9 days before we opened, we got denied a contract to serve the exact community we were built to serve. Everything in place. Every box checked. And it didn't matter. This episode is for the operators, clinicians, and executives who are tired of pretending the system rewards integrity. It doesn't. Not automatically. Not without a fight. Christopher Bennett (CEO) and David Purinton (CFO) of Ava Health sit down to unpack what actually happened — the operational reality, the financial exposure, and the decisions we made when the ground disappeared beneath us. No spin. No retrospective wisdom that makes us sound smarter than we were in the moment. Just what it actually looks like when a major payor denies a contract at the worst possible time — and how you lead through it without transferring your fear to your team or abandoning the mission for the mar ...