Interested in Healthcare Tech? Indiana is Flourishing
Indiana entrepreneurs have, over several years, quietly sown the seeds for a burgeoning healthcare-tech market in the Hoosier state. The state’s fertile economic soil, combined with rich healthcare and tech resources, have created the perfect environment for an abundant harvest of successful start-ups in this tech industry niche.
In a recent Inside INdiana Business interview, Springbuk CEO Rod Reasen cited several of the state’s tech and healthcare resources, including insurance giant Anthem, Inc. and Indiana Health Information Exchange. "This is a natural ecosystem for companies like ours to be born out of Indiana,” he said. Indiana has become a healthcare-tech incubator from which several notable start-ups have emerged and continue to flourish. Here’s a look at just a few of the companies that are leading the way:
Healthx: This Hoosier company offers cloud-based digital engagement solutions for healthcare payers and other stakeholders to improve consumer and provider engagement. It employs more than 135 people and has over 200 customers across the country. Healthx has grown consistently since its founding in 1998. Earlier this year, JMI Equity invested $20 million to help drive the company’s continued growth. At this year’s second-annual “Experience Healthx” conference, Healthx CEO Sean Downs said, “Analytics is crucial in delivering the right data to help consumers understand how they can take better control of their own health.”
Springbuk: The two-year-old health analytics company’s proprietary software enables employers to track health care costs and outcomes. In less than a year’s time, Indiana-based Springbuk has almost tripled its customer base from 310 clients in 35 states to over 1,000 in all 50 states and it’s on a trajectory for more clients and more jobs. Springbuk gained attention when it partnered with Fitbit to evaluate health care claims and wearable device data for self-insured employers over a three-year period.
Medical Informatics Engineering: The medical software development firm is tucked in a discreet little corner of northeast Indiana. In 1995, CEO and Chief Technology Officer Doug Horner and co-founder Eric Jones built MIE as one of the country's first sustainable health information exchanges. MIE’s platform allows different clients in completely different market segments to use the modules appropriate for their use cases, objectives and operations. Today, the company serves physicians in more than 2,500 clinics throughout the U.S. and corporate clients including Disney, Dow, Chevron, Xerox, Lilly, HCA and Humana in 52 countries around the world.
Digital Health Solutions: Indiana University School of Medicine professionals Stephen Downs, MD, and Tammy Dugan, senior software developer, launched the startup in 2014. Digital Health Solutions commercialized its software to help pediatricians better target care for their patients. The tool, called Child Health Improvement through Computer Automation (CHICA) augments electronic health records to help physicians better assess patient risks, identify problems earlier and better document care quality. Healthcare IT News named the company as one of the “Health IT Startups to Watch in 2017.”
greenlight guru: Founded in 2013, greenlight guru offers the only quality management software designed specifically for the medical device industry. Founder Jon Speer and Co-founders David DeRam and David Odmark developed their easy-to-use enterprise quality management software (eQMS) to help medical device companies bring devices to market faster, simplify FDA and ISO regulatory compliance and reduce risk. Today, greenlight guru’s software is used by device companies in over 340 cities on five continents. The company announced 175 percent revenue and 40 percent employment growth in the third quarter of 2017. The company recently moved into a new, larger office space and plans to create up to 120 new, high-wage jobs by 2020.
These companies may be the first of many more to follow their lead. In a recent Inc. article, greenlight guru’s DeRam commented on the benefits of locating the company in Indiana. "We've been able to build an amazing team and have plenty of access to capital. We have all the benefits of a high-growth SaaS culture without the common headaches you find on the coasts,” he said. “This is the place where you're going to get both elite talent and scrappy work ethic."
