Northwest Indiana Business Magazine has been shining a light on Northwest and North Central Indiana's business community for 35 years. To celebrate, we are featuring the entrepreneurs who are making a difference in their communities. In this installment of our Entrepreneurial Q&A, we feature Rachel Yates, who started Premier Care Coordination.
Yates spent almost a decade as a clinical nurse and found that Medicare patients are served best when they have an advocate. That experience led her to found Gary-based Premier Care Coordination, which virtually supports patients and their caregivers.
“Northwest Indiana has a Medicare population that needs more between-visit support than most practices have the staff to provide,” Yates said. “Premier Care Coordination was built to close that gap.”
Her company partners with primary care offices that accept Medicare patients with chronic and serious illnesses. She helps patients find often unused funding introduced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in 2024.
She is working on a Master of Science in nursing in executive nurse leadership at Purdue University Global. She also was inducted into the national honor society Alpha Alpha Alpha, for first-generation college students.
Question: What is your mission statement?
Answer: Premier Care Coordination bridges the gap between diagnosis and a life well managed, delivering nurse-led care coordination by registered nurses so patients navigate complex health systems with confidence, and physicians have a trusted partner in complex care management.
Q: What was the catalyst for the business:
A: Premier Care Coordination was born out of frustration and purpose. As a nurse with ICU-level experience, I had seen firsthand what coordinated care could do for patients and what its absence cost them. Every innovative idea I brought to the systems I worked in met institutional resistance. So I stopped trying to change the system from the inside and became the catalyst. A nurse-led virtually delivered company built on the belief that patients with chronic conditions deserve more than a 15-minute appointment and a referral and that physicians deserve a partner who extends their reach without adding to their burden.
Q: What is your goal for the future?
A: Our goal is to become the most trusted name in nurse-led coordination, nationally, and to make it a standard of care not an afterthought. We specialize in the newer Medicare programs that most practices haven't yet operationalized in addition to traditional chronic care management. We partner with physician practices and healthcare facilities burdened by high readmission rates, because most readmissions are preventable with the right coordination and clinical expertise behind every patient.
Q: What goal have you accomplished so far?
A: In the company's first months, we've built the legal, operational and clinical infrastructure to begin partnering with practices, and I was recently published in Medical Economics on the new Medicare care coordination codes that are central to our work. The article trended on the Medical Economics site after publication, which signaled that the topic resonates well beyond Northwest Indiana and that there's real demand for the kind of education and infrastructure we're building.
Q: Who helped you along the way?
A: My husband Sevante Yates serves as our COO and has been my partner in this from the very beginning. Beyond running our intake and conversion operations, he's the source of many of our most innovative ideas. He sees opportunities I miss and brings a fresh perspective that has shaped this company in ways I'm deeply grateful for. Premier Care Coordination is genuinely a partnership, and he is at the heart of it.
Q: A book, movie, TV show that inspired you?
A : “The Leadership Challenge,” by Barry Posner and James Kouzes
Q: What quote most inspires you?
A: “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
Our Entrepreneurship Q&A spotlights the bold thinkers and doers shaping the future of the Region. We hear from local entrepreneurs who are turning ideas into impact — sharing their insights, challenges and the stories behind their businesses. The column celebrates innovation right here at home. To nominate an entrepreneur, email the editor at news@nwindianabusiness.com.
