With Eye on Rural Health, Ovatient Launches Virtual-First Care Platform

With an eye on supporting programs funded through the Rural Health Transformation Program, Ovatient, a virtual-first healthcare delivery company co-founded by MUSC Health in South Carolina and The MetroHealth System in Ohio, has introduced Compass, a digital health platform built on the Epic EHR.

The nonprofit Ovatient was formed in 2022. In 2025 it launched its virtual-first care offering built on Epic and MyChart at MUSC Health. It is providing on-demand urgent care and virtual-first primary care as well as integrated behavioral health services. At the time of launch, it was expected to deliver care for more than 50,000 MUSC Health patients in the first year alone.

The launch of Ovatient's virtual-first services in South Carolina followed the debut of its MyCare Anywhere, a new digital health experience powered by League, a healthcare consumer experience platform best known for using data and AI to drive health engagement.

Ovatient has previously said that its MyCare Anywhere is EHR-integrated to offer hyper-personalized virtual care, expert health content and self-guided health journeys. It was initially available to patients throughout Northeast Ohio through Ovatient's partnership with the MetroHealth System.

Ovatient notes that with $50 billion in federal funding being deployed across the nation through 2030, every state is facing a critical challenge of how to invest in telehealth and virtual care responsibly.  The company said that Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), health plans, and state Medicaid programs serving rural communities can access Compass by Ovatient, a purpose-built, virtual-first care platform built to leverage the power of Epic.

"Compass was built around a belief that rural patients deserve the same quality of care as anyone else: a real care team, a real medical home, and infrastructure that meets the standards health systems hold themselves to," said Michael Dalton, CEO and founder of Ovatient, in a statement. "We made the investment in Epic because we hold ourselves to that same standard. And we built the integration so that local care teams never have to wonder what happened in a virtual visit. They see it, in their own electronic medical record, in real time.”

Prior to his role at Ovatient, Dalton served as the vice president for the Virtual Care Enterprise at MetroHealth, where he was responsible for designing, coordinating and implementing the health system’s virtual and at-home healthcare services strategy.

Ovatient said that Compass is structured as a tiered platform, providing health organizations with a clear starting point and a path to expansion. Compass Core is the virtual-first patient-centered medical home (PCMH) every partner starts with. Compass Connect extends that foundation into employer and payer markets. Together they form Compass 360 — the complete virtual-first care infrastructure for rural communities.

Every Compass deployment begins with a co-developed care strategy around the partner organization's infrastructure, payer mix, patient population, and market position, the company said. That strategy maps virtual care delivery to the payment models that will exist after 2030: fee-for-service, Medicaid directed payments, value-based arrangements, Accountable Care Organizations, and CMS's ACCESS model.

In January, Ovatient announced several leadership appointments and promotions:
• Amy Lukowski, Psy.D., has been promoted to Vice President of Operations and Integration, where she will serve as Ovatient's operational leader, aligning strategy, execution and cross-functional teams. She previously served as Director of Integrated Behavioral Health and, prior to joining Ovatient, served in senior leadership roles at National Jewish Health and Teladoc.
• Sapna Shah, M.D., has joined Ovatient as Senior Medical Director and Head of Integrated Care, overseeing clinical leadership across virtual urgent care, virtual primary care and integrated behavioral health. Dr. Shah also serves as Vice Chair for Virtual Care with The MetroHealth System and previously served in senior virtual care clinical leadership roles, including Chief Medical Officer at Beam Healthcare, a virtual care company that serves health systems.
• Likhitha Musunuru, M.D., who has been serving as Interim Medical Director, has been named to the role permanently. She first joined Ovatient as a virtual primary care provider, having served previously as the Chair of Family Medicine at RWJ Barnabas Health. 
• Meghan Eberle, Psy.D., has joined Ovatient as the Director of Integrated Behavioral Health with more than two decades of experience in clinical psychology and clinical services. She previously served as VP of Clinical Services at Carelon Behavioral Health, a specialty behavioral health organization that is part of Elevance Health.
• Yasir Tarabichi, M.D., Chief Medical Informatics Officer, has been named Head of Digital, where he'll oversee product strategy, technology development and clinical quality measurement. Dr. Tarabichi was part of Ovatient's founding leadership team. He also serves as Chief Health AI Officer at MetroHealth and is a practicing critical care pulmonologist.
• Jamie Carracher has been promoted to Head of Growth and Brand, reflecting the maturation of Ovatient's brand and go-to-market efforts. He came from AHIP, the national trade association representing health insurance providers, where he served as VP, Public Affairs and Digital Engagement.
• Kortney Orueta has joined Ovatient as the Head of People, Finance, and Business Operations, a newly established role that supports Ovatient's ability to scale and operational readiness. She previously served as Chief of Staff at digital health companies Forta and Bridge, where she served as senior operational leader supporting the CEOs at both companies.