Medical app for paramedics

[mikekob]

Hey guys and gals,

Quick back story as I think I should make a progress thread soon.

I'm a paramedic who was trying to create an iPad based charting program. Some of the features were pretty cool but it was a huge project. Business partner took some "personal time" for a few months while I got some details ironed out.

This project started over a year ago with a simple "why?" To fix a huge problem in EMS.

Fast forward through lots of frustration, second guessing, and more alcohol than I care to admit and here we are. We took a very simple concept from our initial program and ran with it.

It's essentially a very simple communication tool to be used by paramedics, firefighters, EMT's, and hospital staff to send info from the field to the ER. The clients are just about done, back end is completed for an MVP, and we've begun testing.

After talking with some previous co-workers in the emergency rooms locally, we've managed to land a meeting/presentation with three VP's at a massive hospital organization on Monday.

I'm so excited I can't sleep, can't eat, and being at work over the last few days has been unbearable.

But after all that bullshit, I'm still standing and still executing like a boss.

I'll have some time fairly soon to do a progress thread if you guys think that would be a better place to house my progress.

Mike

 

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[Silverhawk851]

Up with the thread!

Great need to be solved, can eradicate HUGE wastes of time. I had a motorcycle accident and had to lie in pain for 2 hours for them to figure out the right info on what happened and where to go from there.

Will be following along, go get it!

 

[mikekob]

We're gearing this towards the "cardiac alert" program. Sending info will get the hospital ready and save tons of time and damage to the heart.

Our meeting is to have our program placed in 8 hospitals and 4 clinics. So if this meeting Monday goes well I'll be turning in my two weeks Tuesday.

 

[throttleforward]

As a former EMT - good luck!

Are you doing any bluetooth integration with the monitors? I imagine this would be huge for allowing a non-ALS system/provider to do a 12-lead and send it to the ER for STEMI alerts.

 

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[mikekob]

We aren't. We're going for a much simpler less exclusive method. As for business growth were developing an ePCR in the near future and a monitor built into the iPad. We have a lot, and I mean a lot of growth and plans down the road.

Going from a medic to this has been a huge learning curve. I'm just trying to keep my head above water and most of all have fun with it.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Sounds very exciting. I don't know much about your industry (or the need) but I definitely like story.

This project started over a year ago with a simple "why?" To fix a huge problem in EMS.

Reads like the early beginnings of a success story...

And 6 years later, the company was sold for $153 million.

 

[mikekob]

So here's something nice.

Got to my developers house after work today for a usual meeting time. I now have a working hospital client on my iPad being used for testing. When I walk into our meeting Monday I'll have a fully functional product to show them.

 

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[jrace4fun]

I see a nice fishing boat in your future.

 

[mikekob]

So here's a little update on the big meeting today. Myself and my partner were able to bring a fully functioning demo and show them hos it works. The three women are VP's for HCA, the largest hospital group in the nation. They looked at a similar product a couple years ago but were looking at a massive price tag. We laid it all out there and talked about and questions they had.

All in all they were incredibly impressed. The fact that we're two paramedics who see first hand and support how this would be helping was a plus too. Not some D-bag salesman trying to make a sale. They liked it enough to give us some really good feedback. They'll talk with some other cardiology heads and get us another meeting to start getting the pieces in place. Pricing came up towards the end and this is where it gets real nice. I told them the structure and how much for the hospital and the initial setup fees. They want to pilot it in three of their hospitals and one seemed to slip when she said we can publish the results as well. Those ladies want it pretty bad.

So for my first meeting ever. And I mean ever, this was awesome. Talk about a rush. Sitting in there going toe to toe with these exec's was a hell of a good time. And to have their vote makes it even better.

Mike

 

[throttleforward]

VP's for HCA

Holy Crap! Awesome work! There are several HCA hospitals in the Richmond system. I could probably make some connections with the ems system down there if they wanted to pilot with one of those (I'd recommend Chippenham - pretty sure they have a cath lab)

 

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[IAmTheJeff]

That's awesome, Mike! Hope everything works out exactly how you plan!!

 

[mikekob]

Thanks guys. I still have one hell of a smile on my face. My friend who setup the meeting and was in there was very impressed. Apparently these women are the "shark tank" of healthcare and we killed it. Stay tuned.

 

[Magik]

Everyone, HCA is the real deal. HCA is based out of my city, Nashville. They are indeed huge, a multi-billion dollar corporation started by The Frists, the richest family in the state of TN. If you get in there and they put you in the majority of their hospitals, you are set. Everyone else will follow. The fact that you are already meeting with them is HUGE.

 

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[LeftBench]

Keep up the great work, Mike! What a great thread so far. I wish you the best of luck!!!!

 

[Runum]

Congrats on the progress. Keep on pushing.

 

[Erik Heyl]

Go. Kill.

 

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[LisaK]

Very inspiring!

 

[mikekob]

Thanks everyone!

Now that we've entered the corporate setting I'm hoping things don't move at a snails pace. No time frames of any sort came up yesterday but any "exclusivity" wasn't mentioned.

One thing I learned yesterday was free vs. discount. I've had many people ask for a "free testing period" some up to four months. Yeah right. You want it first but you want it for free? The main VP who we would be dealing with asked for a pilot discount which I was more than happy to give but she saw the value. True show of an experienced business woman, not some amateur looking for a handout.

 

[Unknown]

I get where you're coming from on the free thing, but a 14 day free trial might get them to the point where they think they need your software. It's been my experience that once people in the medical field get a new toy, they don't want to give it up.

 

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[jon.a]

Thanks everyone!

Now that we've entered the corporate setting I'm hoping things don't move at a snails pace. No time frames of any sort came up yesterday but any "exclusivity" wasn't mentioned.

One thing I learned yesterday was free vs. discount. I've had many people ask for a "free testing period" some up to four months. Yeah right. You want it first but you want it for free? The main VP who we would be dealing with asked for a pilot discount which I was more than happy to give but she saw the value. True show of an experienced business woman, not some amateur looking for a handout.

Exclusivity would seem awkward in a life saving business.

 

[mikekob]

You'd be surprised. They're just as competitive as the next market. Healthcare is massive dollars so you have to better than the next hospital. Everyone including the people we spoke with yesterday have asked about other hospitals and them wanting to be the first. I'll just sit back and capitalize on capitalization. Publications came up in topic yesterday by one of the VP's so they are already seeing the benefit of having it out there first.

EDIT: The exclusivity was bring proposed as a 6 month "We won't sell to anyone, but at 6 mos 1 day were going live elsewhere." With that right would also be publicity and being published. I'm glad these ladies are thinking the same thing.

 

[ilrein]

Way to go buddy! Keep up the updates! Let's hope they don't take 6 months to materialize =D

 

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[mikekob]

Yeah that's what I'm worried about. I'm not sure how quickly thing like this take but hopefully the interest from other hospitals puts a little flame under their a$$. In the meantime we'll keep plugging away with coding and development and I'll be showing it off as much as I can to the right people.

 

[TedM]

Make sure you find out what they use for the MPI (Master Patient Index) and figure out how to interface w/it.

That comes from 15 yrs corporate hospital IT experience. That'll be your key to acceptance by IT.

 

[mikekob]

We aren't interfacing with their networks. We'll use their guest wifi or install an iPad with cell service if the internet is questionable.

The "competition" interfaces and it costs exponentially more than our program.

 

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[TedM]

We aren't interfacing with their networks. We'll use their guest wifi or install an iPad with cell service if the internet is questionable.

The "competition" interfaces and it costs exponentially more than our program.

Ok, so once a patient comes in - how are they registered?
How does the patient information get into the hospital's systems?
How are they to be identified?
"John Doe" is rescued naked from a burning building. EMT give him 20CC of whatever...how will that info get to the hospital in a meaningful way?

You can say "Well, there is a way to print it out so they can scan it." or whatever you want...

But, you must find a way to talk through how your data about the patient will be usable within the hospital. If you don't, IT will fight down those VP's.

It's been years since I was in the business, but again - at the time I held a managerial role in a 4 quatenary care academic hospital group with 10,000 plus staff. Could be that things have changed, but I doubt it.

At the time, IT would have squashed an attempt like this in its infancy - unless it had a way to somehow connect to the medical record.

Again - most hospitals probably still have some kind of scanning operation, so even just a printout of some sort would go a long way.

I'd be happy to be wrong in your case, I'm just sharing my experience.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

If you get in there and they put you in the majority of their hospitals, you are set. Everyone else will follow.

Yup, especially one of the top dogs. Social proof is now the best marketing there is. The fact that you got an audience with one of the industry leaders is a huge accomplishment, nevermind the sale. That in itself lends credibility to the problem you aim to solve.

Seems to be a lot of great Fastlane success stories in their infancy.

 

[MKAmsterdam]

Sounds Great! The fact that you're a medic will definitely help gain traction with the main stake holders.

Last year, I was in an E-health incubator for building an brushingtool/app for pediatric dentists. I quit after MVP/product testing because I wasn't ready tech-wise & capital wise. It stings, but here is some advice which might be of use.

I am sure you're aware of most things, this is also for other members trying to break in to this high-barrier, high reward industry.

A. Spend time to fully understand all stakeholders: The main difference between a regular and a medical product launch is that due to heavy regulation and general adversity to change, a single non-willing stakeholder can kill your product.

Therefore, you need to be able to fully understand the needs of each, so you can communicate you "get" this stakeholder and his needs with your solution.

Suggestion: 1. Make a detailed persona of each key stake holder (general description + Professional & personal interest in your innovation)
2. Divide stake holders in the following groups, in order of importance:

- Core user (The main characters, usually the patient and the treating docter)
- Directly operationally involved (Direct physically involved in the process, assisting the core user)
- Indirectly operationally involved or condition setting (i.e. key department heads, IT buyer, Telecom company )- Influencer of broadbased implementation ( Investors, media, branch organisations, government)

3. For each key stake holder, list demands and needs.

For a full list of suggestions: PM me for access to my reports.

4. Through your board meetings & interviews, you should have a list of needs, many of which are overlapping among different stakeholders (for example, "reliability" is crucial to all operational stakeholders, while "Return on investment" is only relevant for department heads & investors).

5. Classify each need as either:

- Crucial (if a "Crucial need" is not satisfied, the innovation cannot be implemented)
- Important
- Nice to have

6. Now, you can rank all needs by importance, and how often it comes up with different stake holders. This will give you a priority list of needs the innovation must fulfill. Or, in pre-launch phase, a priority list of things you need to prove that you can fulfill.

B. It seems you're collecting/relaying intimate medical data. This is extremely heavily regulated.

Good luck!!

 

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[mikekob]

I look at it as quite the feat to get in there in the first place as well. Getting the time and attention from those three women was pretty impressive regardless. Also my perception has really helped with this whole venture. I'm really trying to enjoy it as much as I can and look at every obstacle as a problem that I'm going to solve instead of a headache.

I found out Friday the main VP that we were talking to resigned two days later. Her last day will be May 9th. I look at it as two benefits.

1. Keep in contact with the other two VP's and take the direction we were initially.

2. Stay in contact with the VP that is leaving and have a sort of pitch to be the product she brings to the new job. Might be a good intro to the new company.

Overall I'm very happy with this adventure so far.

 

[mikekob]

Not a whole ton of movement. Got our iPhone app loaded on my phone for testing/demo purposes. Watching it on the phone instead of through Xcode is really exciting.

I was contacted late last week by my contact with HCA. We were asked to meet with one of the local hospitals to get this in their hospital. We meet Monday with 7-8 of their execs and dept heads. Having the first meeting with corporate should help quite a bit as it seems like this will be a much more proactive and constructive meeting.

One of the things I'm looking at now is pricing. If anyone has any input I'd be all ears. I thought I had it ironed out but we were told out prices were too high. Granted we were told that by people who want it for the cheapest price possible.

I began making a demo video this week. I have several videos of the screen, and some images to put in too. I'm using camtasia and reflection. If you guys know of a better option let me know

Mike