For
more than a decade, Healthscreen has been working with physicians and
government to develop solutions that enhance patient care and increase
efficiency. The company was founded in
1992 by Dr. Bruce Rosenberg, a practicing physician. The first products were
billing and electronic medical records (EMR) software, but over the past year, a number of services have
been added to provide a range of practice enhancing solutions for physicians.
Below is an interview with Dr. Bruce, Healthscreen’s Founder, Vice President and Chief Privacy Officer.
Q: Why did you start Healthscreen?
Dr. Bruce: I was doing
pre-employment physicals for the Region of Niagara;
running my private practice; working in the ER; and operating what was then a
new concept: an after-hours clinic. I
recognized the need for these different sources of care to communicate with
each other. The name “Healthscreen” actually
came from the health screening I was doing for the Region.
Q: How did the company grow?
Dr. Bruce: At first it was a hobby, to create a seamless record that would serve patients not only for their current care, but also provide a sensible roadmap for their future care, through health screening. We kept growing because we had a really great EMR, especially for the time, and decided to acquire some billing companies. After a certain point, I realized that the company was too large to be a ‘project’, and required serious management and capital. We went public to raise money for acquisitions and development, and in 2007 acquired Medical Telecom, which really began the ‘new Healthscreen’ era.
Q:
What is the new era?
Dr. Bruce: Medical Telecom had two strengths: A great service concept, and a great leadership team, starting with Justin Belobaba. Medical Telecom realized early on that they needed to create services that would provide high value to physicians and their practices without asking them to change their busy and hectic workdays. This key insight was embodied in their CallerMD service, but Justin and I realized soon after meeting that we could apply that same insight to other services. Healthscreen completed the acquisition of Medical Telecom in May 2007, and almost immediately launched a new service, PrevCareMD, soon followed by other great services, such as HealthAlert. So the new era is a company that goes beyond supplying great software to one that supplies software and a set of services, all of which are designed to enhance the physician’s practice.
Q: How are practices enhanced?
Dr. Bruce: Great software with proper training can add 20% to 25% efficiency to a practice. PrevCareMD broadens patient participation in preventive care without extra burden to office staff. CallerMD allows physicians to provide a range of uninsured medical services, such as telephone prescriptions and telephone advice, that they might have previously avoided due to administrative difficulties. HealthAlert reminds patients about important medical interventions for chronic diseases like diabetes or immunization schedules. All of these services are designed to free-up time for doctors and their staff by handling most of the administrative burden.
Q:
Are privacy matters a concern?
Dr. Bruce: Absolutely. Nothing else is more important. We live and breathe privacy at Healthscreen every minute of every day. Our staff is immersed in privacy from the minute they join the organization and concerns about confidentiality infuse every aspect and layer of our organization. We regularly consult with privacy regulators and do internal audits to see how we are doing and how we might improve by using best practices. Our Privacy Policy is available here .
Q: Do your services and business model fit with publicly funded medicare?
Dr. Bruce: We are committed to strengthening the public system. Our services enhance and work in parallel with existing government initiatives, such as preventive care, drug adherence, and chronic disease management. Keep in mind that I have worked within the public system for over 25 years as a doctor and grew up in Saskatchewan where medicare was invented. In fact, Tommy Douglas was a friend of my father and I met him several times.
Q: Healthcare has obviously changed a lot since then.
Dr. Bruce: You bet. Healthcare has become incredibly complicated. We help, at a grass roots level, to implement government programs and initiatives by working directly with physicians and patients. It might not be glamorous to call patients to remind them to complete fecal occult blood tests or get a Pap test, but when we realize that we have facilitated literally tens of thousands of tests and helped physicians save lives, we feel a sense of great satisfaction. In fact, we celebrate stories we hear from our doctors about patients whose lives have been positively impacted by Healthscreen.
Q: Can you give an example?
Dr. Bruce: One that comes to mind is a patient of mine who received a call about a fecal occult blood test for colorectal cancer screening. He isn’t a guy who sees a doctor unless hit by a truck, so he thought the call was pretty weird. He told his wife and some friends, one of whom commented that he was actually pretty lucky to have a doctor who cared enough to have someone call. They were used to people calling about dental checkups and servicing for their car, but never from their doctor. After thinking about the call for a couple days, he and his wife decided they should each get a full checkup but first, to pre-empt comments about their weight, maybe they would lose a few pounds first. So they joined the YMCA to help with the weight loss, and a couple weeks into their fitness program, they decided it was crazy to keep smoking. So, when I finally saw my patient, who showed up with his ‘you-know-what- kit’ as he called it, he had lost 20 pounds, quit smoking, and felt the best he had been in 10 years. All from a simple phone call. It is humbling to realize how little effort it takes to make a big difference in someone’s life.
Q: What’s next for Healthscreen?
Dr. Bruce: We have more services in mind. In fact, we have a list of services and software that will keep us busy for several years. We will continue to develop a more robust EMR with expanded connectivity to hospitals and other providers. We will become active in more provinces. And we will continue to consult with physicians, government, regulatory authorities and other stakeholders to understand how we can make a difference and deliver services and products that improve the lives of our fellow citizens, which include you and me, our families, and our children. The answer to better health isn’t just asking government to spend more. We need innovative ideas or our children will go broke paying for our care.
