Changing Healthcare One Patient at A Time

Some career moves just make sense. My move to Care Continuity was driven by three things: leadership, mission, and the opportunity to build something meaningful.

Leadership That Matters

Over 20 years ago, I worked with Brad Prugh, now CEO of Care Continuity. Back then, we half-joked (and half-dreamed) about starting a company with our team. We didn’t know what it would be, but we knew it would be wildly successful, have an incredible culture, and make a real impact.

We stayed in touch, supported each other’s career growth, and when we reconnected last fall to discuss the Chief of Staff opportunity, I knew this was it. Brad was incredibly proud of Care Continuity’s success and confident in the company’s strategic growth trajectory. He and I have always worked well together, so I could hardly wait to join his leadership team and help bring that vision to life.

Healthcare with Purpose

I’ve spent my career in Healthcare IT, but often at a distance from direct care. What I love about Care Continuity is that we’re tackling one of the most broken parts of healthcare: Patient Navigation. We bridge the gaps by combining smart technology with real people who improve the patient experience. Healthcare is complex on its own, coordinating care shouldn’t be as difficult as it is.

Scheduling a patient takes an average of five contacts per appointment, and the national average wait time to see a specialist as a new patient is 24 days. That’s crazy, who has time for that? No-shows and unfilled appointments only make access to care worse. Most navigation programs are one-size-fits-all and still leave too much action on the patient.

The Care Continuity platform creates engagement choices for patients, prioritizes those most in need of support, and reduces the time-to-appointment for specialist follow-up care. It is important to note that we are deeply committed to healthcare equity, nothing we do is based on a patient’s ability to pay.

Right now, our programs focus on ED and inpatient cohorts, but we’re already looking ahead to preventive care programs. We are also expanding our services to offer our technology and AI models for clients who already have a team of their own care coordinators, giving them the tools to streamline patient navigation even further.

Meaningful Opportunity

Brad’s pitch to me was simple: "We’ve got a great product, exceptional people, and the bones of strong processes. But I need to shift my focus to sales, and I need someone to build an operating model that will scale as we grow. I think that’s you." He knows me well—that is me.

I believe companies think they can retain their heart as they grow, but most don’t. The words stay, but the connection fades. Bureaucracy creeps in. I’m passionate about making sure that doesn’t happen here.

Years ago, I came across a McKinsey article that stuck with me, it reinforced my belief that real scale doesn’t come from rigid structures but from integrated, accountable teams. That’s exactly what we’re building at Care Continuity.

One Month In

I can say with certainty, this team is exceptional. The passion, talent, and commitment to solving real healthcare challenges is inspiring. We are determined to build an operational model that:

• Keeps our mission at the core and retains the scrappiness that’s fueled 10 years of success
• Builds a client-centric culture that makes Care Continuity an incredible place to work
• Scales in a way that keeps us fast and easy to work with, engaged, and aligned with our clients

I feel incredibly fortunate to be part of something that truly makes a difference in people’s lives. Healthcare is personal, and the work we do has real impact. I don’t take that for granted, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to contribute to something bigger than myself.

Shoutout to my colleague John Hansel for inspiring me to share my story.

Changing healthcare, one patient at a time.

Isabell Schneider - Chief of Staff

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