Hy-Vee Health Exemplar Care Partners with Cara to Expand Patient Access & Provide Deeper Insights
Partnership aligns two healthcare innovators to enhance access, improve outcomes, and lower the cost of care through an AI-powered platform
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa, Oct. 22, 2025 – Hy-Vee Health Exemplar Care, the Midwest’s leading direct primary care (DPC) provider, today announced a partnership with Cara Medical to expand patient access, deliver better outcomes, and provide deeper insights for employer groups.
With 13 locations across the Midwest, DPC delivers a focused approach to price transparency, affordability, access, and quality, serving both individuals and employers through a flexible membership model.
“Patients today are taking a more active role in their health, and we’re committed to meeting them with greater access, price transparency, and quality care,” said Hy-Vee Health Exemplar Care CEO Jon Van Der Veer, DO, MBA. “Partnering with Cara helps us scale that mission, empowering our providers to focus on what matters most, taking care of patients, while expanding our reach to serve more patients in meaningful ways.”
With Cara, Exemplar Care will have a single platform to drive growth, consistently deliver high-quality clinical outcomes, and delight both patient members and employer clients.
Cara is a single, AI-powered platform that connects every step of the patient journey, from acquisition and scheduling, to intake, engagement, and reporting. By unifying these touchpoints, Hy-Vee Health Exemplar Care will provide patients with a digital-first experience, reduce administrative burden and provider burnout, and create a platform that helps the organization continue to scale across the Midwest efficiently and effectively.
“Exemplar Care is redefining how high-quality care can thrive outside the constraints of traditional insurance. By pairing their clinical and operational excellence with Cara’s AI-powered platform and expertise in agentic workflow automation and patient experience, our partnership will accelerate growth, improve outcomes, and deliver an experience that delights both members and employer partners,” said Cara Medical Co-Founder Seth Staton, MBA.
The partnership will scale with two phases:
- Phase 1 will focus on patient acquisition and experience, with an emphasis on improved patient scheduling, streamlined onboarding, and enhanced patient communications.
- Phase 2 will advance Cara’s agentic AI automation throughout Exemplar’s front desk and clinical workflows, enable employer clients to access real-time metrics on engagement, quality, and cost performance, and support the rollout of new clinical programs for targeted patient segments.
Hy-Vee Health Exemplar Care expects full integration with Cara by the end of the year, paving the way for Phase 2 in early 2026.
To learn more about Hy-Vee Health Exemplar Care, click here.
To learn more about Cara Medical or request a demo, click here.
About Hy-Vee Health Exemplar Care
Exemplar Care is solving modern healthcare challenges. Exemplar Care offers a wide range of medical services including Direct Primary Care and around-the-clock urgent care through a membership model. With clinics in five states and growing, Exemplar Care is focused on building strong patient-provider relationships to restore trust through easier access to care, convenient and personalized visits, and price transparency.
About Cara Medical
Cara Medical is building the future of connected patient care. As patient expectations evolve and healthcare costs rise, Cara helps growing specialty practices differentiate through better access and superior patient experience. Cara’s AI-powered platform unifies every step of the patient journey, from acquisition and scheduling to intake, engagement, and reporting, empowering providers to attract more patients, streamline operations, and scale efficiently. With automation that reduces administrative burden and provider burnout, Cara enables practices to grow with confidence while staying focused on what matters most: caring for patients.