Susan Cordts is a nurse by background but she left that role in 1999, disheartened and feeling the industry was all about making more money, even at the expense of patient outcomes. Cordts wanted no part of that.
She went on to be an entrepreneur, helping to found three startups. After the Affordable Care Act passed, Cordts returned to healthcare, leveraging her prior venture experiences to improve the lives of the needy.
As CEO of Catalytic Health Partners, Cordts leads a company that is a concierge house-call provider group with wraparound services focused on delivering care to the highest-risk, highest-cost, highest-need Medicaid and Medicare recipients. The company’s team includes nurse practitioners, behavioral counselors, registered nurses, social workers, care coordinators, medical assistants and peer specialists accessible to members for 24/7 support. “Our culture is built on leading with one’s heart and doing what is right,” the company said.
Cordts was a homeless teenager and therefore knows the struggles of the populations that Catalytic Health Partners serves. She has led Catalytic Health Partners (CHP) from ground zero to more than $5 million annually in 2022, serving more than 4,500 individuals with 42 total employees. More than 69% of all members served have had a decrease in healthcare spending in the time they were managed by CHP, with average savings for each population of more than 35%.
Cordts credits her team for the success of the company since its founding in 2014.
“Leadership requires the leader to look deep inside oneself to have the self-confidence and trust needed to allow your team to perform at these levels without your intervention, to give your team all the credit,” she said. “Your employees will thrive, your organization will be more successful and more sustainable.”
Within five years, Catalytic Health Partners expects to expand to three other states, diversify revenue and services and quadruple the size of the company. “CHP will have laid the groundwork to demonstrate to the nation that meeting social needs, behavioral health needs and physical health needs in an integrated manner is the key to true health,” Cordts’ team said.
Cordts was selected as the 2010 Athena by the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce and in 2015 she was selected for the Advocating Fiercely Athena award for Maricopa County. She was honored in 2019 as the Power of Inspiration and Influence at the national conference of National Women Business Leaders.
She serves on a number of nonprofit boards supporting the homeless and underprivileged, including Finding My Shoes, Brighter Way Dental Institute and Hushabye Nursery.
Cordts is a founding member of The Homing Project, providing microhouses for the homeless as well as job retraining and permanent housing in Pima County.
“Susan is the ultimate definition of a titan,” her team said. “She has been noted by the staff as the best leader and mentor they have ever had.”
