Blog
Does a Desk Change at Work Increase Productivity?
September 7, 2016
By Christy Fox, Marketing Specialist
Your work space is important to your productivity, your mood, and what you can get accomplished in the office. Whether you are in your own office, a cubicle, or an open work space, your personal space as well as your surroundings can make a difference to how you work. With that being said, sometimes professionals have the option to change desks at work or move to a different area, while there are also instances where the company makes the decision to rearrange work spaces and move employees around. Some employees like the idea of changing desks, and others are hesitant. Here are some factors to consider before deciding whether you may benefit from a desk change.
New People: A new space can encourage new, creative ideas to come about simply because you are surrounded by a new group of people who think differently than those you were with before. Being around different groups of people can change the way you think and spark innovation with the change of scenery. Additionally, you will have the chance to absorb new knowledge and learn more from the new coworkers around you.
Collaboration: Most commonly, desks or cubicles are grouped together based on departments. This makes communication among your department easy, assuming that employees are collaborating the most with their own department. On the other hand, moving desks so that separate departments are intertwined can help with cross-departmental projects and collaboration and depending on the nature of your workplace, could be a beneficial experiment to try.
Company Culture: Moving desks occasionally helps you to expand the circle of coworkers you frequently interact with. Since you essentially spend about 8 hours every day surrounded by the same people, moving around can help you become immersed in the company culture by knowing various employees across different departments and different spaces.
Distractions and Focus: While some employees may thrive in an environment with noise, brainstorming, and collaboration happening around them, some employees’ performance could be hindered by that type of environment. Being surrounded by too much noise could prove to be distracting to some, and they may not be able to work efficiently.
New Perspectives: Moving to a different area in the office can offer a different view on the business. For example, leaders in the company could gain insights from sitting among their employees. On the other hand, it could be eye-opening for employees to have a desk near a leader to learn more from him or her.
Moving to different desks is sometimes a company initiative to experiment with how workers will be most productive, and other times, relocating desks is based on the individual.
What are your thoughts on moving desks to different areas in the company? Do you think it is beneficial, or not?
Candidates Are Delaying Start Dates
August 23, 2016
By David Peterson, Managing Partner, DRI
Today more than ever, we see candidates accept a new position that really excites them but when their new employer is ready to schedule the start date, the candidate delays it.
In one particular case, our client extended a job offer to their perfect candidate for the job. After accepting a job offer and being approved to start in two weeks, the candidate did not want to start for another 3 months. Obviously, this didn’t go over well with the hiring manager. However, they agreed to wait.
In another instance, a candidate wanted to wait 60 days before giving his current employer a two week notice due to a possible bonus. The bonus wasn’t a sure thing, but he was willing to take the chance. In this case, the hiring manager moved on to hire someone else who could start right away. Delaying the start date can be very risky. In fact, moving the start date at all is a red flag to employers that you aren’t serious about taking the job.
So why all the delays? Candidates have given a number of reasons such as a planned family vacation, time to decompress from past position, completing a current project, waiting for bonuses and/or commission as in the example above. If you have to delay your start date, there’s a right way to go about. It may take some negotiating.
Here are a few tips on how to handle negotiating a delayed start date for your new job:
- If you’re not able to start on the employers preferred start date, be careful how you discuss this. Don’t say you can’t start on that date but instead ask if there is room for negotiation.
- Be prepared to offer a solid reason as to why you have to postpone the start date. Then, ask if there’s any flexibility. Chances are that if it’s a valid reason, your new employer will work with you on a new date start.
- If there’s a previous commitment that you made and it’s on your calendar such as a planned vacation or destination wedding, most employers will understand. However, offer a reasonable start date in return. Sometimes offering your time for some training before the start date may help to bridge the gap and show your excitement about the new opportunity.
- Be ready for give and take. If your current employer has a policy of a 4 week notice rather than a 2 week notice, try and split the difference and stay 3 weeks. Your new employer will appreciate that you are trying to honor the requirement and leave on good terms. They will also appreciate the excitement this shows about starting your new job as soon as you tie up loose ends.
Have you ever delayed a start date? Tell us what happened.
Interviews: The Most Common Questions Answered
July 27, 2016
By Christy Fox, Marketing Specialist
You have a job interview coming up and you’re beginning to prepare by planning your outfit, confirming the time and place, and printing out resumes, cover letters, and reference sheets. More importantly, you start to think about the questions that will be asked and how you should answer. No matter how many interviews you have been on, it is likely that the first thing you do is type “interview questions” into Google to refresh your memory on the common questions and the best way to answer. Odds are, you’ll have an idea on how to answer these questions, but do you know why they’re being asked and what the interviewer is really trying to find out?
Take a look at these 5 common questions, why interviewers are asking them, and good approaches to giving the best answers possible.
Tell us about yourself.
This prompt often happens at the very beginning of the interview. At first glance it seems self-explanatory why an interviewer would ask this, but normally this question is more important than you might think. This is the opening for you, as an interviewee to make a great first impression as well as the chance to show how your background is relatable to the position. It is a good idea to show the interviewer that you are qualified right from the start.
Do:
- Keep the answer concise so you don’t bore the interviewer
- Relate your background to the details of the position
Don’t:
- Don’t get too personal
- Don’t just list off what is already on your resume
What are your strengths?
Commonly used to gauge confidence, and again, see how you align with the position as a candidate, interviewers ask this question to identify what you are good at and find out if you will do well in the position. Always think about this question before your interview and make sure that you are prepared with strengths to offer that show you will excel in the position. While you may have many strengths, be sure to pick the strengths that are most relatable to the job.
Do:
- Provide short examples of your strengths in action with recent accomplishments or positive results
- Be confident when discussing your talents
Don’t:
- Don’t pick a strength that is irrelevant to the position
- Don’t be too vague – be able to elaborate
What are your weaknesses?
This might be one of the tougher common interview questions. Even more important than the actual weakness, employers will pay attention to how you handle this question. As you may know, while it is important to give an actual weakness you have, you also have to tell the interviewer the ways in which you improving upon it or how you are overcoming the weaknesss. Try to decide on a weakness that won’t directly ruin your chances at the job, but make sure to be honest.
Do:
- Try to turn what may be perceived as a negative into a positive
- Talk about what you are doing to improve
Don’t:
- Don’t make a claim that you have no weaknesses
- Don’t talk about weaknesses that will immediately eliminate you from the job opportunity
Why do you want to work here?
This question gives you an opportunity to show off how much you know about the company you are interviewing for, and how you are the right candidate to fit into the culture. Make sure you mold your answer to project how you can help the employer in this position. Do research on the company, the industry, the company values, financials, and the position to give a knowledgeable answer while adding value to yourself in the eyes of the interviewer. Check out the company’s website, LinkedIn, and other social media channels.
Do:
- Show your interest, while speaking competently on the company and position
- Take a look at company values beforehand and mention if they happen to match up with your personal values
Don’t:
- Avoid giving vague answers such as “I heard it’s a great company.”
- Don’t focus your answer totally on yourself – try to show how you can be valuable to the company
Tell about a challenging situation and how you overcame it.
Most interviewers will ask at least one situational question in an interview. What they’re really trying to find out is how you handle stress, working with others, and how you solve problems. Be prepared with examples of situations you have been in with previous experience and make sure to tell how you solved a problem while remaining professional and calm.
Do:
- Have multiple examples of different situations because this question could vary
- Exemplify how you came up with a solution in the situations logically
Don’t:
- Don’t bring up a difficult situation where you were the cause
It is always smart to prepare for as many different types of questions as possible before going into an interview. For additional interview tips, take a look at our Candidate Toolkit here: https://www.directrecruiters.com/for-candidates/candidate-tool-kit/
Healthcare Software Executives Need to Build Personal Brands
July 5, 2016
By Mike Silverstein, Managing Partner of Healthcare IT & Life Sciences
Every business or organization has a brand. A brand is the way in which others identify the values of a company and how that company is perceived by its audience. Branding is very strategic and calculated and the idea is to find unique ways to gain mindshare and positioning in the minds of customers and clients. While it is commonplace for a business to put extensive amounts of time, money and energy into building its brand, personal branding is just as important for individual executives especially in an industry as dynamic as healthcare technology.
If you are a Healthcare IT Executive, your personal brand is everything you say and do on a day-to-day basis. This includes not just your actions but also your individual qualities and unique attributes including your passions, values, and goals. If you think of the concept of your brand as a foundational element in your career, it can be a consistent motivator to build your network, meet new people, and create a presence both in person and online. In other words, personal branding will position you in the marketplace as a logical choice for your next desired business partnership or career opportunity.
The question is how do you start building your brand or more importantly, start taking control and managing the brand you are already conveying to the market? Below are some thoughts on how to put some structure and methodology to your brand and how to manage the messaging you put out to your clients and industry colleagues:
Determine Your Target Market
What is your purpose for building your brand? Whose attention do you want to catch? It is important to have a clear view of who you want to target as your audience. For example, you could be looking for a leadership position in a healthcare software company and will want to position yourself to appeal to potential employers, recruiters and investment firms within the industry. This could differ completely from a professional who might be looking to sell a portfolio of solutions, find new clients and network with potential industry partners. The key is first to define your audience and then figure out the best way to reach it. Knowing which organizations you want to make an impression on will help you to determine what types of content you should be sharing, what events to attend, and key influencers you should connect with.
Building and Marketing Your Brand
Today there are many different channels to showcase your personal brand; particularly online. Social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, along with personal websites and blogs are all channels that can be used to promote your personal brand. It is important to stay consistent across all platforms to make sure the same message is being received no matter how your audience is finding you. Sharing relevant healthcare thought leadership content to start conversations and creatively managing your social media channels are ways to boost your personal branding efforts.
Aside from your online presence, other helpful ways to build your personal brand are what you do in person. Depending on how you want to frame your brand, speaking opportunities, volunteer work, guest writing for industry publications, or presentations at workshops and conferences could be great for your brand. Attending conferences and functions pertaining to the healthcare industry will not only give you more credibility, but also will help you to build and expand your network.
As you build your brand, remember these three rules for promoting yourself:
- Be consistent
Make certain that messaging across all platforms carries your personal brand and voice in the same way, while not necessarily being the same content.
- Be creative
Develop your profiles to have a look and feel that encompasses your personal brand. In addition, think of unique ways to capture attention of any organization you are interested in.
- Be purposeful
Always keep your end goal in mind while branding yourself as a talented Healthcare Industry Executive. Everything you say or do contributes to your brand, so a helpful way to make sure you are being purposeful is to ‘Google’ your name to understand view how you are perceived by others.
Monitor and Maintain
The most important part about building your personal brand is making sure to effectively monitor and maintain it. In business, marketers work around the clock to not only build the company’s brand, but also to get real-time feedback from the market in order to make adjustments and pivots as necessary. Similarly, your personal brand will benefit from the same diligence. Continuously updating your online presence with relevant content, new industry connections and accomplishments in your field will help increase the level of engagement with your audience and position you appropriately for the next step in your career. Building industry relationships and staying in touch with those folks through relevant content is also paramount. Lastly, asking for others opinions about the messaging you are putting out there and always be receptive to feedback and new ideas will help you fine tune your presence and stay in front of the correct audience with the appropriate branding touches.
No matter what your goals are, you can effectively build your brand to help you achieve those goals. What are you currently doing to showcase your personal brand?
For over 33 years, Direct Recruiters, Inc. has been recognized as the relationship-focused search firm that assists top-tier organizations with recruiting, acquiring, and retaining high-impact talent for mission-critical positions.
ATA 2016 Emerging Technology Companies
May 19, 2016
By Norm Volsky, Director of Mobile Healthcare IT Practice
As an executive search consultant in the Healthcare IT space, it is my job to be able to identify emerging technology companies that are poised for significant growth. Since I am specifically focused on Mobile Technology and Telehealth, I have plenty of companies from which to choose. I do research daily and during my discussions with industry thought leaders, I make it a point to ask them what companies in the space they find intriguing and unique. I feel it is my job as a member of this industry to share this knowledge/information with my network so that you could be exposed to these organizations too.
Below are companies I have had my eye on all year that I met with in person at ATA to learn more about their story and vision.
Avizia: Robust end-to-end telehealth platform that connects any doctor to any patient at any time. Avizia as a company has made it their mission to advance healthcare by helping all patients have the ability to get top quality healthcare regardless of their location or situation. Named one of the 10 Most Promising Telemedicine Solutions Providers of 2016 by Healthcare Tech Outlook.
American Well: Unveiled their new Exchange service which allows patients to choose the doctor they want to visit with. This announcement was on the heels of introducing the first Mobile Telehealth Software Development Kit (SDK), which lets organizations plug telehealth capabilities directly into their own consumer-facing mobile apps. With the Exchange, these consumer-facing apps can now tap directly into services from American Well’s partners, which include Cleveland Clinic and Nemours Children’s Health System.
Chiron Health: Provides its physician practice customers Telehealth services with the most robust eligibility checks for reimbursement. Chiron’s eligibility check solution is so advanced that they guarantee their customers reimbursement by paying them the claim themselves. They have increased collections by 3-4% for their customers, who also see 98% patient satisfaction. Chiron is partnered with athenahealth, Greenway Health and CareCloud. See their website here: www.chironhealth.com
Zipnosis: With an average diagnosis time of 2 minutes, Zipnosis is a force to be reckoned with in the provider market. Allowing their customers to save $175 per patient, per visit. In January, the company raised $17M in investment.
Stratus Video Interpreting: With over 1400 hospital customers, Stratus allows its customer to reach a live video interpreter in 30 seconds or less. They have recently moved into Telehealth and hired Lee Horner (President) and Brad Blakey (VP of Sales and Marketing) to build out that team. Stratus has the unique ability to support hearing impaired and English second language patients. Their two new solutions recently launched are Emergency Room/Urgent Care Consult and Post Hospital Discharge. Stratus won Tampa Bay’s Most Innovative Company Award in 2014.
WeCounsel: Telemedicine specifically geared towards Behavioral Health. Their company mission is to increase access to behavioral healthcare for patients. They provide their customers unique back-end administrative functionality and have secured $3.5M in funding. WeCounsel was recently chosen to be the primary provider of Telehealth software for MedOptions.
AMC Health: Device Agnostic Remote Patient Monitoring solution built on an open source platform. AMC Health has over 50 care managers on their team that can communicate with patients using: Virtual Visits, Phone Calls, Texts or Emails. Their mission is to “help people be healthier…anywhere”. Recently, AMC Health partnered with Glooko to fight Diabetes, and Propeller Health to fight Asthma and COPD. They helped Geisinger Health Plan reduce readmission risk by 44% and delivered a 3.3 to 1 ROI. Their solution is also endorsed by the American Hospital Association.
PokitDok: API platform that helps enable other software platforms to gather information easier. This solution allows its customers to do transactions easier and have access to powerful data. McKesson recently made a strategic investment in the company with a total series B of $34M. Recently, PokitDok became a member of the CommonWell Health Alliance. They launched Digital Eligibility and Pricing Estimate Services for prescription medications.
TruClinic: Was named 2016 IDC Innovators by supporting a variety of telehealth models such as site-to-site, facility-to-field (e.g., EMTs, visiting nurses) and clinician-to-patient (direct to consumer and fee for service). TruClinic has customers on 4 different continents and in all 50 states. Recently signed Sharp Healthcare as a customer. The company’s mission is to make on-line health as common as on-line banking. The solution allows physicians to create their own patient surveys. In the past 15 months the company has experienced 400% revenue growth.
Propeller Health: FDA-cleared asthma and COPD management vendor that helps patients and physicians better manage chronic respiratory conditions. They make digital products that have therapeutic benefit. Propeller Health won the 2016 Innovation in Remote Healthcare Award at the ATA conference.
Doctor on Demand: “Putting Patients First” is the company motto. Doctor on Demand offer its enterprise customers a consumer-grade experience and does not charge PEPM fees. They have both United Healthcare and several state BCBS plans as customers. Their goal is to help increase healthcare access in the most convenient way possible. DOD has over 400 employer customers, and 4 of the Fortune 10 companies.
Glooko: Diabetes Remote Monitoring solution to help a patient manage their chronic condition. This mobile solution addresses both type 1 and 2 diabetes. Glooko is significantly helping its patients reduce their A1C using its patient engagement and education tools. They recently announced an EPIC integration.
Vivify Health: Remote Patient Monitoring Platform helping move the industry toward value based care. Helping its patient manage their chronic disease, Vivify is one of the leaders in mobile population health management. They recently not only signed UPMC as a customer, but the health system also participated in their recent $17M Series B investment round.
Quintree: Telemedicine solution specifically geared towards first point of care centers developed by ENTs. The platform allows a patient to be seen in real time by an ENT, even when there is not one on site. The care centers can scope a patient and live stream to a waiting ENT or simply video conference an ENT for a consult. The SaaS model allows for scalability with little capital expenditure. ENT coverage is sparse and this solution allows ENTs to see more patients, more efficiently and allows for care centers to provide quicker and better patient care. In addition, this solution is trying to curb over-prescribing antibiotics.
Teladoc: The company goal is to improve access to care in a cost effective way. Teladoc provides an ROI of 5:1 to their customers and have saved their customers $400M in net savings. This turnkey telemedicine platform has 95% satisfaction rate and 74% net promoter score which is unheard of. Aetna and state BCBS are customers. Teladoc was the first telehealth company to receive NCQA certification and was honored by Frost & Sullivan with the Product Line Strategy Leadership Award for Virtual Telemedicine Services. The CEO of the company Jason Gorevic announced at ATA that Teladoc will be launching their first chronic condition management program by the end of the year.
REACH Health: Next Generation Telemedicine software platform that cut its teeth in Telestroke and has more recently established themselves as a full end to end enterprise Telemedicine solution. REACH recently launched their 5.0 software update which enables clinical adaptability across the healthcare continuum. Analytics dashboard and reporting functionality allow their customers to monitor their Telemedicine programs at all levels. Being hardware agnostic, REACH allows their customers to have very little capital expenditures and encourages adaptability.
I remember going to this show two years ago in Baltimore and I am amazed at how much the industry has moved towards being software focused. The software vendors are definitely trending up as they had the largest and shiniest booths. I always come back amazed at how passionate and innovative this industry is as a whole. All of the companies above are helping drive change towards value based care and I feel so lucky to be able work in this industry every day.
The next trade show I am planning on attending is mHealth in Washington DC…if you are interested in having your company highlighted in my next blog, please let me know.
Companies Topping the Charts at ISC West 2016
April 19, 2016
By Aaron Kutz, Executive Recruiter for Government and Electronic Security, DRI
Last week, I attended the ISC West Security Conference and Exhibition in Las Vegas, NV for the third consecutive year. As this is one of the larger security exhibits of the year, it is always filled with much excitement by exhibitors and attendees alike. Companies are unveiling new technology and new solutions that have previously been under wraps. Of the many companies at the show, I did have a chance to sit down with a few that caught my eye.
BluBox- A unique solution that seems to be truly innovating the space. Blubox introduced a new “person reader” this year while at ISC. This solution which has 5 different versions provides a new innovation in Biometric readers. Blubox is very excited about this new solution that adds to an already impressive solution set.
Boon Edam- Boon Edam, with what seemed like an always packed booth, was show casing a variety of products filled with both familiar products as well as some new solutions that were being showcased for the first time. As I spoke to people there the prevailing thought was “what’s next?” What else can we do with this data? That is truly the next step for the industry and they are excited to lead the way into that market.
Elk Products- While focused on residential security, Elk Products prides itself on constantly innovating and bringing new products to the marketplace. While visiting with Elk, they were excited about several new solutions including their M1 platform control, panic lights and panic buttons. All of which are to be released this year.
Paxton- This company had one of the more interesting booths that I had the pleasure of visiting. They are focused on a separate trend in not only the security space, but also the technology world in general, the “Internet of Things”. Paxton is looking to expand their cloud based access control and incorporating integration across several platforms. Their motto of being “geniusly simple” Paxton showcased their cloud based access control system named Paxton Blu along with a new partnership with HID. Paxton seems poised to continue their growth in the US marketplace.
Overall, I came back from the 2016 ISC West conference energized to get back to work in this growing and exciting industry. Based on the impressive technology that I saw last week I feel this industry is poised for further growth and for some new exciting innovations.
The next trade show I plan on attending is the ASIS Seminar in Orlando, FL from September 12-15. If you are interested in having your company highlighted in my next blog, please let me know.
DRI Attended “Greatest Supply Chain Show on Earth”
April 14, 2016
By Cherie Shepard, Director of Material Handling, DRI
My team and I returned from Modex very excited about the many people we met, our visit with current clients, seeing the latest equipment on display, and learning the sizzle of what is happening in our industry.
Our feet can tell you that we covered thousands of square footage and covered hundreds of exhibits. It’s no wonder the show is considered "the Greatest Supply Chain Show on Earth!”
Modex is such a great opportunity for companies to debut their newest products to the market and talk about the latest news including that Automation is moving forward. As states increase minimum wage, the need to automate becomes a greater reality. This increase along with the growing e-commerce market continues to make Supply Chain Automation a growing industry.
According to eMarketer, US e-retail sales will nearly double to just over half a trillion dollars by 2019. With the need for automation and the increasing need for warehouse and distribution facilities comes a need for new skills in the workplace.
We talked to several companies who brought new technology to the show. Here is a sampling of our conversations.
SSI SCHAEFER
WAMAS – Warehouse Management, Warehouse Control and Material Flow System – This software, exclusively developed by SSI SCHAEFER, works within the warehouse to offer value added services, stock management, picking enhancement, material flow and inventory tracking within a facility. The continuous development and enhancement of WAMAS brings state of the art technology to the client.
CUBY is SSI SCHAEFER’s new one-level shuttle system. This system can work with bins and cartons and allows for optimization of space and can be customized for height variances. Along with the space efficiencies it offers a quick return on investment.
SSI SCHAEFER also introduced a new Vertical Lift Module, LogiMat®. This latest edition does not require chains or belt drives. This large cabinet system allows for storage and picking of small parts.
Gorbel
Road Ranger is the mobile system that meets the OSHA fall protection codes. It can adjust to heights from 18’, 20’ or 22’ and has a 310 lbs. capacity. It is rated for highway towing up to 65 mph. The Road Ranger is used with a full body harness and self-retracting lanyard to stop a fall when a worker is working above the 4’ OSHA maximum working height.
Bizerba
Bizerba celebrates its 150 years in business and brings a 5-year warranty on logistical scales and new batch of high-speed terminals. Bizerba provides weighing and labeling equipment that can meet the requirements found in manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution.
Forte
Forte a Swisslog company is focused on optimizing distribution centers with its warehouse automation and warehouse execution software, WES.
Swisslog as a part of Kuka attracts growth markets like warehouse logistics and the healthcare sector. At Modex they are together demonstrating the interaction of the systems.
On display is the “worker friendly Kuka Robot” AIP, Automated Item Pick” that works with people and can sense their interaction which assists with picking processes and safety.
The CycloneCarrier, which provides hourly throughput of up to 1000 infeeds and outfeeds per aisle was also on display. This shuttle can work in the retail, pharmaceutical, and food & beverage industries,
The newest member of the Swisslog family was also discussed on the Modex floor. Swisslog acquired PAS, Power Automation Systems, bringing this leader of pallet shuttle ASRS to the team.
Seeing our clients and meeting with a variety of specialists in the industry is a key to assisting with the growth of the market. Skilled candidates are busy and in most cases, happy with their current situations. However, we always want to be able to share the buzz of the industry with our clients and potential candidates to make the opportunities we present enticing and “worth a listen”. The education we receive from shows like Modex, is imperative to that success.
Interview with Glenn Keet, CEO, ClinCapture
March 23, 2016
Direct Recruiters, Inc., recently had the pleasure of interviewing Glenn Keet, Chief Executive Officer of ClinCapture, a leading provider of cloud- based e-Clinical software (clincapture.com). Mr. Keet was kind enough to answer questions about his career, the Life Sciences industry, and his philosophies for hiring and retaining top talent.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and ClinCapture.
I had always been strong in math and science, and when I graduated with a combined degree of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Sciences, I assumed I would become an engineer. But my first job out of college was with a software company, and I have been in software ever since. I now look back on my engineering degree as good training for any career – it taught me problem solving and critical thinking; two skills I use every day.
It just so happens that I started in a software company that had healthcare and insurance companies as clients, so I was exposed to healthcare IT from the start. Otherwise I might have ended up in any other software vertical. But I am glad to have been exposed to healthcare IT, since at the time it was far behind other industries in the use of information technology and tools to be efficient and competitive, therefore there was great opportunity to make an impact. I believe there still is.
Some would agree life sciences is even further behind its use of information technology, and this is because the highly regulatory environment has hampered adoption of software tools. It is the reason I chose to come to ClinCapture, as I see the same kind of opportunity in life sciences now that I saw in electronic health records in the mid-1990s.
ClinCapture, located in Silicon Valley, is a software-as-a-service vendor of electronic data capture (EDC) software, serving those sponsor companies running clinical trials, such as medical device manufacturers and drug companies, along with the contract research organizations (CRO) that outsource the running of clinical trials for the sponsors. EDC tools have been around a while, but have traditionally been used only by larger companies or larger trials – smaller companies or those running earlier phase trials have not had the wherewithal to deal with the cost and complexity of EDC software, and therefore use pen and paper or spreadsheets to collect data from their trials. ClinCapture aims to remove these barriers so that any size company or any phase trial uses EDC, and saves money in the process over paper or manual processes. Ultimately, ClinCapture aims to take $1.6B out of the cost of running clinical trials worldwide over the next 5 years.
What fascinating projects are you currently working on?
There are so many compelling stories in life sciences. I have the privilege of hearing about promising, breakthrough therapies years before the general public hears of them. I also get to work on solutions to problems through our software, like incorporating direct patient feedback into trials, or connecting and integrating the medical records systems that physicians use with our data capture solution so they can use the same tool when seeing one of their patients that happens to be participating in a trial.
You have worked in life sciences/HIT for over two and a half decades. What or who do you attribute your success to? Did you have a mentor(s)?
Mentors are important and helpful in taking you to the next level in your career. I had the privilege to work with a couple people that helped me learn and grow in ways I wouldn’t have on my own. At my first software job in the mid-1980s I worked for Connie Galley, one of the earlier female CEOs in the software industry, and she showed me the importance of getting close to clients. And Ray Scott, co-founder of Axolotl, taught me management skills that you can’t learn in books.
How has the industry changed since you entered it nearly 30 years ago, and where do you see it going?
I think the biggest change in Health IT over the past 30 years is the feasibility of integrated products. Thirty years ago, the integration of two products was more like a science project versus a standard or repeatable process. Over the past three decades, we have seen the creation and improvement of both data standards (HL7, CDISC, RxNorm, etc.) and application interface standards (open APIs, IHE, etc.) It is now very possible to create a solution of best of breed applications that far surpasses a monolithic, all-encompassing single vendor solution. This speeds innovation, as vendors can specialize in areas, and end users can get the benefit of improvement in a variety of areas much more quickly.
What trends are you seeing in the eClinical area?
I have seen a few breaking through. For example, the rise of eSource, which enables the capture and creation of clinical data in EMRs or other products, and how that will save time and money for data capture. Also, ePRO, which are patient reported outcomes that enables the clinical trial to incorporate patient feedback into the data. I recently co-authored a paper on this exact topic, which delves into much more detail on these and other trends. http://www.clincapture.com/resources/papers/top-eclinical-trends
Where do you see ClinCapture in 5 years?
With ClinCapure’s ability to remove virtually all the startup costs, and with our freemium platform, we calculate that we save our clients over $200,000 on average versus another EDC system. And probably more than that for those that would use paper due to the inefficiencies and errors, and then the additional manual labor if they intend to submit the results to the FDA or another country’s regulatory body. Therefore, our goal 5 years from now is to have taken $1.6B out of the costs clinical trials, allowing that money to be put to better use, like finding therapies.
Besides just EDC, ClinCapture is positioning itself to be a whole eClinical platform. With open APIs, we hope to have many partner products on our platform that are pre-integrated for our clients, making the applications share data seamlessly.
How do you retain top industry talent?
One of ClinCapture’s strategic initiatives is to attract and retain the right people for our organization. In order to achieve that, we have set goals to offer competitive salaries, stock options for most employees so they own a part of the company they work for, and career planning so that we are sure our employees are working towards their own career goals. Besides compensation and advancement, however, it is equally important that staff enjoy their time at work. We have a culture of work hard/play hard, and our team gets along like a big family.
Glenn Keet has worked in health care IT for almost three decades, and since May, 2014 has been CEO of Clinovo, Inc., now named ClinCapture, a leading vendor of cloud-based EDC software that serves entities engaged in clinical trials. Prior, Mr. Keet was SVP over Business Development on the Optum Health Care Cloud, focusing on developing the ecosystem of providers, developers and consumers.
Mr. Keet became part of Optum via the acquisition of Axolotl Corp., which he co-founded in 1995 and where he was President. Prior to his role as President, Mr. Keet had been head of Sales and Marketing, Business Development, and Professional Services.
In the first half of the 1990s, Mr. Keet held managerial positions for Mercator Software, now owned by IBM. Mercator sold general purpose EDI and HL7 mapping and translation engines used in health care, insurance and other industries.
Mr. Keet graduated from Lehigh University in 1986 with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and BA in Applied Sciences, and later attended Wharton’s Executive Leadership program. He has two teenage sons, and resides in Santa Cruz, CA.
Gl********@cl*****.com, www.linkedin.com/in/glennkeet, 813-234-6653.
A Look Back at HIMSS 2016
March 10, 2016
By Norman Volsky, Director of Mobile Healthcare IT
As an executive search consultant in the Healthcare IT space, it is my job to be able to identify emerging technology companies that are poised for significant growth. I do research daily and during my discussions with industry thought leaders, I make it a point to ask them what companies in the space they find intriguing and unique. I feel it is my job as a member of this industry to share this knowledge/information with my network so that you could be exposed to these companies too. Below are companies I have had my eye on all year that I met up with in person at HIMSS to learn more about their story and vision.
Kurbo Health- Mobile health coaching app focused on helping obese children ages 6-18 to lose weight. Being that 1 in 3 kids are obese, this is a crucial tool to reduce risk for health plans and employers. The app coaches adolescents to make healthier eating decision by giving a color corresponding to types of foods (green for healthy, yellow for foods to be eaten in moderation, red for unhealthy) and allowing kids a certain number of each per day. The solution includes video chats with health coaches, some of which are Olympic athletes in training. Kurbo allows families to be happier and healthier by taking the role of “food police” from a child’s parents. Not only did this app help the kids decrease their BMI 88% of the time, but 55% of their parents decreased theirs too!
Omada Health- Chronic Disease Prevention company initially focused on preventing type 2 diabetes. 1 in 3 American adults (86 Million) are pre-diabetes and of that group, 9 out of 10 are unaware they are at risk. This lifestyle intervention mobile application helped patients reduce their A1C Blood Sugar from 6.0 to 5.6 on average. After 1 year, participants lost 4.6% of their BMI and decreased risk of type 2 diabetes by 58%. Omada is leveraging their success in diabetes prevention and branching out into hypertension and heart disease. Preventing diabetes saves a risk bearing organization $10K on average per year for the patient’s entire life.
Lyra Health- Behavioral Health technology enabled services vendor helping screen for mental health diseases. Each patient is assigned a care manager and all of the visits are done leveraging telemedicine. 1 in 5 Americans suffer from a mental health condition and this solution identifies patients that need care and connects them to the right form of care. Lyra closed a $35M Series A investment in fall of 2015. Lyra’s CEO David Ebersman is the former CFO of Facebook.
Alignment Healthcare- Hybrid organization that can function as both a payer and/or provider that is helping the healthcare market move towards value based care. Their solutions help providers make better decisions by giving them better data on their populations. Alignment mixes IT, Care Management and Chronic Disease Management to influence change by providing daily clinical interventions. This is designed to take burden off of a patient’s family members and give them better care. Alignment uses Vivify Health’s chronic disease management platform to monitor their high risk patients’ vital signs and biometric data remotely resulting in better outcomes at a lower cost.
Care Thread- Mobile Care Coordination solution that improves the way clinicians communicate with each other in real time. Their patient-centered messaging threads can eliminate gaps in clinical communication and improve clinical workflow and efficiency. Care Thread has seamless integration with all EMR systems (including Epic), and their secure VPN-less integration technology allows customers to be up and running in minutes. Care Thread helps customers such as Partners Healthcare in Boston improve productivity and increase patient safety.
VisualDx- Unique clinical decision support tool that leverages medical images to help their customers get the diagnosis correct as efficiently and quickly as possible. Although the company originated in the dermatology market (followed by ophthalmology and oral medicine), recently the company launched an innovative solution to address general medicine. VisualDx for the 5th year in a row won a Best in KLAS award. At HIMSS the VisualDx solution was exhibited integrated into Cerner using FHIR and is a part of their new app gallery. This solution is the most used diagnostic clinical decision support tool in healthcare. This solution helps physicians save an average of 26 minutes per day and increases diagnostic accuracy 120%.
Sentrian- Remote Patient Intelligence vendor focused on using data and analytics to avoid preventable hospitalizations (estimated $17B of Medicare’s annual readmission costs are avoidable). Using its analytics platform, Sentrian can help its customers identify which of its patients are deteriorating at 80% accuracy. In 2015, Sentrian won the ATA award for Innovation in Remote Healthcare and the Frost & Sullivan RPM Innovation Award.
Jellyfish Health– Patient Experience platform designed to reduce wait times and improve patient satisfaction. Their mobile app allows patients to see available appointments and estimated wait times then schedule and confirm – all from the convenience of their mobile device. By increasing patient satisfaction, the provider groups are able to keep their patients (on average, practices turn over 25% of their patients per year). It is 6 times more expensive (around $19,000) to acquire a new patient than to keep an existing one. The tool helps drive revenue by increasing patient traffic, reducing staff interruptions, streamlining physician schedules, and improving patient throughput.
Propeller Health– FDA-cleared asthma and COPD management vendor that helps patients and physicians better manage chronic respiratory conditions. Digital products that have therapeutic benefit. Propeller Health recently announced a Development Agreement and R&D Collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline. They also partnered with Aptar Pharma for development of a next generation, integrated, connect metered dose inhaler. Propeller was named one of the “Fierce 15” Med Tech companies of 2015 and also mentioned in the following Forbes article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/reenitadas/2016/02/04/the-internet-of-medical-things-digitalization-revolutionizes-respiratory-care-management/#55ead82c319d
Atigeo– Healthcare Analytics vendor that cut its teeth in predictive and prescriptive cybersecurity. Atigeo’s xPatterns currently protects and serves over 180 hospitals, and expects to double its workforce to 200 employees by the end of 2016. Cybersecurity and Fraud Prevention has been a key issue in healthcare and Atigeo helps its customers spot breaches before they happen.
healthfinch- Practice Automation solution that helps a provider automate, delegate, and simplify routine busywork so its clinicians can spend more time treating patients. It saves physicians, on average, 30 minutes per day. It helps increase staff efficiency at least 3x and reduces turnaround on patient prescription re-fill requests under 24 hours.
Qlik- Business Intelligence vendor that can analyze Clinical, Financial, Supply Chain or Operational data from any source. The end user not only gets the insights that they want but even for the ones they didn’t ask for but need to know. Qlik has strong relationships with Epic and Health Catalyst as well as some prominent consulting partners. Qlik allows its customers to qualify for Meaningful Use quicker. Implementation for an enterprise deal could only take weeks or at most several months. Qlik has over 1,500 customers relying on their technology, including Texas Children’s Hospital that achieved a tremendous ROI.
Caremerge- Care Coordination platform designed to bring the entire care team (families, clinicians, and patients) to communicate better resulting in better outcomes. Caremerge Improves the patient’s and their family’s satisfaction with the healthcare provider. Caremerge does a great job in independent living, skilled nursing, and assisted living markets.
Canary Health- Focused on tackling early stage chronic disease. Whether it be diabetes, COPD, arthritis or depression, Canary looks to identify populations that are at risk and make sure their condition does not get worse. They allow patients to self-manage themselves to reduce their risk of long term health problems.
Livongo- New approach to diabetes management. Having diabetes is a heavy burden, Livongo makes the patient’s life easier by allowing them to do less while receiving better outcomes. Livongo’s user spend less time managing their disease by leveraging technology. Run by the former CEO of Allscripts Glenn Tullman, Livongo has received investment from General Catalyst Partners, KPCB and DFJ. Customers include Lowe’s, Office Depot, Iron Mountain, Optima Health and Mount Sinai. Livongo was named one of Inc. Magazine’s 20 Best Entrepreneurial Stories of 2015.
Airstrip- Mobile Interoperability platform that allows its customers to connect in real time to any data source. This innovative tool enables care collaboration and single workflow visualization to improve decision making. Their new intelligence and analytics tools allow them to notify clinicians when a high acuity event may occur. Airstrip’s goal is to provide clinicians with less overall data to quiet the “noise” but more actionable data to help treat patients effectively. For one of Apple’s recent iOS releases, Airstrip was one of 3 companies to present on stage using the iWatch.
PatientPing- Backed by Google Ventures, First Round Capital and Fidelity Investments, PatientPing enables care teams to be informed regardless of where the patient is being treated. This simple, light weight, clean technology sends real time admissions and discharge notifications to providers to enable seamless care transitions. With over 15,000 providers using PatientPing, critical information can be shared and patient safety is improved.
PokitDok– API platform that helps enable mHealth apps to function better. This solution allows its customers to do transactions easier and have access to powerful data. McKesson recently made a strategic investment in the company with a total series B of $34M. PokitDok anables organizations to get connectivity to health plans.
Healthloop -“Patient Experience” company in regards to its high touch cloud-based patient engagement platform. The goal was to develop technology that had the ability to feel empathy. Healthloop sends educational content to the patient to not only answer any questions that the patient currently has but more importantly answers question he or she might have in the future. This takes a lot of stress away from the patient and makes him or her confident with what to expect in the future. They have a staggering 86% patient satisfaction rate, 11% increase in HCAHPS scores and 25% reduction in readmissions.
Catalyze.io- HIPAA compliant cloud computing vendor that enables innovative mHealth partners to scale appropriately. Its hosting and managed services encourage interoperability and allows its customers to save significant dollars. Catalyze.io is a “Last Mile Provider” that enables many companies to thrive affordably.
Avizia- End-to-end Telemedicine provider. Spun off from Cisco with the goal in bridging gaps in care. Recently launched a direct to consumer product to allow a patient to interact with their personal doctor. They provide 5,000 remote visits per month and are live in 36 countries. They have 7 of the top 10 IDN’s using Avizia.
Persivia- An Alere spinoff focused on Chronic Disease Management. They have a clinical decision support platform that focuses on bundled payment, care management, and quality management. Persivia recently partnered with Aprima Medical Software.
Opisoft- Clinical, Financial and Operational Business Intelligence tool. Opisoft was founded in Israel and recently launched in the US market. Predictive analytics at the point of care enabled by NLP tool. In Israel, they went head to head on deals against dbMotion (also an Israeli company later acquired by Allscripts). Opisoft owns 90% of the hospital market share in Israel which is ranked #4 in the world for healthcare quality.
iVEDiX– Mobile Business Intelligence platform that enables the flow of bidirectional data. iVEDiX secured business with the United Nations and has gotten some significant traction with healthcare providers. It saves one of its customers 1 hour per physician per day. iVEDiX received a Series A investment of $10M.
Lightbeam Health Solutions- Population Health Management vendor that is fully integrated, requires zero IT footprint, and is cloud hosted. Lightbeam Health Solutions can aggregate both clinical and claims data and analyze it to identify at risk patients. Software suite includes: Data Warehouse, Risk Stratification, Physician and Patient Engagement, Quality Measure Optimization and Care Management. Lightbeam Health Solutions has over 70 ACO customers.
Validic- Digital Health Platform that allows accessibility and integration to patient recorded data from mHealth apps, devices and wearables. Validic is getting a lot of traction recently into the pharma and clinical trials market along with international markets. Validic recently came out with innovative VitalSnap solution that enables real time data transfer from non-connected devices.
CareSync- Chronic Disease Management/Care Coordination solution with over 100,000 patients using their solution/service. Their goal is to allow collaboration between every stakeholder in the care continuum and help get the right information to the right care team member at the right time. In helping their patients navigate their way through the Health System, they improve the quality of care and patient experience drastically. CareSync members avoided duplicate tests 64%, 33% found errors in their medical records and 84% better followed their post visit care plans. Recently announced partnership with NextGen Healthcare.
Glooko- Diabetes Remote Monitoring solution to help a patient manage their chronic condition. This mobile solution addresses both type 1 and 2 diabetes. Glooko is significantly helping its patients reduce their A1C using its patient engagement and education tools. They recently announced an EPIC integration. Their CEO Rick Altinger was recently invited to speak at the Vator Splash Health conference in San Francisco.
Vivify Health- Remote Patient Care Platform helping move the industry toward value based care. Vivify is one of the leaders in mobile population health management. Their customers typically accomplish a >50% reduction in acute utilization, by engaging patients on any device and connecting caregivers at any interval. Vivify recently not only signed UPMC as a customer but the health system also participated in their recent $17M Series B investment round.
This was my fourth HIMSS show and I always come back amazed at how passionate and innovative this industry is as a whole. All of the companies above are helping drive change towards value based care and I feel so lucky to be able work in this industry every day.
The next trade show I am planning on attending is ATA in Minneapolis…if you are interested in having your company highlighted in my next blog, please let me know.
Dan Charney and Cherie Shepard Interview Brian Cohen, Chief Executive of Hanel Storage Systems
Dan Charney, President & CEO of Direct Recruiters (DRI), and Cherie Shepard, Director of Packaging & Material Handling, DRI, interview Brian Cohen, Chief Executive of Hanel Storage Systems
Tell us a little about yourself.
My name is Brian Cohen, and I am the Chief Executive of Hänel Storage Systems. I have been in the automation field my entire professional life and have been fortunate enough to learn the technology from the ground up. My career began in sales, focusing on sensors and automatic identification, followed by robotics and machine vision and for the last fifteen years AS/RS. Throughout my life I have been interested in and intrigued by technology. My father was a plant manager for a bedding manufacturer in the early 1970’s and I have a favorite childhood memory of visiting the bedding manufacturing plant and being mesmerized by the automated machinery.
What is the most challenging aspect of your job?
Managing growth is currently the most challenging part of my job. Throughout the last fifteen years we have experienced what I refer to as self-sustained incremental growth. We have grown each year at a steady and manageable rate and reinvested profits into the business to fuel additional growth. The challenge is when to hire, how to expand facilities, and which new markets to pursue. I am very grateful that our thoughtful planning has prevented lay-offs, debt and failed marketing initiatives.
How do you retain top industry talent?
First and foremost, it is important to hire carefully and have the correct recruiting partners. Next, it is important that the position I am hoping to fill represents an awesome opportunity for the candidate. Potential candidates must be passionate about an opportunity to work with our organization and the position must represent an order of magnitude career progression. Once on board, it is part of our strategy to partner with our employees and develop mutually agreeable milestones and goals that the employee can own. My style is quite contrary to micromanagement. Once expectations are developed, I prefer to act as a resource. It is important to recognize with my management style that communication and transparency are absolutely critical.
What soft skills do you look for when hiring new talent?
Cultural fit is perhaps the single most important requirement for a new employee. I like to learn about what the candidate really liked or disliked about past positions. After we have determined that a candidate has the required skills and experience to perform the job we are looking to fill, we schedule a series of casual interviews with staff members to discuss what it’s like day to day within the company’s culture. The feedback we have received from these casual interviews has been really useful for both the company and the candidate. It is very important to me that candidates are presented the full picture of what it is like to be part of this team.
You have over 25 years of experience in the Material Handling world. What or who do you attribute your success to? Did you have a mentor(s)?
Yes, I had both mentors and managers that were willing to take a risk on someone with the right attitude. The mentor that had the most profound impact on me was Martin Eichenberg. Martin was the CEO of Menziken Automation and was a truly impressive leader. In addition to Martin’s experience, he had a way of telling difficult truths eloquently. His ability to tell a customer something that they did not want to hear, but absolutely should, was inspiring. I have translated what I have learned from Martin in this regard into the following axiom: “Tell me the truth always. The harder the truth is to tell, the more I will respect you for it.” Martin was also the first leader that took the phrase “our employees are our greatest asset” and turned it into absolute practice. My strong commitment to our employees’ well-being was most certainly shaped by Martin’s example.
What are the most important characteristics a Material Handling leader needs to be successful?
The material handling industry benefits greatly from MHI. Throughout my career I have participated in the material handling community and MHI organization in various ways. Currently I serve on the Board of Governors and the Educational Work Group. I have found working with MHI to be rewarding in many ways; most importantly for me are the development of standards and education. The secondary benefit of working with MHI is the networking. Never before in my career have I had the opportunity to work so closely with competitors.
