Lifestyle

How to Travel in Your Car with your Dog

Published

6 years ago

July 3, 2020

Transporting a dog from one place to another can be a stressful experience, especially if you’re travelling over a very long distance. It’s undeniable that certain cars are better suited to canine transportation than others. And if your dog is considered a fully-fledged member of the family, as so many are, then their needs should be accounted for before any purchasing decision.

For those considering a new car, ZenAuto have penned an article which identifies a few important considerations. Most of what they’ve identified can be distilled into a few key categories.

Capacity

The first consideration should be space in the rear of the car. You’ll want enough of it to accommodate a dog in a fixed cage, along with all of the luggage you might want to transport. Moreover, the boot should be low enough to the ground that the dog can easily jump in and out without banging their legs on the lip.

Suspension

Cars which rattle around the moment they encounter the slightest bump are going to be stressful for your passengers – and especially for your dog, who might not be accustomed to sudden unexplained vibrations. For this reason, opting for something with decent suspension is often worthwhile.

How can I adapt an existing car?

Even if you’re travelling in a vehicle you already own, there are a few choice additions you can make to make travel safer for your dog. According to rule 57 of the highway code, dogs travelling in cars should be ‘suitably restrained’, in order that they not be flying loose around the passenger compartment in the event of a collision or sudden stop, and so that they can’t distract the person driving. This might mean installing a fixed cage in the rear of the vehicle.

You might suppose that your dog is well-trained enough that they won’t react poorly to such an event, but since there’s no way of knowing this in advance, it’s best to err on the side of caution.

One thing that your dog is likely to introduce into the boot of your car is mud, and lots of it. Go for a long walk through the countryside, and you may well end up with a dog that’s covered in mud – especially if yours is the sort of dog who loves nothing better than to splash through every mud-puddle that life throws at it. If you’d like to avoid muddy pawprints covering the inside of your nice new boot, then invest in a boot protector. These devices are often custom-made to fit the contours of a specific vehicle. When you get how, you can simply take them out of the car, wash them, and then replace them.

Lifestyle

Kat Marie Alvarez: Where Innovation Meets Regulation

Published

44 mins ago

January 23, 2026

Michelle Langton

Regulation is often thought of as a limitation, yet in healthcare, it also serves as a foundation for building models that endure. For Kat Marie Alvarez, Founder and CEO of KATALYST & CO, the framework of rules established by agencies like CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid) and the OIG ( office of the Inspector General) create opportunities to design systems that are compliant, ethical, and transformative. Her approach demonstrates that regulation can be a platform for innovation when it is interpreted with both technical rigor and vision.

Kat’s 25-year career reflects this philosophy. A former nurse who advanced into executive leadership and strategy, she has led $2.7B+ P&L operations, advised on over $5B in healthcare transactions, and guided value based organizations including Innovacare, Cano Health, WellMed, Centene, and Humana through periods of exponential scaling. Her perspective combines clinical, financial, and regulatory experience, giving her a unique ability to design structures that support integrity and accountability while driving measurable outcomes.

Turning Statutes into Strategy

For Kat, regulation serves as a framework for building smarter and more ethical models. She interprets CMS guidance and OIG rules as levers for innovation, using them to advance integrity and accountability. With the CMS V28 risk adjustment model, Alvarez refined coding practices, strengthened clinical documentation, and structured risk frameworks that reward accuracy and elevate standards of care. In addressing RADV audits, she crafted strategies that protect stakeholders while keeping patient outcomes at the forefront. She aligns compliance, cost, and care in equal measure. Her current work as a contributor to the CMS IDea Challenge, an initiative focused on strengthening the foundation of trust in our system, further echoes her commitment to advancing regulations in ways that unlock innovation while safeguarding the integrity of care.

Her interpretive approach brings discipline and vision to every challenge. She engages stakeholders to redesign workflows that meet regulatory requirements and enhance the patient experience. Each policy becomes a mechanism to strengthen accountability and operational precision, shaping a system that is both compliant and humane.

Innovation Built Within Boundaries

At KATALYST & CO, this interpretive approach is carried into every project. Kat has integrated predictive analytics and AI-driven tools into care models, with safeguards that ensure interventions remain clinician-led and ethically sound. For example, AI flags in chronic disease management are connected to human-led actions that improve patient care. The result is a model that benefits from technology while preserving accountability and clinical integrity.

Staffing and infrastructure provide another example of her philosophy in action. By leveraging offshore BPO operations in Latin America, Asia, and Eastern Europe, KATALYST & CO extends capacity for health plans and providers. These expansions are carefully designed to meet data security, licensure, and jurisdictional requirements, ensuring that global reach is paired with local compliance. It is a system that balances scale with responsibility.

The Art of Influence Through Alignment

Kat often describes her role as translating complexity into clarity. Whether she is working with payers, providers, or investors, she builds consensus by grounding ambitious strategies in the language of statute. Value-based care models, utilization management programs, and clinical frameworks are designed to prove compliant ROI for stakeholders while maintaining patient focus.

Her approach begins with people. In integrations, partnerships, and platform builds, she respects legacy strengths, listens to frontline voices, and creates systems that are not only efficient but also trusted. This ensures that compliance does not feel like restriction, but like a structure that supports innovation and adoption.

Redefining the Future of Compliance and Care

KATALYST & CO is scaling with $10M in initial funding, expanded international operations, and a growing advisory portfolio. Under Kat’s leadership, the firm is showing how regulation can be a foundation for both innovation and durability. She demonstrates that lasting progress in healthcare is achieved by leaders who know how to design systems that are bold, ethical, and deeply human.

By approaching regulation as a guide rather than a limitation, Kat Alvarez is building models that prove compliance and innovation can move forward together. Her formula ensures that the future of healthcare is shaped not only by ambition, but also by trust and responsibility.