With a career rooted in making healthcare more personal and human-centered, Dr. Hunter is a perfect match for Sana’s mission: simplifying benefits, humanizing care.

About Dr. Grace Hunter

Dr. Hunter holds dual degrees in medicine and business from Stanford University, a Master of Science in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and she completed her Internal Medicine residency at UCSF’s Primary Care Track. Her career spans both hands-on clinical care and large-scale system innovation—most recently serving as Chief Medical Officer and founding medical director at Miga, a virtual clinic focused on heart and metabolic health.

Dr. Hunter has led population health initiatives in California, spearheaded holistic care models under California’s CalAIM initiative, and continues to care for uninsured and low-income patients as a primary care physician at the Teton Free Clinic in Wyoming.

Why Sana? A Conversation with Dr. Grace Hunter

We sat down with Dr. Hunter to hear why she joined Sana and what excites her about Sana Care— our member-centric, physician-led virtual care service.

Q: What made you want to join Sana?

Dr. Hunter: I joined Sana because I believe we can take much better care of people when the payor and the provider are aligned, and when we proactively guide members through the healthcare system. Too often, patients are left to navigate a fragmented, opaque system alone. But at Sana, we’re linking benefits, virtual primary care, and care navigation in one seamless experience. That means we’re not just saying we care; rather, we’re showing it, across the full spectrum of someone’s health journey. It’s a rare and exciting opportunity to help reshape healthcare around people, not processes.

Q: How is Sana Care different from other virtual care models?

Dr. Hunter: In most healthcare settings, patients are lucky if they get 15 minutes with a doctor once a year, and follow-up is minimal. As a physician, that always felt deeply inadequate. At Sana Care, we’ve reimagined primary care to be continuous, responsive, and team-based.

We offer both synchronous visits (live phone and video appointments) and asynchronous messaging, so patients can reach out on their own schedule and hear back from us, often within the hour. That kind of timely connection makes a huge difference in building trust and managing ongoing care.

Because we’re physician-led, we’ve custom built our tools and workflows around how clinicians actually want to deliver care. We’re not rushed. We can check back in, manage chronic conditions, review labs, and guide patients to trusted in-person partners, all while staying deeply connected to their journey.

We also have a fantastic multidisciplinary team, including care navigators who help patients access high-quality, in-network specialists, schedule appointments, and make sure nothing falls through the cracks. Our patients see us as their home base, and we see every question, message, and referral as a chance to show that we care, not just about outcomes, but about people.

Q: What does offering Sana Care mean for Sana members?

Dr. Hunter: It means our members have real support—not just when they’re sick, but anytime they need guidance, have a question, or want to feel heard. There’s no cost to use Sana Care and no limit to how often you can reach out. You get a dedicated care team that sees you as a person, not just a patient.

We’ve had members send thousands of messages over a few years—sometimes just to double-check something small, like, “Hey, I noticed this rash—should I be worried?” or “You mentioned white rice might spike my glucose. What about brown rice?” It’s truly like having a doctor in the family you can just text when you think of something without feeling like it has to be “big enough” to warrant a full appointment.

At the same time, we’ve also been by our patients’ sides through major life events like helping navigate cancer diagnostics, coordinating treatment plans, or working with specialists to diagnose something as serious as a brain tumor and get them into expert hands quickly for emergency neurosurgery. We’re here for all of it, both the little questions and the life-changing ones.

A Patient Story from Dr. Hunter

When Marcus, a 42-year-old father of two, woke up with a lingering cough and fatigue, he didn’t want to sit in a waiting room or spend half his day navigating urgent care. So he messaged Sana Care before his first meeting of the day.

Within 30 minutes, a Sana Care physician had responded. By lunchtime, Marcus felt reassured about his symptoms and picked up a prescription.

But the story didn’t end there.

After a few days, Marcus had more questions so he sent another message to his provider. He mentioned rising blood pressure and feeling unusually stressed. His provider suggested a full wellness check. Over the next few weeks, Marcus:

• Started blood pressure treatment with remote monitoring
• Began therapy with a trusted, in-network mental health provider
• Got help from his Sana Care medical assistant and care navigator to schedule recommended cancer screenings and coordinate lab work

Three months later, his blood pressure is under control, he’s sleeping better, and for the first time in years, he feels caught up on his health.

“I messaged about a cough—and ended up with a team that really sees the whole me.”

At Sana Care, we meet you where you are and then stay with you every step of the way. Whether it’s an acute concern, a chronic condition, or preventive care, our integrated team is here to make healthcare feel human again.

What This Means for Sana’s Future

Dr. Hunter’s leadership marks an exciting new chapter for Sana. As we continue to expand Sana Care into more states and enhance our virtual and in-person care offerings, her experience will be invaluable in helping us design care that puts people first.

“We’ve accepted broken healthcare for too long. Sana is rewriting that story—one relationship, one member, and one moment of care at a time.” — Dr. Grace Hunter

About Sana Care

Sana Care is a virtual primary care service available to adult members on a Sana health plan, at no extra cost to them. Sana Care includes:

• Unlimited virtual communication and visits with licensed providers
• Prescription management
• Chronic care support
• Guidance on specialist care and in-person visits
• Help from expert care navigators to coordinate next steps
  

Want to learn more? Learn more here.

Welcome, Dr. Hunter!

We’re proud to welcome Dr. Grace Hunter to the Sana team. Her leadership will help us continue to deliver healthcare that’s simpler, more supportive, and more human.

The post Meet Dr. Grace Hunter, Sana’s New Chief Medical Officer appeared first on Sana Benefits.

This is one of the hardest things we’ve ever had to do at Sana. We have had to say a lot of goodbyes, and I mostly feel awful at this moment. The impacted employees are talented, mission-driven people, many of whom are not only colleagues but also friends.

• To anybody reading this who is hiring: You would be lucky to hire these folks. They are excellent. Please reach out to our people team; we are happy to make introductions and serve as references.

• To our customers & partners: Nothing is changing about our health plans or the service we are delivering. We kept the majority of our operations team in place to ensure no interruptions or issues with our service and I expect our product to keep getting better over time.

So, what’s going on?

Since Sana’s founding in 2017, we have been venture-funded. That meant we spent a lot of money on growth and a lot of money on R&D. It was ok we weren’t profitable because we could keep raising venture dollars to fund the business. We prioritized investing in the future over profitability today. I’m grateful for that time, because it allowed us to build the special company and product we have today.

The world has changed, however, and venture funding is harder to come by now. Particularly for companies in the healthcare and insurance worlds (we check both boxes). The hard fact is this new environment rewards profitability today over future investments. We have to reposition ourselves accordingly.

Fortunately, we are in a position where we have the choice to be profitable. The cuts we make today mean we are generating positive cash flow. Immediately. We will continue to invest in growth and R&D, but only to the extent our profits support that investment. 

I spent a lot of time in the last few weeks thinking about what this transition means for our company. Here are a few thoughts:

Back to basics

I am inspired by the leadership Ryan Peterson is showing in his return to the CEO role at Flexport. The strategy is so simple: listen to your customers, and then build the things they need. I realize over the last two years I have been too mired in spreadsheets, too focused on the abstract idea of “scaling”, and what I need to do is rediscover what makes Sana great. I am going to spend my next year listening to customers and doing things that don’t scale. It’s what I should have been doing all along.

Going “all in” on Sana Care

Earlier this year we launched Sana Care, and the success that product has had out of the gates is extraordinary. Putting a virtual concierge doctor in people’s pockets, bundled with a health plan, seemed like a compelling idea a year ago — but the engagement and satisfaction levels surpassed anything I hoped for. NPS has consistently been north of +90 while reducing net claims spend. It feels like the future of healthcare. We are doubling our investment in Sana Care R&D as of this week in spite of our general expense cuts. The future there is as bright as ever.

Sustainable growth

Our ambition remains to build a generational business that transforms healthcare. Which means we need to grow quickly, efficiently, and thoughtfully. Our integrated payvidor model is very different from what you can find elsewhere in the small group market and we have been fortunate to partner with a fast-growing cohort of brokers who are looking for a better way forward for their clients. We are going to continue to invest in building these relationships and will be rolling out initiatives in the coming months to demonstrate that commitment. If you are a broker interested in selling innovative & affordable small group health plans, get in touch. 

The most intense and difficult periods in life are often, in hindsight, the most meaningful. Six years ago Nathan and I started Sana, and those years have not been easy. Today was not easy. I don’t expect the coming years to be easy either. But through all that struggle we are building something of which I’m immeasurably proud. Something that makes a real difference in healthcare.

I am sad today, and admittedly this year has been humbling for me as an entrepreneur.

At the same time, I am incredibly excited about where we are going. The future’s still bright.

-Will

The post November 2023: Sana’s Company Update appeared first on Sana Benefits.

But 2022 was a particularly exciting year for Sana. We grew tremendously and made huge strides in the direction of our mission. Check out some of our 2022 accomplishments and highlights below.

Growth (in every sense of the word!)

Growth was the theme of our year in 2022. We grew our client base in existing markets, expanded into new markets, raised new funds, opened our first primary care health center for members, gained new partners, and grew the Sana team. 

Sana MD

In January, we opened Sana MD, our flagship health center for advanced primary care in Austin, TX. Primary care is extremely important when it comes to managing chronic conditions, detecting diseases early, and instilling healthy behaviors — yet often entails pricey copays and insurance headaches in the U.S. We built Sana MD to change all that. We believe that primary care should be compassionate, comprehensive, and built into your health plan. Sana members on most plans can schedule unlimited appointments at Sana MD for $0. 

Sana MD served over 500 patients in 2022 and has a 5-star rating on Google Reviews.

Series B funding 

In June, we raised $60 million in a Series B funding round, which was co-led by original investors Trust Ventures and Gigafund. It brought our total funding raised to $107 million. 

New markets

Since July, we’ve expanded into four additional states (Alabama, Wisconsin, Virginia, and Indiana), bringing us to a total of ten states in which we can serve employers. These new markets represent a nearly 40% increase in serviceable population and allow us to offer high-quality health insurance to 25% of the country’s small businesses. 

New customers

Our customer base nearly tripled in 2022. About 30% of the new customers that joined Sana in 2022 weren’t offering health insurance previously — which points to the gap in the market that Sana successfully fills as an insurance company geared toward small businesses. 

Partnerships

We launched two new $0 care partnerships in 2022. One is with Carrum Health, a value-based Centers of Excellence platform that allows Sana members to access surgery and care from world-class surgeons at renowned hospitals. The other is with Bloom, which provides customized digital pelvic healthcare to Sana members with vaginal anatomy. When we expand our trusted Sana Care ecosystem, we are adding to an already-long list of high-quality healthcare providers that our members can visit for $0 on most plans.

Our team

The Sana team grew by over 40% in 2022. We closed out the year with over 200 employees, all working together to fix the broken healthcare system in the U.S. 

In May, we were lucky to be able to gather as a team for the first time in person since before the pandemic — we had a blast at our all-company retreat in Austin, where we enjoyed a little work and a lot of play/team bonding activities! 

Awards 

We won four awards in 2022. We are proud to have been recognized as one of the top 50 startups in America, a great place to work, a company that is making major waves in our market sector, and a family-friendly workplace:

• LinkedIn Top 50 Startups of 2022
• Austin Business Journal’s Best Places to Work for 2022
• 2022 Austin Inno Fire Awards Blazer winner
• 2022 Best Place for Working Parents®

5th birthday

We turned five in 2022! In our first five years, we saved our members over $300 million in medical billing, all while earning 95% customer and 97% provider satisfaction scores. 

Health plan improvement

We listen to our members and change our health plan design to improve their healthcare experience whenever possible. In 2022, for instance, we did away with caps on covered visits for Speech Therapy and Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Autism Therapy — both of which are now unlimited. We also made clarifications within plan documents to address our members’ frequently asked questions.

Employer dashboard improvement

We also updated our employer dashboard to make benefits management even easier and more intuitive for small business leaders. Plan administrators now have the ability to manage their own open enrollment process from start to finish — in addition to being able to review and approve enrollment requests within seconds, see how many employees are enrolled in each plan, add new employees with ease, and clearly view the business’ claims activity.  

TL;DR

2022 was a big year for us here at Sana. We are so grateful to our members! We are heading into 2023 excited to continue growing, adapting, and making healthcare understandable, accessible, and affordable for all.

The post Sana’s 2022 in review appeared first on Sana Benefits.

We wanted to know how SMBs are thinking about benefits in 2022 — how is the current economic downturn affecting benefits strategy? Which benefits are most important in a post-pandemic world? Which insurance carriers are most popular among SMBs?

Click here to read the full report, or check out the highlights in the infographic below.

The post 2022 SMB Employer Benefits Survey appeared first on Sana Benefits.