3 min read January 2023 — EvidenceCare is a unique clinical decision support system (CDSS) driving better care decisions. In an interview with Invest:, Bo Bartholomew, CEO of EvidenceCare and partner at Rockmont Investments, discussed the impact of the company on the regional market, the role of technology in addressing inefficiencies in the healthcare industry, and celebrating the wins, partnerships, and upcoming trends.
What have been some of the primary highlights for EvidenceCare over the past 24 months?
We’ve been fortunate to grow 100% or more the past three years in a row, which was memorialized by our INC 5000 placement this year. This current calendar year we are on pace to grow 200%, so we are extremely excited about that. We’ve made some smart decisions to focus on the products that are adding the most value to the marketplace. Acquiring another company helped by adding a product to the mix. We were fortunate that the product happened to win Fierce Healthcare’s 2021 Innovation Awards for Best New Product of the Year and Best in Clinical Information Management.
What impact has EvidenceCare had on the Nashville and Middle Tennessee market?
With our growth, we are adding jobs, but we also have an internal goal to be a pillar in the Nashville healthcare technological community. We have made some good strides this year by having some fun events like the Nashville Healthcare Tech ping pong tournament and multiple volunteer opportunities for employees. From my vantage point, probably the most important impact for Middle Tennessee is that we are part of the technology disruption that is needed to drive efficiency and automation in the healthcare community, specifically for providers and hospital systems, that are typically behind other sectors like pharmacy. We’ve seen tremendous results over the last two years.
How has being based in the Nashville market helped EvidenceCare achieve new heights?
Aside from the fact that several of the health systems in the area are our clients, the network and the knowledge base that comes out of Nashville are unparalleled in the market. We have an office in Seattle that has great engineering talent, but the healthcare insights and the healthcare expertise is found in Nashville.
How have your products and services addressed some inefficiencies in the healthcare system?
Over the last 20 years, I have managed a lot of teams that worked to improve documentation and payment collection, but it can become more efficient by changing from manual work to technology-driven software. In 2020, we [Rockmont] were looking to invest in EvidenceCare because we saw the results of the initial strides and the opportunity to jump into the front end of the platform that is not only embedded in the EHR, but is also EHR-agnostic and content-agnostic, so it allows any provider to deploy their content in real-time regardless of the hospital. We disrupt the silos that are in the EHR, as well as the fact that homegrown content and analytics were built for one platform at the time. We enable it to be scalable and seamless. It creates enormous efficiencies, and all health systems are looking for improvement in their workflows to help their clinicians.
What trends do you see emerging in the healthcare space over the next couple of years?
We are actively looking at potential new acquisitions when they make sense. There is a lot of innovation that excites us, platforms like ours are now able to bring real-time automation to clinical workflows both for the nurses, oftentimes at admissions, ED, and the triage process, and for physicians. 90% of the pathways that doctors need to reference in the market are either in hard copy, PDF, or on a separate platform. We believe the future is going to be taking those documents and automating the workflow so that our engine behind the scenes gets smarter and works with the EHR functions without them having to manually go search.
What traditions do you have in place to celebrate your company’s achievements?
I have been with several companies over the years, and when I stopped and reflected on the ones that I learned and appreciated the most, they did a great job of celebrating the milestones. In North America, we are constantly striving to create success and wealth, but we must do a better job to stop and celebrate the wins along the way and appreciate everybody involved. At EvidenceCare we go out of our way to celebrate our wins through bell ringing, a tradition that started out the gate. Every time we would sign a new contract we would ring the bell, and now we do it for significant product releases or notable wins inside the company. We take time, slow down, and don’t just ring the bell, but celebrate as a team.
What makes Nashville and Middle Tennessee a great place to do business?
Most people think of Middle Tennessee as a place with a collaborative culture. Some might argue that this is because of the southern hospitality, but most southerners are also deeply competitive. However, there is the belief that the city rises by helping each other. We know that a rising tide raises all boats, so there is a general desire to see that growth and contribute to making our region great. In any given week we are helping other companies in the community, even if it doesn’t give us any benefit, but because it is the way we are. We want to be good stewards of the relationships we build and the doors we can open.
What partnerships are you looking to foster?
Our focus is on health systems and hospitals, and they are telling us that their top priority is regarding the workforce, and how to retain and equip them at the same time to increase efficiency. All our partnership discussions center around that. The second thing we’ve been hearing from our clients is that they must improve their financials, especially considering that costs are up. With this in mind, we believe that anything we can do to improve the revenue or reduce their costs is of huge value. That is where we are seeing the growth, and we will stay focused on that for all partnerships going forward.
What trends do you see developing in the next couple of years?
Broadly speaking, I don’t know if the costs will come down. I think all of us are hopeful that inflation will get under control. There is a backlog of supply chain issues that have sprung during the pandemic, and it has persisted, and as a result, many companies are raising rates and blaming it on the market dynamics. I’m not optimistic that it will resolve itself anytime soon.
On the other hand, health systems are getting smarter, several technologies help bring AI to the workflows, the supply chain, and the purchasing ability. To respond to this, we want to bring products that have proven results and can deliver. We will be working to provide valuable services and meet our clients’ acute needs.
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