What You Should Know:
– UCSF Health, and women’s healthcare provider Tia announced a partnership to transform women’s healthcare in the Bay Area — while also demonstrating a model for how a traditional health system and an upstart can work together to improve health outcomes and experiences for 51% of the population.
– The flagship Tia Clinic will provide Bay Area women with a first-of-its-kind medical home designed to make every woman feel seen, heard and cared for.
Comprehensive Women’s Healthcare to 40,000 Bay Area Women
In the Bay Area, more than 40 percent of women have delayed preventive health services during the pandemic, according to a recent survey of 500 women. Tia’s “Whole Woman, Whole Life” model includes virtual and in-person services, fusing primary care, mental health, and gynecological care with wellness services like acupuncture and pelvic floor physical therapy in one integrated experience. The new brick-and-mortar clinic represents the first of 10 sites that Tia plans to open in the Bay Area that will serve 40,000 women.
Additionally, united by a shared vision to end fragmentation in women’s healthcare, Tia and UCSF Health plan to develop a new network of clinically integrated clinics together, forming a cornerstone of a Bay Area women’s healthcare network that increases access to high-quality care with an exceptional experience. By connecting Tia’s retail-style clinics with UCSF Health’s specialty and inpatient facilities, the two aim to fill a critical gap in primary care with connected, whole-person care that integrates physical, mental and reproductive health for women and their families.
Additional benefits of the partnership include:
● Shared clinical leadership between UCSF Health & Tia, with UCSF Health medical directors and high-quality specialists working hand-in-hand with Tia medical directors and providers at all clinical locations;
● Shared clinical protocols and care coordination to ensure consistency between primary and specialty care and seamless baton passes for providers and patients;
● Coordinated measurement of and improvement on critical quality metrics that enable UCSF and Tia to work together to improve patient outcomes and women’s healthcare standards across UCSF and Tia locations;
● Deep technical integration that enables shared clinical notes, medical records, care coordination, and quality data reporting to drive better outcomes and experience for both patients and providers.
With their shared commitment to diversity, inclusion and health equity, Tia and UCSF Health will work to ensure diverse representation in their patient and provider populations. Tia also will continue to integrate robust training for all clinicians and clinical support staff on racial justice in healthcare and culturally competent care that’s tailored to the lived experience of women of color.
“Women deserve comprehensive primary care that centers on our experiences — clinically, psychosocially and experientially. Sadly, a “one-size-fits-most” healthcare system leaves 50% of women without a primary care provider — depriving women of essential, preventive care and forcing them instead to bounce from specialist to specialist searching for answers, which drives up costs and worsens outcomes,” said Carolyn Witte, co-founder and CEO of Tia. “Tia wants to change that by working with UCSF to create a women-centered healthcare system that spans outpatient to inpatient with an anchoring on prevention. The UCSF Health team are not only champions and trailblazers of clinically excellent care, but inclusive and equitable healthcare designed to affirm women’s choices. We are honored to collaborate with a health system whose values are uniquely aligned with our own.”
