Dublin has been the home of healthcare customer relationship platform Updox since its 2009 founding. The company has grown from a team of just four to five people to a mainstay in Dublin’s tech community and has created a one-stop solution for healthcare collaboration in the process.
Current methods of communication between doctor and patient force patients to log in to a portal, through sites that lack mobile-friendly design. Updox’s new suite of communication solutions expands what is possible in patient engagement and the interactions between patient and provider. Physicians can securely text patients and set up a live video, or patients can download an app where texts, images, and videos can securely be sent back and forth, says Updox CEO Michael Morgan.
“It’s not a one-size-fits-all engagement strategy, it’s dependent upon the physician, and their staff, and the patient, and how those two want to interact,” says Morgan. “Ultimately, what it does, is help them achieve that goal of being educated and informed, and then feel like they’re getting actually a good experience with their healthcare provider.”
Deviating from the many healthcare tech companies that assist in the clinical process, Updox’s full collaboration platform was created to simplify the day-to-day business of healthcare — from paperwork and forms, authorizations, facilitate orders, filing, etc. The company specifically focuses on smaller, independent practices and specialty healthcare providers. Increasingly, the company has included pharmacies in this target as well, because pharmacists are starting to realize they need some of the same tools as physicians to be more effective, says Morgan.
“Typical patient sees their doctor two or three times a year, but they’ll see their pharmacist 13 times a year,” he says. “As healthcare evolves, the pharmacist is becoming a very important part of the care team.”
The platform has assisted in instances of charity care, as doctors and specialists are able to donate their time via live video and make diagnoses remotely, says Morgan. Patients from the other side of the world are able to achieve a faster diagnosis.
The platform also represents a platform that provides an opportunity for aiding patient comprehension and improving productivity, all in one place.
“The thing that makes it the most innovative is the way that it’s all brought together,” he says. “It really takes a lot of the costs out of the system, but also helps [physicians] actually improve the amount of time, increase the amount of time, they do on care.”
The company has moved around Dublin several times, and in May it settled into its Bridge Park office amidst the area’s ongoing expansion and construction. Updox’s new office has provided enough space for a new round of hiring in its sales, customer service, product, and engineering departments, and is helping bring new employees on. The short walk from Hen Quarter, Kilwins, and 16-Bit is one of the company’s new selling points, says Morgan.
“When we made the move to stay in Dublin, move to Bridge Park, it was really around giving the current employees a great place that they’d be excited to come to work,” he says. “But then it was to help with the recruiting as well, just because of all the amenities that are around.”
Morgan says finding a large enough pool for interviews is difficult, and a lot of companies are simultaneously trying to hire. But he’s excited for Updox as it grows.
“We love when new people come into the company,” he says. “They bring fresh ideas, they help us evolve the culture. It’s an exciting time.”
For more information on Updox, visit updox.com.
Our technology series is presented by our partners in the City of Dublin.
Dublin is a city of more than 47,000 residents located just northwest of Columbus, Ohio. The City of Dublin Economic Development team has a vision to make Dublin a Midwest IT Magnet through business leadership and sustainable workforce development. This commitment goes beyond short-term skills training to include long-term strategic and cultural support for the entire Dublin business community. Dublin is one of America’s Top 20 Creative Class Cities and is home to more than 20 corporate headquarters, an entrepreneurial center, 3,000+ businesses, world-class events and the urban, walkable Bridge Street District.