HQ: West Palm Beach
Business: Enables secure, instant communication between healthcare providers.
CEO: Chris Craft
No. of employees: 30
Chris Craft, CEO of ScriptSender
Don’t tell Chris Craft it can’t be done.
The former CIO at a healthcare system found that simply and securely sending or receiving health information, be it prescriptions, health records or other documents, was time consuming and staff intensive – not to mention archaic. That’s because the systems the doctors, labs and hospitals used weren’t compatible with one another; documents often had to be faxed and then input on the other end, an inefficient process that could be prone to errors.
But when Craft thought there had to be a better way, doctors said it couldn’t be done. The company’s board told the healthcare executive that “not everything is a technology problem to be solved.”
So on his own time, Craft built a solution and his company agreed to be the first user. In year one, the organization reaped large savings, Craft said.
If it worked for that organization, others could benefit too, Craft believed. That’s when he launched ScriptSender in New England and moved it to Palm Beach County in 2014.
“We connect healthcare systems, hospitals, specialty physicians and labs. All their systems speak different languages and it causes a lot of unnecessary work and delays in patient care,” said Craft, founder and CEO of ScriptSender. “Our software makes their systems speak the same language.”
And it has to be ridiculously easy to install and use. After all, doctors can be demanding customers.
Today, ScriptSender offers six subscription-based products, including its original product for sending scripts between entities and another for transmitting diagnostic images. They are used by major healthcare systems in every state and other countries, Craft said.
“We also work with the independent facilities [such as] the small to midsize lab or pharmacy, and we are able to provide them technology to compete at the enterprise level.”
In December alone, ScriptSender sold more subscriptions than the entire year before. Profits grew significantly last year, Craft said. Craft credits the company’s success with having a skilled team that is customer-centric.
“Every customer comes with different challenges,” said Craft. “We’ve had to be versatile and willing to change our approach and our model. Our whole product suite is built on customer need.”
Nationwide, ScriptSender has about 30 employees, and Craft expects that to double over the next 12 months in Palm Beach County.
Part of the ScriptSender Team
What’s ahead? Robust growth. ScriptSender’s headquarters at 319 Clematis St. is expanding, and nine products are planned for 2018 rollout. The expansion roadmap includes South America and Australia, and more innovation is on the way. “We’re working on data projects to help our customers not only run their business better but help make better decisions about treating patients using their own data,” Craft said.
Craft likes the way the county’s close-knit tech community is developing, and he’s part of Palm Beach Tech’s education committee. “We need more continual investment, not only in retaining technical companies, but also in growing our technical resources and training.”