Provider expands Boston presence by adding digital health expert, primary care physician to senior leadership team
San Francisco, Calif. (August 19, 2020) — Cricket Health, a comprehensive kidney care provider with a personalized, evidence-based approach to managing kidney disease, today announced that Andrew Schutzbank, MD has joined the company as Chief Product Officer. As the company continues its recent momentum forming new partnerships with payers and systems, Schutzbank’s decade of experience leading a patient-focused care provider and his training as a primary care physician will help Cricket Health reach more plans, physicians, and patients in Massachusetts and across the nation.
“Cricket Health exemplifies the type of patient-centered, digital and in-person health model that is the future of care delivery, and no one needs this innovation more than kidney patients and providers,” Dr. Schutzbank said. “I’m excited to bring my primary care experiences to Cricket Health to drive scale, reaching more providers and patients across their multidisciplinary care model.”
Schutzbank was a founding physician at Iora Health, where he most recently served as the company’s Senior VP of Development. As a key member of the company’s senior leadership team, Schutzbank will apply the same expertise he leveraged to lead the development of Iora’s Collaborative Care Platform to ensure unity across Cricket Health’s technology-enabled care management and education tools. With Schutzbank emphasizing seamless communication between patients and their multidisciplinary care teams — including primary care providers, nephrologists, nurses, dieticians, and pharmacists — Cricket Health will deliver the best possible patient experience for people living with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD).
“Andrew recognizes Cricket Health’s leadership in providing high-quality care and shares our patient-centered values,” said Cricket Health CEO and co-founder Arvind Rajan. “His expertise comes at a critical time for both industry-wide change and our company’s growth as we reach more and more patients.”
The hiring announcement follows the recent publication of a peer-reviewed study conducted by Cricket Health’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Carmen Peralta, in the National Kidney Foundation’s American Journal of Kidney Diseases. The study shows how electronic decision support tools could be used to improve CKD management in primary care settings.
“We recognize that primary care physicians are on the front lines of delivering care to people living with kidney disease, but too often lack support and resources,” said Peralta. “By offering tools that fit seamlessly within existing workflows, we can meet the goals of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Advancing Kidney Health executive order to improve identification and management of people with earlier stages of kidney disease.”
This announcement also comes on the heels of significant growth for the company, following recent announcements of an expanded collaboration with Cigna to serve California-based members.
Schutzbank is based in Cricket Health’s second headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which the company opened in December 2019. The company is actively seeking to add individuals with innovative ideas and engineering, clinical, operations, legal, or financial experience to its Cambridge team. Learn more about career opportunities here.
