Tono Health is a virtual-first specialty care platform focused on advanced dermatology treatment. Through a combination of telehealth services and in-person practices, the company enables patients across the United States to access complex dermatology care that is traditionally delivered in hospital settings. Today, the platform operates across 32 states and reaches more than 84% of the U.S. population, allowing patients to receive specialized care without traveling to major medical centers.
“Tono Health is a virtual-first dermatology platform where patients across the United States can access hospital-level specialty care from the comfort of their home.” - Bryson Tombridge, CEO and Co-founder of Tono Health.
The company partners with health systems, cancer centers, and local provider groups to support complex patient populations, including individuals undergoing cancer treatments who require specialized dermatological care.
As Tono Health expanded its provider network, the company needed to credential physicians across multiple states and payer networks so they could begin treating patients. Initially, the organization attempted to manage the process internally by assigning members of the care operations team to handle licensing and credentialing workflows.
The process quickly became overwhelming. Each payer and state required different documentation, timelines were unclear, and the team lacked visibility into the status of applications once they were submitted. Even after exploring traditional credentialing vendors, progress remained slow and unpredictable.
“We had our care ops team navigate licensing and credentialing with each plan. That was a very painful process. We spent countless hours and a lot of bandwidth.”
Without timely credentialing approvals, physicians could not treat patients or bill insurers. The operational bottleneck had real financial consequences for the business.
“Not being able to get our doctors credentialed probably cost us $1M to $1.5M in the first year.”
The company realized credentialing was not just an administrative task, it was a core part of the infrastructure required to scale a nationwide healthcare platform.
After experiencing repeated delays with internal processes and legacy vendors, the Tono Health team reevaluated how credentialing should be handled. Rather than treating the process as a manual operational task, they began looking for a partner capable of supporting the speed and complexity of a rapidly growing healthcare company.
“The criteria we looked for were the speed of getting into market, their ability to scale, and their ability to do both licensing and credentialing.”
Assured ultimately stood out because it approached credentialing as an operational system rather than a fragmented service. For the first time, the team began seeing measurable progress.
“In the first month we did over 120 contracts and applications, and it completely catalyzed our business.”
After beginning the partnership, the Tono team worked closely with Assured to establish a structured credentialing workflow. Instead of rushing applications, the first step was ensuring that provider data, CAQH profiles, addresses, and documentation were complete and consistent before submissions were made.
This preparation dramatically improved approval success rates and allowed the team to submit large batches of applications simultaneously.
Within the first month, the company submitted more than 120 credentialing and contracting applications, a massive leap from the limited progress they had previously experienced.
“We went from having one or two contracts we had done ourselves to submitting over 120 applications all at once.”
The momentum continued over the following months, as dozens of contracts were approved and additional applications progressed through payer review. For the first time, Tono could see a clear path toward scaling its provider network nationwide.
With credentialing infrastructure in place, Tono Health was finally able to execute on its nationwide vision. As payer contracts were secured and physicians became credentialed across multiple states, the company’s ability to serve patients expanded rapidly.
Since partnering with Assured, the company reports over 10,000% growth and expects to treat more than 100,000 patients in the coming year. Accelerating credentialing timelines also unlocked meaningful revenue opportunities for physicians joining the platform.
“Just shortening the amount of time it takes to get our doctors licensed and credentialed unlocks over $500,000 per provider.”
The operational improvements also reshaped how Tono’s internal team spent their time. Previously, three employees were dedicated full-time to managing credentialing paperwork and tracking application status. With Assured managing the process and providing real-time updates, the care operations team could shift its focus back to supporting patients and clinicians.
As Tono Health continues expanding its provider network, credentialing infrastructure will remain a foundational component of the company’s growth strategy. The organization is now exploring delegated credentialing and roster management to further streamline how physicians are brought into network.
“One expansion opportunity I’m excited for is using Assured’s NCQA-certified CVO so we can manage our roster and grow even faster.”
With scalable credentialing systems now in place, Tono Health can focus on its core mission: expanding access to advanced specialty care and ensuring patients across the country can receive the treatment they need, wherever they are.
Automated credentialing, licensing, and payer enrollment — all in one system.
