Every year, I try to reflect on the year as it passes: what I’ve learned, who I’ve been able to work with, and all that has taken place - and goodness, 2022 was a heck of a year. Thank you to all who have been on this journey with Sitka. I’ve peppered some of our media coverage throughout this update. I encourage you to take a read through, and know how much we appreciate the role you play. While of course I am honored to see Sitka get so much attention, it’s knowing we are truly making an impact on so many lives that brings me joy.
Following our Series A raise, we were able to significantly grow the business and saw our customer roster increase by over 250%. We expanded our partnerships with Optum and ChenMed and launched new ones with SCAN, ArchWell Health, Babylon Health, Central Ohio Primary Care, Longevity Health Plan, WellBe Senior Medical, and others, including our first EMR partnership with Elation Health, which will allow us to touch the lives of more patients than ever before.
Last year was also an integral one for me as a founder, full of new opportunities. Having added the title of mom to my resume at the end of 2021, 2022 was chock full of many firsts. While it’s been a steep learning curve, it’s all been possible due to the strength of my talented team and our impressive partners.
At Sitka, we know innovation in healthcare requires deep expertise and partnerships across the health ecosystem including medicine, technology, policy, and product. We’re proud to report that when primary care providers use Sitka, over 85% of the time an in-person referral to a specialist is completely avoided. The industry average is only 45%.
As we enter 2023, we want to celebrate our most recent additions to the board, Karen Schulte and Dr. Lawrence “Rusty” Hofmann. The expertise these two incredible leaders bring will be invaluable to Sitka’s goal of building out and incentivizing the access and quality of care at the specialty level across the nation.
Karen Schulte is a tenured healthcare executive with over 25 years of experience working across regional and national organizations focused on operations and market management. She recently returned to SCAN Health Plan after serving as Chief Operating Officer at CareMore and Aspire Health. Karen also sits on the Health Strategies Task Force for the Metropolitan Los Angeles YMCA and is dedicated to addressing health disparities in order to positively impact community health and well-being.
Dr. Lawrence “Rusty” Hofmann is an actively practicing physician and Professor at Stanford School of Medicine, Chief of Interventional Radiology as well as the Medical Director of Cardiac and Interventional Services, and the Medical Director of Digital Health at Stanford Medicine and is also the Co-Founder of Included Health (formerly Grand Rounds, Inc.). He has devoted his career to providing state-of-the-art care to patients at Johns Hopkins and Stanford where he practiced for 10 and 15 years respectively.
We’re excited to welcome Karen and Rusty to our Board and learn from their collective experience as we continue to further our mission to improve access to specialty care. Undoubtedly we’ve come a long way this past year but know that especially as the healthcare landscape continues to change and evolve, more will need to be done.
We are always interested in learning more about what is on your mind and how we can continue to evolve our partnership. Please reach out anytime and if you find yourself in the Bay Area, let’s get together!
