Upfront Healthcare Services

Founded in 2016 by Ben Albert and Carrie Kozlowski, Upfront Healthcare Services provides a patient engagement and access platform designed to optimize the relationship between healthcare providers and their patients. The company's inception was deeply rooted in personal experience; CEO Ben Albert was inspired to improve care coordination after navigating the fragmented healthcare system while caring for his grandfather who had suffered a stroke. This mission was shared by COO Carrie Kozlowski, an experienced healthcare entrepreneur with a clinical background as an occupational therapist. Before launching Upfront, both founders held executive roles at several healthcare IT companies, including Care Team Connect, which Albert founded and was later acquired by The Advisory Board Company.

Upfront's business centers on a B2B model, serving large health systems, medical groups, and urgent care operators. Revenue is generated by providing these enterprises with its technology platform that aims to enhance patient acquisition and retention. The company's financial trajectory has been marked by significant growth, including raising a total of $95.5M over 7 funding rounds and being acquired by Health Catalyst in a deal announced in January 2025. A key milestone was the 2022 acquisition of PatientBond, a leader in healthcare consumer science, which integrated a proprietary psychographic segmentation model into Upfront's platform.

The core offering is the "Care Traffic Control" platform, an omnichannel communication and patient engagement tool. It functions as a single enterprise solution that integrates with clients' existing systems, like Electronic Health Records (EHRs), to deliver personalized and automated outreach without requiring patients to download an app. The platform analyzes clinical, sociodemographic, and patient-reported data to understand patient needs and motivations. Leveraging these insights, it delivers personalized messages and calls-to-action through SMS, email, and digital voice channels to guide patients. Key functionalities include improving visit adherence, closing care gaps, managing referrals, and preparing patients for procedures. By personalizing communication, Upfront aims to reduce appointment no-shows, improve health outcomes, and increase operational efficiency and revenue for its clients. Keywords: patient engagement, care coordination, healthcare analytics, patient access, omnichannel communication, care navigation, healthcare CRM, patient relationship management, psychographic segmentation, patient activation, visit adherence, care gap closure, referral management, healthcare technology, digital health, population health management, patient retention, healthcare marketing, care orchestration, Health Catalyst