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Summary: The current standard of care is largely ineffective for chronic gut conditions. We believe this is due to a structural limitation in how insurance-covered healthcare is provided. The necessary structure, testing and training required for better gut care does not fit into the current design of insurance-covered gut healthcare. However, there’s hope. Clarity was built from a deep clinical, academic and personal understanding of chronic gut conditions. And Clarity was built specifically to address the 3 areas where conventional medicine falls short in regards to chronic gut conditions – structure, tools & training. Better gut care is here, and we can’t wait for you to experience it.
It's personal
For about 4 years, I was sick, and the system that was supposed to help me couldn't tell me why.
It started as the kind of thing you push through. Bloating, stomach pain, irregular bathroom habits. My list of "safe" foods kept shrinking. I had active Amazon subscriptions for Tums and Pepto-Bismol. Over the course of 4 years I saw 5 specialists and ran every test they ordered, racking up over $50,000 in medical bills. What I mostly got back was that there was no clear cause of my gut issues, and that I should learn to "just live with it".
As bad as my symptoms were, the thing that finally pushed me over the edge wasn't actually the gut issues. It was the brain fog and fatigue. I was canceling plans and skipping work because I couldn't think straight or stay upright, and no amount of hustle got me through it. I didn't see how I was going to keep a full-time job if this continued to get worse.
Fortunately, people in my life pointed me to a functional medicine clinician who looked at the whole picture. It turned out I had IBS, with an underlying case of SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) and a LOT of inflammation no one had thought to look for. The work that followed included extensive conversations about my health history, such as Giardia and multiple rounds of antibiotics, plus gut microbiome and stool chemistry testing, all combined into my own personalized protocol. There's no doubt in my mind that getting to the root cause of my own gut issues changed the trajectory of my health. It changed the trajectory of my life. And seeing how much better my life could be has been incredibly motivating to bring Clarity into the world.
As I became obsessed with gut health, I was shocked to learn how normal my symptoms were. Roughly 4 in 10 people globally are living with a functional gut disorder right now¹. Most of them are doing some version of what I did previously: cycling through care, managing symptoms, quietly accepting that this is just their new "normal". I wish I could tell each of those people that it doesn't have to be your new "normal". To understand why 40% of people globally are living with gut disorders, we need to understand how conventional, insurance-covered medicine addresses those issues. Researching this topic for over a year, here's what I've learned.
Conventional medicine was not built for chronic conditions
Conventional medicine is extraordinary at acute, episodic problems. A broken arm, an infection, a surgery, a heart attack. However, the biggest health challenge of this century is NOT acute, episodic health concerns. It is the rapid rise of chronic, ongoing health conditions. 76% of U.S. adults have a diagnosed chronic condition today², up from under 50% in the year 2000³. 30.5% of working adults have a gut-related diagnosis on their medical record⁴ and 61% of individuals have had a gut-related symptom in the past week!⁵ This is clearly a problem. And here’s the interesting part – the structure, tools and training used for acute healthcare issues are often ineffective for chronic conditions.
Start with structure. Patient visits average 15 minutes⁶, are symptom-oriented, and prescription-focused. The underlying root-cause of the patient’s symptoms is never discussed. It’s like having a leak in your house and being recommended an Amazon subscription for towels to repeatedly soak up the leak.
Next, let’s look at tools & training. Gut microbiome, stool chemistry, and detailed blood panels provide invaluable data for patients with chronic gut conditions. These tests are extremely hard or impossible to get through insurance covered care. Additionally, very few providers within conventional medicine are trained to interpret these tests. If you've taken a Function Health blood test you've probably experienced how hard it is to find a provider who will incorporate the results into your healthcare.
This structural limitation of conventional healthcare is why gut health patients struggle so much. On average, it takes 4 years to get an IBS diagnosis – just the diagnosis! And most people see several providers before they get there⁷. And not just time, it's expensive. Take IBS-D, one of the more common and lower-cost gut conditions: annual healthcare spending for an IBS-D patient averages $13,000 a year⁸. For more complex conditions the number is multiples higher. The worst part? The majority of that spending goes towards managing the condition indefinitely, rather than working towards longer term results. It’s really frustrating. So we got to work building.
Clarity Health was built for chronic gut conditions
After countless hours of conversations and research, in addition to my own personal health journey, it became clear that we needed to build this new model of gut care. To build Clarity Health, we had to solve those 3 main areas where conventional medicine fell short for chronic conditions – structure, tools and training.
Let's start with structure (again). To identify the underlying, root cause of a patient's symptoms, you need to triangulate data across their current symptoms, their health history, and their lab tests. To get an accurate picture of their current symptoms and health history, we determined we needed both a written intake as well as a 60-minute clinician-led intake. That's 4x the standard 15-minute doctor visit. And we saw the value immediately. Our early patients shared invaluable information about their health history, previous infections, medication history, the things that don't seem important, but can provide crucial clues as we work to uncover the root cause of their symptoms.
And now tools & training. We combine this deep patient understanding with advanced lab testing, such as the gut microbiome and stool chemistry test we mentioned above, to give us the full patient picture that we need. And most importantly, all of this data is fed into Clair (Clarity's internal AI tool), a purpose built functional medicine machine in service of our clinicians. Our AI model works in concert with our clinicians to uncover the root cause of each patient's symptoms, and then to create a personalized protocol to address that root cause. Importantly, this also requires a very unique network of clinicians. Providers who have received specific training in functional medicine and gut health, training above and beyond standard medical school. This is why Clarity's expert clinician network is so meticulously selected. To ensure we have both the tools and the training for this new model of chronic gut care.
You're probably thinking "sounds great, but what exactly do you do?". Let's get tactical. Clarity starts with a 6-week Gut Assessment. Written intake, 60-minute clinician-led intake, gut microbiome & stool chemistry test. Clair + your clinician distill all this down into a working hypothesis of your underlying root cause, and a personalized care plan to directly address that root cause. We walk you through this at the end of the 6 week assessment process.
Then what? For patients dealing with active gut issues, the next step is our Reversal Plan. A deliberate care journey structured over 6 months, designed to put your care plan into action. Unlimited chat with your clinician between sessions, weekly symptom checks to quantify and track progress, and clinician visits every 6 weeks to reassess and redesign your care plan. Every 6-week period is a "Cycle of Care". Each Cycle of Care builds on the previous. Your care gets increasingly personalized with each Cycle of Care, as Clair (our AI model) and your clinician get to know you deeper. And Clarity adapts as your needs evolve. When you're ready, you'll graduate from our Reversal Plan to our Vitality Plan – designed to solidify your gains and keep you on a path to improving health.
Some closing thoughts
If you've made it this far, firstly, thank you. For investing your time and energy into understanding what we're building here at Clarity Health and why we're so passionate about better gut health. As a society, we often fall into patterns of simply accepting the status quo. It can be really hard to break that cycle, and to mentally unlock yourself from that trap. I hope this article has planted a seed in you, as you think about your own health.
And if you’re someone who is currently dealing with gut issues, I hope you consider Clarity Health. Take our 5-minute Gut Check Quiz. Or if that feels like too much, simply email me "hey, I'm interested".
But most importantly, I hope this article is your catalyst to act. I have been blessed to have people in my life to encourage me on my own health journey. I want to give you that same encouragement to challenge the status quo, and to seek better care. Whether you become a Clarity Health member or not, I hope you take that next step. And know that we will be cheering you on.
To better gut health,
Mark
Founder, Clarity Health
Citations
- Sperber AD, Bangdiwala SI, Drossman DA, et al. "Worldwide Prevalence and Burden of Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders, Results of Rome Foundation Global Study." Gastroenterology. 2021 Jan;160(1):99-114. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2020.04.014.
- Watson KB, Wiltz JL, Nhim K, Kaufmann RB, Thomas CW, Greenlund KJ. "Trends in Multiple Chronic Conditions Among US Adults, By Life Stage, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2013–2023." Preventing Chronic Disease. 2025;22:240539. doi: 10.5888/pcd22.240539.
- Anderson G. Chronic Conditions: Making the Case for Ongoing Care. Partnership for Solutions, Johns Hopkins University, September 2004.
- Unalp-Arida A, Ruhl CE. "The Burden of Digestive Diseases in the United States Population." medRxiv preprint (PMC10473801), 2023.
- Almario CV, Ballal ML, Chey WD, Nordstrom C, Khanna D, Spiegel BMR. "Burden of Gastrointestinal Symptoms in the United States: Results of a Nationally Representative Survey of Over 71,000 Americans." American Journal of Gastroenterology. 2018 Nov;113(11):1701-1710. doi: 10.1038/s41395-018-0256-8. PMID: 30323268.
- Tai-Seale M, McGuire TG, Zhang W. "Time Allocation in Primary Care Office Visits." Health Services Research. 2007 Oct;42(5):1871-1894. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6773.2006.00689.x.
- Hidayat AA, Waskito LA, Sugihartono T, et al. "Diagnostic Strategy of Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Low- and Middle-Income Country Perspective." Intestinal Research. 2024;22(3):286-296. doi: 10.5217/ir.2023.00199.
- Buono JL, Mathur K, Averitt AJ, Andrae DA. "Economic Burden of Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Diarrhea: Retrospective Analysis of a U.S. Commercially Insured Population." Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy. 2017 Apr;23(4):453-460. doi: 10.18553/jmcp.2016.16138. PMID: 28345443.
