changing the Patient Care Experience One Conversation at a Time

As it turns out, Forbes doesn’t notify you when you make it to one of its high-profile lists. “I found out that I was in Forbes 30 Under 30 one morning when I started receiving lots of congratulatory messages. And it wasn’t until I heard from my business partner, George Kramb, that I learned we actually made it!” said Patrick Frank ‘14.

Patrick graduated from the University of San Diego School of Business in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. Today, he is the co-founder and COO of PatientPartner, the first platform to empower and educate medical patients by providing personalized one-on-one support from former patients.  

When Forbes 30 under 30 first came out, Patrick thought, ‘what do you have to do to get on that list – I want that.’ “It’s always been in the back of my mind — am I driving enough impact to be worthy of this designation?” 

This desire to create the type of impact that makes a positive contribution to the world has manifested itself throughout Patrick’s career and continues to motivate his actions.  

“There are so many ways you can make money but companies that are rooted with a mission to drive social impact and social change are where you truly create something special. And, for my business partner and I, we are trying to create a community of people who want to give back through their relatable experiences — it feels like it’s our responsibility to be doing this.”

Identifying a gap in the healthcare market

Patrick and his co-founder, George, have been friends since childhood, “He’s like family to me.”

After graduating, they embarked on different career paths — George went into medical supply sales and Patrick went into consumer technology with a finance underlay working in industries ranging from oil and gas to law to real estate and more. As Patrick and George maneuvered through these early career experiences, they always knew they wanted to start a business together. 

While selling medical supplies, George noticed patients were receiving subpar medical implants. It got Patrick thinking ‘why aren’t patients educated and why aren’t they receiving the best medical care?’ Regardless of whether someone receives an average medical device or a top-of-the-line one, a patient’s insurance deductible would cost the same. “A patient could receive the best medical device and not pay a dollar more,” Patrick explained. “If nothing else, we knew this represented a major opportunity in the market.”

“Then, my mother had a life-changing surgical event that was actually caused by a faulty cardiac medical implant. That’s when the issue really hit close to home. George and I felt we had to do something about this,” he continued.

Because San Diego is a hub to several medical device companies, Patrick and George got started on their business idea right here in their own backyard. They began by getting feedback from medical professionals in the area. After talking to hundreds of companies and hundreds of patients and hundreds of surgeons, they found that the device or implant that goes into a person’s body during surgery is just one step in a patient’s medical journey. 

“And so, in classic startup fashion, we started out with one idea, we listened to feedback and then we realized we were onto something much bigger,” said Patrick. 

PatientPartner co-founders: George Kramb and Patrick Frank '14

Nurturing relationships to educate patients

To get information about medical devices from patients themselves, Patrick and George created a patient partner program where they paired a pre-surgical patient with a fully recovered patient who had undergone the same surgery. 

“That’s when we realized that this is what our business is, this is what we’re creating,” said Patrick. “We want to create a world where, if a surgery happening, a patient partner conversation is happening as well.”

With that, Right Device was born. Since launching in 2017, Right Device has raised $2 million from Alethea Capital and just changed its name to PatientPartner. 

PatientPartner offers its services for free to patients who are getting ready to have surgery and is contracted by private practice surgeons, hospitals and healthcare institutions, and medical device companies that want to provide a patient advocacy program.

Patrick and his business partner are frequently asked who pays the individuals that are sharing their past surgical experiences with incoming patients. 

“This is the most beautiful thing about our business, it is a continued flywheel of altruism — people who have gone through a life-changing surgery are motivated by the desire to help someone else navigate the process because they wish they’d had someone to help them,” shares Patrick. 

“They are doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. They are volunteers. And in return, for every conversation they have with an incoming patient, PatientPartner donates to a charity of their choice.”

Getting started at USD

Before becoming an entrepreneur changing the landscape of patient care, Patrick was an undergraduate student at USD. 

“My experience at USD was non-traditional because I had a full-time job in college,” said Patrick. “Since I had to pay for college, I worked a lot during the day and would take classes at night. It was a lot but connections I made with my professors helped me navigate my schedule in a way that allowed me to pursue my career aspirations and be able to pay for my college education and life and earn a diploma all at the same time.”

In fact, the relationships Patrick formed at USD stand out to him as one of the most unique aspects of his college experience.

“USD is boutique in the way that it creates space to make connections that aren’t possible at larger universities. I was able to form much deeper relationships with my professors, career counselors and academic counselor and had almost a one-on-one connection with them,” said Patrick.

Already a dedicated student, hard worker, and active member in student business clubs, Patrick found that USD “helped me hyper-focus on how to achieve the goals necessary to get where I wanted to go in my career path. USD was a transformative experience because it put me in the situation where I had to own everything I was doing.” 

For students still finding their way at USD and in life, Patrick offers a few sage words of advice about finding one’s purpose.

“You can have an idea of what you want to be and the perfect way to get there, but the truth is, things aren’t going to go as planned. The most important thing you can do now is to not allow the things that don’t mean anything to you to distract you from what is most purposeful in your life. Focus on trying to understand your purpose and connect with people who are smarter than you and who have been there before. There’s no presence without purpose.”

The ongoing journey to make a difference

Staying true to his own purpose, Patrick has committed to give back as much as he can to PatientPartner’s stakeholders. 

“Our employees, our patient partners, our investors, everybody involved — they believe in us to do great things, and so it’s our responsibility to make great things happen for them. That’s the mantel of responsibility, that’s what you show up for every day. It’s stewardship,” said Patrick. 

And though Patrick is extremely honored to have been named in Forbes 30 Under 30, he knows that his quest to make a difference in the world isn’t over yet. He is currently starting a foundation to educate and guide struggling income entrepreneurs who want to start a business but may not have the financial means to do so. 

“This is so close to my heart because I don’t come from an exceptional financial background and I’ve been through these different trials and tribulations to learn how to navigate the world of entrepreneurship effectively. And I think a lot of people don’t do the things they want to do or dream of doing because they see all of these roadblocks in front of them,” shared Patrick. 

With many accomplishments under his belt and more to come, it’s safe to say that Patrick is on his way to building a legacy. 

“I’m already thinking about what’s the next goal? What’s the next crazy thing we can go out and accomplish? And, I really feel like I have to continue to live up to the Forbes recognition. I want to fulfill what other people have believed in me to be.” 

— Bridget Breitenberg, Gabrielle Horta