Episode #25
Dr. Henry Higgins | Emergency physician and healthcare leader advancing addiction recovery care.
Dr. Henry Lewis Higgins is a career emergency physician, healthcare entrepreneur, and executive with more than two decades of clinical and leadership experience. Throughout his career, he has focused on building community-based healthcare models that combine exceptional medical care with greater accessibility, affordability, and meaningful involvement from physicians and healthcare staff. His philosophy of care is rooted in a simple but powerful standard: approach every patient with a profound degree of empathy while treating them with an overwhelming amount of competence. Dr. Higgins is the founder and CEO of Family Hospital Systems and Emergency Rooms and has founded and operated emergency centers, hospitals, and other healthcare organizations throughout Texas and Nebraska. He also founded Cage Free Care, a direct primary care model designed to give individuals and employers more affordable access to primary, emergency, and specialty healthcare. Over the past eight years, much of Dr. Higgins' work has centered on developing RedStone, a recovery program operated through Family Hospital Systems. RedStone begins with the medical stabilization of individuals struggling with substance use and extends well beyond the initial crisis, working alongside community partners to provide meaningful support throughout the first two years of recovery. The program brings together medical professionals, behavioral health providers, and peer recovery specialists to create an integrated care team focused on what each individual needs to build sustainable recovery. This approach reflects Dr. Higgins' broader belief that addressing addiction requires more than getting someone safely through an immediate medical crisis—it requires continued connection, support, and a healthcare system willing to stay involved. In addition to his clinical and executive work, Dr. Higgins has held numerous medical leadership positions and is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the *Journal of Free Standing Emergency Medicine*. He has also served as owner and Chairman of the Board of the American Academy of Urgent Care Medicine. Dr. Higgins received his medical degree from West Virginia University, completed postgraduate training in General Surgery and Neurosurgery at the University of Oklahoma, and completed an Internal Medicine residency at CAMC/WVU in Charleston, West Virginia. Across every aspect of his career, Dr. Higgins has remained focused on improving the way healthcare is delivered through clinical excellence, empathy, accountability, community involvement, and innovative models of care. Outside of his professional work, he is devoted to his wife of 35 years, their four children, and their growing family.
