Matic and Catalyst Health Group Named D CEO Finalist for Outstanding Healthcare Collaboration

D CEO Magazine has named the partnership between Matic and Catalyst Health Group a finalist for Outstanding Healthcare Collaboration in its 2026 Excellence in Healthcare Awards.

The recognition honors a different way of building healthcare technology. Matic and Catalyst, a physician-led Texas network of more than 850 physicians and advanced practice providers, rebuilt the primary care day from the exam room out, working side by side inside live clinics. The early sign that it is working: primary care doctors who planned to retire are staying. Here is what the collaboration looks like from the inside.

What the collaboration delivered

The clearest evidence comes from the Catalyst physicians who use Matic every day.

Dr. Keith Eppich, Catalyst Physician Group primary care physician: “After only a few days of using Matic, I was able to see four additional patients a day. The day before, I had 17 unlocked charts. By lunch the next day, I had seen 13 patients and my charts were locked.”

Dr. Doug Fullington, Catalyst Physician Group primary care physician: “Right out of the box, I got 90 minutes back in my day—I don’t prep charts anymore, I see a reduction in after-hours charting and most of the mundane work has moved off my plate. I spend my time on practicing medicine now, not paperwork, and focusing on the complex case, the hard differential, and the relationship.” His one-word review: “Magic.”

Dr. Phu Truong, Catalyst Physician Group primary care physician: “You press a button and within seconds you have a complete note. The accuracy has been 99.9%, and it’s immediate. I’m making eye contact, not looking at my screen—and I feel more knowledgeable about each patient before I even start.”

Why primary care needs a new approach

Primary care is the first call in American healthcare. It accounts for close to half of all physician office visits, yet the country puts less than 5% of its health spending behind it. Burnout sits at 48.2%, nearly one in three primary care physicians plans to leave practice within three years, and replacing a single physician can cost up to $1 million. Documentation, not patient volume, is the leading driver.

“We partnered with Matic because we believed the burden on our physicians wasn’t a law of nature. It was a design problem,” said Dr. Christopher Crow, CEO of Catalyst Health Group. “Our physicians are going home on time, seeing more patients, and telling us they love medicine again. That isn’t an incremental improvement. That’s a different way to practice.”

Built together, inside live clinics

Matic didn’t build its solution in a lab. Its team collaborated inside Catalyst’s clinics, and the solution was built with physicians, coders, compliance specialists, and revenue cycle staff. Every lesson went back into the product weekly, and issues physicians flagged were often fixed the same day. The partnership began in full-risk, multi-payer primary care, one of healthcare’s most challenging settings to practice.

“Catalyst didn’t just deploy Matic. Their physicians helped shape it,” said Calvin Carter, CEO of Matic. “They let us into their clinics, showed us exactly where care breaks down and where things go wrong. Their experts and ours worked together to solve one of healthcare’s most pressing issues. That’s why this is a collaboration, not a contract.”

Behind Matic is an unusual pairing: Dr. Alex Sheppert, a physician with an MBA and PhD in AI who lived the problem firsthand, and Calvin Carter, founder of Bottle Rocket, who has spent three decades making complex systems feel effortless. One knows what it feels like to deliver care. The other knows how to make the technology disappear.

Independent validation

• D CEO has now recognized Matic twice in one month: Calvin Carter was named Emerging Company Leader of the Year on Sept. 16, and the Matic and Catalyst partnership is a finalist for Outstanding Healthcare Collaboration.
• KLAS Research named Matic an Emerging Company Spotlight in January 2026, with 100% of interviewed customers saying they would buy again.
• Hospitalogy and Texas Medicine each independently profiled the deployment.

Bring Matic to your practice

Matic is available today to independent primary care practices, physician groups, specialists, and ambulatory care organizations, through direct implementation or the athenahealth marketplace..

Want to see how Matic could work in your clinic? Read the full press release or book a discovery call.