(And Why Your Doctor's Office Doesn't)
If you've ever sat in a doctor's office at twenty-eight and realized you had no actual doctor, just a string of urgent care visits, an OB-GYN you saw once a year, a therapist you found on Headway, and three patient portals that never talked to each other, you already know the problem. The American healthcare system isn't really designed for women. It's designed around episodes of illness, billed in fifteen-minute increments, with female bodies treated as a specialty rather than a population.
Tia Health is what happens when someone actually asks: what if we built primary care for women instead?
The answer is a model producing outcomes 2 to 4 times better than national benchmarks, with patient engagement and clinician retention numbers that should embarrass the rest of the industry. It's not a wellness brand or concierge medicine. It's a real, in-network primary care clinic, and it's quietly proving that the traditional system isn't broken because women are difficult patients. It's broken because it was never built with us in mind.
Here's why Tia matters, what they actually do, and what their results say about the future of women's healthcare.
What Is Tia Health?
Tia Health is a modern women's primary care clinic founded in 2017 by Carolyn Witte and Felicity Yost, built around a radical premise: women deserve integrated, relationship-based healthcare.
The model combines primary care, gynecology, mental health, and preventive and wellness services under one coordinated care team. Instead of bouncing between disconnected providers who never talk to each other, Tia patients receive care from one aligned team that actually communicates.
Tia operates both in-person clinics and virtual care, with locations across New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Arizona. Expansion to Chicago, Boston, and Atlanta is underway.
The Crisis Tia Is Solving: "Medical Orphans"
Tia uses a term that should stop you cold: medical orphans.
These are women without a primary care provider, without an established OB-GYN, relying on urgent care or point solutions or nothing at all. According to Tia's own data, 70% of members didn't have a primary care physician before joining, 86% had no established OB-GYN relationship, and over 90% weren't engaged with any dominant health system in their area.
These women aren't negligent. They've been systematically excluded from a healthcare model that doesn't work for their lives, schedules, or needs.
The Broader Context
The numbers are damning. Women spend 90% more on healthcare than men their age despite worse outcomes. Average wait time to see an OB-GYN is over 30 days, doubled in the last five years. Women are 44% more likely to report gender discrimination as a serious problem in healthcare. We control 80% of all healthcare spending and remain underdiagnosed and undertreated. One in three women skip medical care due to cost or access barriers.
For women of color, the disparities compound. Black women are 2 to 3 times more likely to die in childbirth than white women. Women are twice as likely to experience mental health disorders.
Tia's patient population reflects this reality: 44% identify as Black, Latinx, Asian, or mixed race. 61% live with chronic conditions. 29% report a history of abuse or sexual trauma. 6% use pronouns other than she/her.
This is the population traditional healthcare misses. Tia built its model for them.
How Tia Works
The Care Team Approach
At Tia, you don't just have "a doctor." You're supported by a multidisciplinary care team that includes physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, clinical support staff, and a care coordinator.
This team approach delivers integrated primary care (annual exams, acute illness, chronic disease management, bloodwork, vaccinations); gynecological services (Pap smears, STI testing, contraception counseling, fertility support, pregnancy and postpartum care, perimenopause and menopause management); mental health support (depression and anxiety screening, medication management, therapy referrals, integrative approaches like acupuncture); preventive and wellness services (skin care consultations, aesthetic treatments, longevity-focused lab panels tailored for women's cardiovascular and cognitive health); and specialist coordination through partnerships with major health systems including CommonSpirit Health (across 21 states), Dignity Health, and Cedars-Sinai.
Two Membership Options
Tia Essential is pay-per-visit with no membership fee. Same clinical care, standard scheduling, works with most major PPO insurance.
Tia Membership adds priority evening and weekend appointments, enhanced between-visit support from your care team, select medication refills without visits, same-day walk-in labs, and greater scheduling flexibility.
Standard copays and deductibles apply to both.
Virtual + In-Person
Tia offers both telehealth and physical clinics. Their spaces are intentionally designed to feel welcoming, not clinical or fluorescent or hostile. That design choice isn't cosmetic. It's psychological safety, and it matters, especially for trauma-informed care.
The Outcomes That Actually Matter
This is where Tia stops being aspirational and becomes undeniable.
Preventive Care Performance
65% of Tia patients completed a comprehensive physical exam vs. 14% nationally, four times the national rate. 94% are up-to-date on cervical cancer screenings vs. 35% nationally. 91% are screened for depression vs. 49% nationally. 45% received HIV screening vs. 15% nationally. 52% of sexually active patients ages 18 to 26 received chlamydia screening vs. 38% nationally.
Chronic Disease Management
72% of patients with diabetes have their condition under control vs. 55% nationally.
Patient Engagement and Trust
Members average 5+ visits per year (most women can barely manage one annual appointment). Net Promoter Score: 85 (the primary care industry average hovers near zero, around -1.2). 97% clinician retention rate year-over-year, when primary care typically sees 7%+ annual turnover.
Patients receiving care through Tia engage in life-saving preventive care at rates 2 to 4x the national average. That's not branding. That's outcomes.
Why This Model Works for Women
It Builds Trust
Nearly one-third of Tia's patients report prior abuse or sexual trauma. Traditional rushed care models, with seven-minute appointments, rotating providers, and fragmented records, are not built for that reality. Tia's longer appointments, consistent providers, and relationship-based care allow women to disclose, engage, and stay in care. This isn't about being nice. It's clinical necessity for effective treatment.
It Treats Women as Whole Humans
Hormones affect mood. Stress affects immunity. Pelvic health affects mental health. Chronic illness intersects with reproductive decisions. Women don't experience health in silos. Tia doesn't treat them that way.
It Catches Women Before They Fall Through the Cracks
About 70% of Tia members didn't have a preventive exam in the 12 months before joining. Many were in their prime reproductive years (65% are ages 25 to 45), relying on urgent care or ignoring symptoms entirely. Tia intercepts women early, before preventable conditions become crises, and engages them in preventive care for often the first time in their lives.
It Doesn't Burn Out Clinicians
While physicians flee primary care in droves, Tia maintains 97% clinician retention. They've built a culture of learning, growth, reasonable flexibility, and collaboration. When providers aren't drowning in administrative burden and impossible patient loads, they can actually practice medicine the way they trained to.
The Health System Partnerships Scaling Access
Tia isn't trying to replace the entire healthcare system. It's partnering with it. Joint ventures with major systems like CommonSpirit (21 states), Dignity Health, and most recently Cedars-Sinai allow Tia to expand geographic reach, connect patients to specialty care when needed, accept in-network insurance more broadly, and tap into established patient populations.
These partnerships recognize something crucial: health systems know there's a massive population of women not getting adequate care, and Tia has proven they can engage these patients effectively.
What Services Can You Get at Tia?
General and preventive care: blood work, acute illness treatment (sinus infections, UTIs, common cold), vaccinations, annual physicals, chronic disease management.
Reproductive health: annual exams, Pap smears, STI testing and treatment, contraception counseling, fertility support, pregnancy care, postpartum support, perimenopause and menopause management.
Mental health: mental health assessments, medication management, therapy referrals (including partnerships with Talkspace), integrative approaches like acupuncture.
Skin and body care: dermatological consultations, aesthetic treatments (injectables, microneedling, chemical peels), acne prescriptions.
Longevity services: comprehensive lab panels tailored for women's long-term health, with a focus on cardiovascular health (heart disease is the number one killer of women) and cognitive health (1 in 5 women are at risk for Alzheimer's).
Current Locations and Expansion
Current markets: New York (Williamsburg, SoHo), Los Angeles (Silver Lake, Studio City, plus additional locations), San Francisco (multiple Bay Area locations), and Phoenix/Scottsdale (Kierland Commons area, expanding to an 11th Arizona location in 2026).
Coming soon: Chicago, Boston, and Atlanta.
Why Good Kitty Loves Tia
Good Kitty was built on a similar premise: that women's health, from UTIs to intimate wellness, has been chronically dismissed, underfunded, and stigmatized. We built UTI Biome Shield because the supplement aisle was a wasteland of cranberry pills that didn't work, and the medical system kept handing out antibiotics for problems that needed prevention strategies.
Tia is doing the same thing on a much larger scale, rebuilding the actual infrastructure of women's primary care.
When Tashina Doolin, MSPAS, PA at Tia Health, says, "We provide affirming primary care for women, including gynecological services, primary care, procedures, and holistic care. UTI Biome Shield is an easy prevention solution for our patients," she's describing the kind of integrated, evidence-based approach that actually moves the needle.
That's the future of women's healthcare. Not a luxury. A baseline.
What Happens When Someone Actually Designs Healthcare for Women
Tia Health represents what happens when someone actually asks, "What if we designed healthcare for women instead of just including them as an afterthought?"
The result is a model that engages medical orphans in preventive care for the first time, produces outcomes 2 to 4x better than national benchmarks, maintains near-perfect clinician retention, and proves that integrated, relationship-based care isn't just nice. It's clinically superior.
Is Tia perfect? No healthcare model is. Is it accessible to everyone who needs it? Not yet, though their expansion plans and health system partnerships are working to change that.
But for tens of thousands of women who finally found a medical home where they feel heard, where their complex health needs are treated as interconnected rather than isolated, and where "comprehensive" actually means comprehensive, Tia is proving that better is possible.
Maybe that's the most revolutionary thing about Tia: not that they invented some radical new medical technology, but that they decided to treat women like whole human beings whose health matters. The fact that this approach is so novel tells you everything you need to know about how far we still have to go.
For more information about Tia Health, locations, and services, visit asktia.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Tia Health accept insurance?
Yes. Tia accepts most major PPO insurance plans. You'll still have copays and deductibles. The Tia Essential option allows pay-per-visit with no membership fee, which works well for women who want to use Tia clinically without committing to the membership tier.
Do I need to be a member to see a Tia provider?
No. Tia Essential is the pay-per-visit option with no membership fee. Tia Membership adds priority scheduling, enhanced between-visit support, select medication refills without visits, same-day walk-in labs, and greater scheduling flexibility, but it's optional.
Can Tia be my primary care doctor?
Yes. Many members use Tia for all their primary care needs, including annual physicals, acute illness, chronic disease management, vaccinations, and bloodwork, alongside the gynecological and mental health services that Tia is best known for.
What if I need a specialist?
Tia can refer you to specialists within their health system partnerships and coordinate that care across providers. Their joint ventures with CommonSpirit Health, Dignity Health, and Cedars-Sinai give patients in-network access to specialty care without the typical fragmentation of moving between disconnected systems.
Is Tia only for reproductive health?
No. Tia provides comprehensive primary care for all aspects of women's health, from diabetes management to mental health to skin care to longevity services. Reproductive health is one component of an integrated practice rather than the whole offering.
Where is Tia located?
Current markets include New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Arizona, with expansion to Chicago, Boston, and Atlanta underway. Tia also offers virtual care across many states, which extends access for patients outside the physical clinic locations.
What kind of women does Tia serve?
Tia's patient population skews toward women who haven't been well-served by traditional primary care. According to Tia, 70% of members didn't have a primary care physician before joining, 86% had no established OB-GYN relationship, and 44% identify as Black, Latinx, Asian, or mixed race. The model is built to serve women who've fallen through the cracks of conventional healthcare, including women with chronic conditions, trauma histories, and complex care needs.
