Navigating our complex healthcare system can be frustrating, especially when you need specialist care—and it starts before you even get your first appointment. According to a 2025 survey from AMN Healthcare, the average wait times for the most common specialties can be well over a month, if not up to several months or a year for some doctors, specialties, or medical needs: 

·       OB/GYN: 42 days

·       Gastroenterology: 40 days

·       Dermatology: 36.5 days

·       Cardiology: 33 days

And it’s not just about long waits. From vetting and referrals, to records and scheduling, to continuity of care, successfully navigating the healthcare system on your own is often more overwhelming than most people have the time or energy for.

Working to resolve this challenge is what brought Stefanie Roumeliotis, PA-C, to Sollis Health, where she is now the Director of Care Navigation. “I never want my patients to feel like they need a medical degree to navigate our complex healthcare system,” she says. 

We sat down with Stefanie to talk about how Care Navigation makes healthcare faster, easier, and more successful for Sollis members. 

What Is Care Navigation, Really?

At Sollis, the Care Navigation Team is comprised of former social workers, case managers, and RNs whose job is to guide members through every step of their care journey. From coordinating with specialists, to making appointments, to making sure that a patient’s medical records arrive before the patient does, they’re tasked with making all Sollis members feel supported as they navigate and access care with providers from Sollis’s 2,000+ network of specialists.

Here's an example of how it works in practice: a member comes into a Sollis center on a Saturday with debilitating GI pain. After an initial workup, it's clear they need to see a GI specialist. That's when Care Navigation steps in. Stefanie’s team recommends vetted specialists who match the member’s clinical need, schedules the appointment, and sends over their medical records ahead of time. The result: the member walks into that appointment with a doctor who already understands why they're there, leading to a faster diagnosis, faster treatment, and better outcomes.

"It is a very high-touch relationship," Stefanie explains. "Every part of their care journey is handheld to the next step."

More Than Logistics: Care Navigation Is Emotional Support, Too

Care Navigation isn't just about scheduling. It's about relieving a burden that Sollis members didn't even realize was wearing them down.

"Our members don't have to carry that burden of waiting on hold with medical offices for 15 or 20 minutes," Stefanie says.

They also have somewhere to turn with questions about a system that is rarely intuitive for patients. "I've had many patients tell me they didn't know where to go or how to get there when they were given a referral to see a specialist. The fact that we were able to help guide them relieves so much stress,” she says. Some patients are confused after their doctor visit. "What our care navigation team is able to do is hop on that phone call with them, explain what this means, and show them that we are here to support and advocate for them."

It's no wonder that members and staff alike refer to the team as the "secret sauce" of Sollis. Their work behind the scenes to get patients in front of specialists within days, often beating national benchmarks for specialist access, is an indispensable part of the concierge experience.

When Minutes Matter: Care Navigation Supports Clinical Success

Stefanie's clinical background as a certified physician assistant plays an important role in outcomes for her patients. For a recent example, she told us about a time that she helped a member who had come to her local Sollis center after going to the ER for pelvic pain. After a long wait, she was discharged with pain medication and sent home. To the clinical team at Sollis, however, her presentation raised red flags.

"We were concerned about a condition called ovarian torsion, where the viability of the ovary is threatened," Stefanie explains. 

Rather than let her wait, the Care Navigation team used their hospital relationships to connect directly with a trusted gynecologist, flagging that her case was urgent. The GYN team met her at the ER within hours, took her straight to the operating room, and confirmed the torsion diagnosis on the spot.

"That is just a great example of how Care Navigation was able to not only expedite care to an OR, but leverage our relationships with the hospitals we've developed nearby our centers to address clinical concerns that may have gone otherwise missed,” says Stefanie.

Real Stories. Real Impact.

We asked Stefanie for examples of how her team supports different kinds of members. Her answers made clear that while no two cases are identical, the outcome is always driven by the Care Navigation Team’s commitment to getting our members the right care without delay:

• A Severe Fracture Treated on the Spot: After a young boy fractured his arm falling off a motorized scooter, the Sollis clinical team reduced and splinted it on the spot. From there, Care Navigation got the patient to a pediatric orthopedic specialist within 24 hours. The specialist was so impressed with the reduction that surgery wasn't needed—his family even kept their cruise plans a few days later.
• Orthopedic Care During a Travel Emergency: While traveling on a boat in Portugal, a 93-year-old member fractured her hip in a fall. While receiving local care, Sollis Care Navigation found an American orthopedic hip specialist to review her imaging remotely and consult directly with her Portuguese surgeon. After a successful surgery, the team helped bring the patient safely back to the US to begin her rehab. 
• Specialist Care in Days—Not Months: One 43-year-old member's scan revealed a lesion on her pancreas that would require a biopsy, but the first available appointment was four months away. "That is just, as you can imagine, very anxiety-provoking," Stefanie says. Care Navigation got her in with a top GI specialist within days.

An Undervalued Piece of the Healthcare Puzzle

Stefanie believes the broader healthcare industry underestimates just how much good care navigation can change outcomes.

"When we do our job well, here’s what it means downstream: earlier diagnosis, treatment that can start sooner, improved health outcomes, minimized risk of adverse events, even decreased cost," she says. This is why Sollis has invested dedicated staff, medical directors, and partnership teams for the sole purpose of building and maintaining strong relationships with exceptional specialists.

For Stefanie, turning a months-long wait into a next-week appointment never gets old. “As a physician assistant, I do have the ability to change the trajectory of someone’s healthcare. I'm still able to provide clinical care to my patients from afar, from a phone call, because we can change outcomes dramatically."