FMMA Leadership
The Minds Behind the Movement
The FMMA began when two men, frustrated with dysfunctional status quo of healthcare, found each other by accident.
Jay Kempton, president of the Kempton Group, was fed up with the outrageous and opaque billing practices his TPA clients were subjected to – and he felt powerless to change it. Meanwhile, across town, Dr. Keith Smith had been operating an outpatient surgery center than transparently posted prices for every procedure.
Though they first saw each other as enemies, they quickly recognized their common ground, and it wasn’t long before these two combined forces into the coalition we know as the Free Market Medical Association. The FMMA is still led by its co-founders, but today benefits from the keen leadership and strategic thinking of several other important team members.
FMMA Co-Founders
J. “Jay” Wayne Kempton Jr.
Founder
J. Wayne (Jay) Kempton has been the CEO and president of the Kempton Group since 2003, taking over from his father who founded the company in 1969. The Kempton Group Administrators is a nationally recognized, independent, third-party administrator based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
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After becoming disillusioned with the health care industry in 2010, Mr. Kempton started concentrating on becoming a disruptive force for the benefit of his clients. He started questioning the status quo and pushing back on predatory, price gouging hospitals and their accomplices in the “Managed Care” industry. In late 2011, Mr. Kempton met Dr. Keith Smith from Surgery Center of Oklahoma.
A kindred disrupter in health care, Dr. Smith and Mr. Kempton began to partner in early 2012. This led to the development of the Kempton Premiere Provider Program™, a program that allows self-funded employers to purchase healthcare on behalf of their covered employees and dependents at true, market-based, cash prices. This has helped save his clients hundreds of millions of dollars – while increasing access and quality of care. Mr. Kempton co-founded the Free Market Medical Association (FMMA) along with Dr. Smith.
Since then, the FMMA’s reach has become widespread, reaching physicians, policymakers, business owners and legislators. It is a nationally known movement which self-funded health plans are beginning to adopt, generating massive savings for employers and employees alike. Jay’s goal is for the free-market movement to continue to spread, with as many self-insured employers adopting this model as possible. Mr. Kempton believes when Free Market principles are applied to the healthcare industry, quality improves, and prices decrease.
G. Keith Smith, M.D.
Founder
Dr. G. Keith Smith is a board-certified anesthesiologist in private practice since 1990. In 1997, he co-founded The Surgery Center of Oklahoma (SCO), an outpatient surgery center in Oklahoma City, which is owned by more than 50 of the top physicians and surgeons in central Oklahoma.
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Dr. Smith serves as the medical director, CEO and managing partner while maintaining an active anesthesia practice.
In 2009, Dr. Smith launched a website that displayed SCO’s all-inclusive pricing for various surgical procedures. This move garnered international attention. Not only do many uninsured or underinsured American patients take advantage of this cash pricing, but many patients travel to SCO from other countries to receive care. Recently, the focus has expanded to working with self-funded employers to offer high value care to their employees. Increasingly, self-funded health plans are taking advantage of Dr. Smith’s pricing model, resulting in significant savings to their employee health plans.
The free-market focus of SCO, the innovator of this free market model in the U.S., has gained the endorsement of policymakers and legislators. Dr. Smith hopes as many facilities as possible will adopt a transparent pricing model, a move he believes will lower costs for all and improve quality of care.
Dr. Smith is the co-founder of the Free Market Medical Association and has made numerous television appearances to advocate for the movement. The association provides a platform where buyers, both individuals and employers, who are seeking high quality, affordable healthcare can find free market minded sellers, both physicians and facilities.
Our Staff
Matt Ohrt
Executive Director
Over the course of a 25-year HR career, Matt served as an executive leader for companies, including Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Kentucky, Fortune Brands in Illinois, and Badger Mining in Wisconsin, which was awarded the #1 Great Place to Work in America Award by SHRM and Forbes.
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In 2016, as the VP of HR at Merrill Steel, Matt led the company on a five-year journey to transform its health plan, saving the company and employees over $5M.
In 2018 Matt founded the Healthcare Best Practice Group, which has grown to over 20,000 people.
For his innovation and leadership, Matt received the following awards:
- 2019 HR Professional of the Year in 2019 from CW SHRM;
- 2020 Healthcare Transformation Award from the Wisconsin Alliance;
- 2020 National Employer/Purchaser Healthcare Award from the National Alliance, an award previously won by Disney, Boeing, and Walmart;
- 2022 Be the Beacon Award from the FMMA;
In 2022, Matt Ohrt co-founded Self Fund Health—a high-performing Employer Health Plan in Wisconsin that connects buyers of commercial healthcare (employers and employees) with primary and specialty direct care medical practices. Subsequently, Matt helped lead Wisconsin to become a model state for direct-care and since 2023, he has given keynote talks in over 40 cities across the U.S. Self Fund Health is now the fastest-growing employer health plan in the Midwest.
In July 2023, Matt wrote and published the book: “Save Your Company, Don’t Feed the Beast - The Employer Healthcare Success Formula”. Over 6,000 copies have sold in the first two years, since the book was released.
In January 2025, Matt started DFTB Consulting and established a long-term partnership with Health Admins in Texas to co-found the Home - Rise Up Health. RiseUp Health Plan will launch in Texas in 2025 and scale nationally thereafter. Matt also consults with other companies across the U.S.
In January 2025, Matt cofounded a direct care recruiting website called LifeBoat for the White Coat. It helps direct care practices in finding new physicians and it helps physicians find and join independent medical practices.
In April 2025, Matt published a children’s book called: Welcome to Our Home – Fostering as a Family.
In July 2025, Matt and Dr. Shane Purcell published a book about Direct Primary Care, called Good Care Feels Different. Good Care Feels Different - DPC For You and Me
In August 2025, Matt transitioned from the Wisconsin Chapter Leader to the National Executive Director for the Free Market Medical Association - Healthcare Market Reform in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
On a personal note, Matt and his wife Denise have been married 29 years and live in Mosinee, Wisconsin. They serve as Champion Foster Parents for Marathon County. They currently have 5 children, and two grandchildren. They are actively adopting children out of the foster care system. In 2018, they founded NOAH; a nonprofit foster closet that freely collects, stores, and gives supplies, equipment, toys, and clothing to foster parents in Wisconsin.
In 2020, Matt and Denise were selected to receive the Governor’s Foster Parents of the Year award.
Kelly Kempton
Administration & Member Support
Kelly serves as the FMMA’s member support and relationship builder, along with coordinating local chapters. Ms. Kempton is a graduate of Oklahoma State University with a BS in Speech Communication Consultancy.
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Ms. Kempton has experience in project management, networking, communications and community involvement. Ms. Kempton has been extensively involved in the free-market healthcare movement in Oklahoma since 2011.
Darla Smith
Financial Advisor
Darla serves as the Financial Advisor for the Free Market Medical Association.
She is a Certified Public Accountant and graduate of Oklahoma State University. Mrs Smith previously was a Financial Advisor at Devon Energy, where she worked for 35 years. She is a co-founder of Atlas Billing Co., LLC and has been an advocate for the free market healthcare movement for many years.
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What is The FMMA?
This disruptive and powerful force for positive change in the dysfunctional healthcare world began when a third-party administrator med a like-minded anesthesiologist and surgery center owner.
2027 Annual Conference
Join the leaders rebuilding a new health economy.
Join us February 3-5, 2027 at the next FMMA Annual Conference, where forward-thinking physicians, employers, public sector leaders and benefits experts are driving the transformation of healthcare. Together, we’re building the new direct care ecosystem—one designed for transparency, affordability and better outcomes.
Held at the luxurious Omni Oklahoma City, this dynamic event features engaging keynotes, interactive panels, and actionable strategies to educate, inspire and connect healthcare sellers, purchasers and facilitators who are leaders in the direct care movement. Whether you’re a pioneer in direct care or exploring new solutions for your organization, this conference is your opportunity to connect, learn and lead.
Details of the highly anticipated 2027 FMMA Annual Conference are still under wraps, but you can sign up to our newsletter to receive updates the moment they are released!