At Hopscotch Primary Care, we also highly value the spirit of collaboration.
We’ve developed our comprehensive primary care model around offering seniors access to a team of healthcare professionals—all of whom are dedicated to offering you the very best in primary care services.
Our providers, nurse case managers, community health workers, medical assistants and clinic team work in harmony with one another, ensuring each and every one of our patients gets the care they need and deserve.
In the spirit of collaboration, we wanted to connect with two of our providers at one time! Because our doctors and their teams are so collaborative, we thought we’d give you a peek of this in action.
Dr. Robyn Latessa and Dr. Amy Santin are the heart of our Yorkshire location in Asheville.
We were so excited they could find time to sit down with us together to answer our burning questions.
Let’s dive right into what they had to share!
7 Questions with Dr. Robyn Latessa and Dr. Amy Santin of Hopscotch Primary Care Asheville’s Newest Yorkshire Location
Hopscotch:
Thanks for taking the time to connect with us! I’m sure it took a bit of scheduling for you both to be here at the same time. I’d like to start by asking you both—What’s the best thing about your career in medicine? If you could go back in time, would you still opt for this career path?
Dr. Latessa:
I would say that the best thing about my career in medicine is the connections and relationships I form with my patients. Prior to coming to Hopscotch, I was leading a branch campus of a medical school, so really leading the next generation of physicians.
I’m really excited now, in this part of my career, tofocus more on seeing patients, which is what I went into medicine to do. I think it was a good career for me and I’m excited to be ending my career solely seeing patients and having those connections. And I would absolutely choose this career path again.
Dr. Santin:
I think, similarly, the most rewarding aspect of this career has been the relationships that I develop with patients over time. Particularly as a family doctor, being able to see people over time and care for whole families has always been important to me. Even though that’s not really what we do at Hopscotch, I still get to care for people over time and through their life journey.
Another piece for me has been focusing at the community level. At Hopscotch, we’re fulfilling a need in the community for taking care of a certain population of patients. Being able to contribute at both the individual and personal level as well as at the community level has been very rewarding. And I would also do it again.
Hopscotch:
How does living in Western North Carolina help you maintain a healthy lifestyle?
Dr. Latessa:
For me, I’ve lived in Asheville since 1999, 25 years. I really enjoy outdoor activities. I love to hike and there’s lots of great hiking here. I do yoga and I meditate. I’m also vegetarian and there are lots of options for that here in Asheville.
I find, in general, that Asheville tends to be a health-oriented community, so I’m inspired by friends and others that I share some of these activities with. I’m from Massachusetts and I was just in Vermont the last two weeks cross-country skiing, so I got a fix of some good snow.
Dr. Santin:
I have a lot of the same answers as Robyn for this question. This is a place that’s so conducive to health. I’ve lived in cities before and there’s something really precious about being in a smaller community. I don’t sit in traffic for an hour a day to get to my job, and that’s hugely important to me. There’s also just a spirit here of folks who are health conscious, people who are connected to nature, art, and music. These things can be harder to find in other places and, here, they’re right on our doorstep.
For me, proximity to nature is so important when it comes to maintaining my health. I love being out physically in the mountains, in the woods, and on the water. Exercising in the mountains is a big part of my life and I can’t get that on the treadmill at the gym. So that’s something that drew me here and has kept me here.
Hopscotch:
How do you collaborate and support one another as doctors? How does the Hopscotch team support you?
Dr. Santin:
In terms of collaborating, Robyn and I have worked together for many years. We previously worked in the same organization for about 15 years. We know each other well and have very similar styles. We’re both communicators. So, it’s really a pleasure to now be working in a close partnership with someone who shares those same values. Collaboration comes very naturally to us. We’re really excited to be able to build a team of like-minded people. And we’re also both accustomed to working on a team.
One of the things that drew me to working with Hopscotch was their heavy emphasis on team-based care and the awareness that it takes more than just a physician to take care of a patient. It takes medical assistants, front desk staff, community health workers, and nurses to achieve the best outcomes. So that’s something that really speaks to me.
Dr. Latessa:
We’ve been in this Hopscotch practice since mid-January 2024. It has been really exciting—to be a part of establishing our team. We all started new together, which was fun and exciting. Amy and I enjoyed building that together.
Building strong relationships with our team members is deeply important to both of us. I believe these connections will drive the best outcomes in our mission to provide exceptional patient care.
Hopscotch:
What healthcare challenges are you most proud to help your patients navigate?
Dr. Santin:
I feel really proud and excited when I’ve helped someone make a change in their life that they want to make. That could be any kind of behavior change—from weight loss to quitting smoking to getting treatment for an addiction. I can see how powerful that can be for someone in changing their life and improving their health. And it’s often hard for people to do that on their own, so when I can help a patient do that it’s incredibly rewarding.
Dr. Latessa:
I’m really proud of creating a safe, nurturing environment for patients to be able to invest in their health. I hear often that patients feel the medical system is broken and that so many doctors are burnt out and not listening.
I feel proud to be in an organization like Hopscotch that really cares about the quality of patient care and gives us time as physicians to spend with our patients and to really be able to invest in the things that Amy mentioned. Because it’s hard to accomplish any of those things as an individual patient when you don’t feel supported by the medical system or your physician.
Dr. Santin:
Yeah! I love that. What she said!
Hopscotch:
Why is Hopscotch’s value-based approach and focus on serving the health needs of rural seniors important?
Dr. Latessa:
Even here in Asheville, which isn’t particularly rural, it’s hard to find a physician or provider who accepts Medicare. So there is a need here for there to be more providers who take new Medicare patients. And that need is magnified out in our more rural surrounding areas.
Even the simple fact of access to care is a big issue for Medicare patients in general, and even more so in rural areas. It does feel good to be providing that care.
I’ve also had patients say already that they feel like we’re rolling out the red carpet for them as a Medicare patient with our whole team approach. Not only do they get a physician or a provider who’s listening to them and helping them, but they have a whole team helping them with resources in the community. And they’re just so amazed when they learn about what our model is—they almost can’t believe it’s true.
Sometimes, Amy and I say that to each other that we can’t believe it’s really happening. But we’re so happy to be a part of it.
Dr. Santin:
Seniors, in general, too often feel unseen in our culture and unseen in the medical system. They often feel like they’re being rushed through and they have a hard time finding providers.
Our patients seem really thrilled to find that there’s an organization that’s really focused on them and their needs. I really love that about Hopscotch. It’s an important service to be providing. And there’s an enormous need for it.
In terms of our value-based care approach, I think it’s very aligned with patient values and what they want. Patients want to stay healthy. They want to stay out of the hospital. They want their chronic diseases not to progress. And I love working for an organization where those are my incentives, instead of seeing as many patients as I can in a day. It’s been really wonderful to work in this kind of system.
This model is also really focused on the clinicians. That helps to prevent burnout. To have the time to appropriately spend with patients feels like a luxury and it feels like I’m providing better care and I know the patients are more satisfied with that. And that goes a long way to preventing burnout. I think burnout happens in those care delivery models where the emphasis is on volume. And nobody’s happy that way—the clinicians or the patients.
Dr. Latessa:
Could I add one quick thing regarding listening to patients and supporting the providers? In Hopscotch, we have scribes who help with documentation. In our location, we’re actually using an electronic version. Amy and I are thrilled to say to our patients: “We’re pressing a button now with your permission and we’re going to fully listen to you.”
So, we’re not taking note or looking at a computer, we’re fully present with our patients. And they love that. It’s so refreshing for both our patients and for us. It’s exciting that Hopscotch invests in things like this for both patient and provider satisfaction.
Hopscotch:
What do you love most about living in Western NC?
Dr. Santin:
I love the proximity to nature and the vibrant arts scene. I also love the spirit of the people in this area.
Dr. Latessa:
When I go out to eat, we have a lot of great restaurants. I love to cook, but also enjoy going out to eat in all the great Asheville restaurants.
Living in Western North Carolina, I love that I can see mountains out my window where I live. I can walk out my door and in a minute be in the woods and on a trail. That is just magical. I don’t even have to get in a car and drive ten minutes—it’s all just right there for me.
Hopscotch:
Why do you think WNC seniors should choose Hopscotch for their primary care needs? Would you refer someone you love to Hopscotch?
Dr. Santin:
I think they should choose Hopscotch because it’s one of the only practices around where they’ll have a whole team focused on their unique healthcare needs. It’s rare in medicine these days to find a doctor who has the time to spend with you, especially one who takes Medicare insurance.
The incentives are pure and really aligned with patient goals and values. And I think that’s hard to find in our nation’s healthcare system.
Dr. Latessa:
I would also add in the accessibility piece, which includes that, if they call in, they’re going to get a real live person on the phone. Struggling with the system and being unable to actually talk to someone can be very maddening for seniors.
And we also have same-day appointments and really good accessible care options for patients at the time they need it. I have definitely referred many people to Hopscotch.
Knowing and caring about the Asheville community as we do, I can’t imagine a better place for a Medicare patient to be seen. There are lots of people in the community who are reaching out and lots of word of mouth. I mean, we’ve seen patients in the morning and then had their friends and family calling us in the afternoon to get in because they’ve had such a good experience.
It was so fantastic to connect with Drs. Latessa and Santin and hear their thoughts and witness their spirit of collaboration in action. It’s clear they not only care for one another but also their patients. Their investment and enjoyment in building the very best team to serve the seniors of Western NC was evident, as was their passion for providing the very best in quality, comprehensive primary care to seniors in need.
If you’re interested in scheduling an appointment with Dr. Latessa or Dr. Santin or paying a visit to their Asheville Yorkshire St. clinic, you can connect with them here.
View our WNC clinic locations to locate your nearest Hopscotch Primary Care location. Scheduling your appointment by phone is quick and easy, and you’ll always speak to a real person who can help answer your questions. Hopscotch is here for you!