Joe Pazona

About Joe Pazona

The U.S. healthcare system is broken for patients, physicians, and hospital…

Experience

1. Chief Executive Officer

   VirtuCare

   May 2020 — Present · Nashville, TN, US

   Having practiced medicine in rural and under served communities for over a decade, I witnessed firsthand the challenges of not having enough specialists to treat patients in rural America. 60% of U.S. counties don\'t have a urologist. Only 300 urologists a year finish residency training in the U.S. 90% of these graduates practice in our around mid to large size metropolitan service areas. It\'s a simple supply and demand problem.In 2020 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, I founded VirtuCare to bridge this lack of access to urologists utilizing telemedicine. Then once the pandemic began, I saw telemedicine gain further traction. Although VirtuCare began as a direct-to-consumer platform, we struggled to scale without the capital required to build brand awareness. In 2021, our team pivoted and developed an innovative collaborative care model with rural healthcare systems. Our model provides a board-certified urologist, licensed in the appropriate state, to train and guide APPs (e.g. nurse practitioners) as they learn to deliver outpatient urological care. We then travel on-site to perform surgical procedures in the clinic and operating room. It has been challenging to gain the attention of healthcare executives, however, we have successfully launched our model thanks to visionary CEOs with 3 rural healthcare systems. Our model delivers the same exceptional patient care at our brick and mortar practice Pazona MD in Nashville, but leverages telemedicine to expand into rural markets. Our model has created a new urology position (tele-urologist) which allows urologists no longer in traditional employment models, to continue utilizing their knowledge and wisdom from the comfort of their home.I\'m honored to lead VirtuCare as we continue to scale into other specialties and regions.

Education

• Northwestern University

  Bachelor of Arts - BA, Psychology

  1995 — 1998

• Northwestern University - The Feinberg School of Medicine

  Doctor of Medicine - MD, Medicine

  1998 — 2002