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Our Story

About Guideway Care

Partnering with hospitals, health systems, payers and provider organizations, Guideway positively impacts patient / member lives and drives financial and operational improvement for our partners. Specially trained non-clinical Care Guides work with patients and caregivers to understand and resolve their barriers to care, resulting in a uniform care experience and optimal outcomes.

Leadership

Craig Parker

Craig Parker

Chief Executive Officer

Craig Parker has a history of building innovative health care companies with business models that improve care delivery and provide better experiences for all involved. Before taking the helm at Guideway Care, Craig served as a senior leader in health care companies working in the patient experience and provider efficiency spaces. In his role as CEO, Craig serves as the company’s chief evangelist, spreading the message that Guideway Care’s services improve life for patients and providers alike.

Craig Parker

Jim Yamshak

Chief Growth Officer

With 30+ years healthcare experience, Jim Yamshak has successfully led organizational growth initiatives and developed high performing sales teams specializing in Diagnostic Imaging, Healthcare IT, Radiology Services and Enterprise Clinical Quality Data Management.  He has a history of rapidly increasing revenues and significantly growing partner bases.  Before joining Guideway Care, he served for 10 years as Chief Business Development Officer at Q-Centrix.  His experience will provide significant value in achieving Guideway’s growth objectives while improving lives for both patients and providers.

Tina Graham

Jelena Virijevic

Chief Operating Officer

As an experienced finance and operations executive, Jelena Virijevic has a proven track record of building and scaling businesses in mission-driven healthcare technology and services. She has spent over 20 years leading high-growth startups and private equity-backed organizations, fostering purpose-driven cultures and high-performing teams. She completed “Building Organizations for the Future” at Harvard University, specializing in organizational design, and is passionate about leadership development and coaching.

Edward E. Partridge, M.D.

Edward E. Partridge, M.D.

Chief Medical Officer

In addition to his role as CMO of Guideway Care, Dr. Edward E. Partridge is Director Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center and Medical Director of the UABHS Cancer Community Network. Throughout his long career in medicine Dr. Partridge has translated academic research into practical real-world applications, particularly in the areas of cancer prevention and the reduction of disparities in health care. Dr. Partridge has served as President of the National Board of the American Cancer Society as well as Chairman of the Commission on Cancer for the American College of Surgeons, and is on the Board of Directors of the Mid-South Division of the American Cancer Society.
Leighton Knapp

Leighton Knapp

Chief Analytics Officer

Leighton joined Guideway as Chief Analytics Officer in 2021 and has vast experience across the back-office functions of healthcare. Leighton has spent the past ten years of her career using data analytics to inform process improvement and scale across the healthcare ecosystem (CCM, population health, revenue cycle).

Origin Story

Our story begins in 2012 at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System Cancer Community Network, which included 2 academic and 10 community cancer centers across Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Funded by a $15 million grant from CMS, Edward E. Partridge, MD, a founding member of Guideway, and a team of researchers tested the thesis that lay navigators in oncology would be highly effective at addressing patients’ underlying social determinants, which negatively impact their health. The study was conducted for 3 years and navigated more than 6,000 patients.

The resulting publication in JAMA Oncology in 2017 illustrated that the program made a significant impact in cost and quality. Savings generated by the lay navigation program were $19 million per year for a total savings of $57 million. The financial results spoke to the decrease in human suffering though avoidable hospitalizations and ER visits. It also demonstrated that focusing on social determinants of health and health equity was the right thing to do.

Guideway Care was founded in 2017 by UAB, Dr. Partridge, Chief Medical Officer, and Craig Parker, Chief Executive Officer, in order to continue the program in oncology, as well as to expand it to value-based care more broadly. Today, Guideway has grown to serve more than 200 client partners and continues its work in health equity.

Guideway care Timeline

2022

Guideway celebrates its 10 year anniversary, employs more than 200 people, and provides care guidance to thousands of patients / members every day.

2021

Guideway expands into Medicare Advantage to improve member satisfaction, increase AWV compliance, and decrease total cost of care.

2019

Guideway acquires Sequence Health to bolster its contact center capabilities and further expand its offerings.

2017

Published results in JAMA show a 3-year savings of $57 million. Guideway Care is born from the UAB Health System after being a 2017 ACCC innovation award winner.

2015

Patient Care Connect™ completes grant program after guiding more than 6,000 oncology patients.

2012

$15 million CMS grant to UAB Oncology Care Guidance – Patient Care Connect™ is initiated in 5 states
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