Our Story

About Guideway

Guideway partners with health care organizations to deliver on the promise of health equity through its unique combination of highly trained Care Guides and its patient activation platform. The efficient and effective Service as a Solution lowers operational expense and decreases total cost of care in Value-Based Care environments. For over 10 years Guideway has delivered financial results to our partners by focusing on patient activation.

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

  • 2012

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

  • 2015

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

  • 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.

  • 2019

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

  • 2021

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

  • 2022

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

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.

Tina Graham

Tina Graham

Chief Operating Officer

An experienced health care executive, Tina Graham is well versed in leading operations teams through the constantly shifting landscape of modern medicine. She most recently served as Senior VP of Revenue Services at Greenway Health and brings her impressive track record for creating and maintaining strong client relationships and building exceptional operational systems to bear in her role as Guideway Care’s COO.

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.
Jamie Illing

Jamie Illing

Chief Financial Officer
As a senior leader, Jamie Illing has driven enterprise value in PE and VC backed organizations dedicated to serving the community by building mission oriented teams and scalable operations. She most recently served as CFO at Meazure Learning where she was instrumental in the EdTech organization’s growth initiatives. Functions she has owned as a transformation agent include operational and financial strategy, Human Capital, M&A, corporate governance, organizational reporting and process improvement.
Jamie Illing

Seth Hammock

Chief Technology Officer

Seth Hammock is a technologist at heart and an engineer by trade, developing technological solutions and applying engineering-driven processes throughout the organizations in which he plays a part. Over the past two decades, Seth has led the technological efforts of multiple startups across various industries including healthcare, public safety, and risk management. Most recently, Seth served as Chief Technologist at Awarix, acquired by McKesson Provider Technologies in 2009, and as Chief Technology Officer at Emergency CallWorks, acquired by Motorola Solutions in 2015.

Jamie Illing

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).

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