eClinicalWorks Is and Planning to Stay Private

According to an IDC report, the electronic health reform (EHR) market is projected to grow from $1.9 billion in 2009 to $3.8 billion by 2015, with outpatient EHR contributing $1.41 billion of the market and inpatient EHR services bringing in the remaining $2.4 billion. One of privately held players in the industry, eClinicalWorks, is seeing strong traction in its customer base that supports such projections.

eClinicalWorks’s Financials

Westborough, Massachusetts–based eClinicalWorks was founded in 1999 by current CEO, Girish Kumar Navani, whom I spoke with three years ago. eClinicalWorks was founded to digitize the healthcare industry and to simplify communication and workflow between a physician’s office and the rest of healthcare industry. The company went on to become a provider of unified electronic medical records and practice management solutions.

eClinicalWorks’s products include a comprehensive solution aimed at making the medical world a paperless one. Their portfolio includes tools for managing electronic medical records (EMRs) that are simple to use and intuitive. They also offer practice management solutions for providers to help manage appointments, schedules and necessary information about their patients. They have a patient portal that lets both patients and providers communicate with each other through the Internet and through a messaging service that uses SMS text messages, voice mail services and e-mails. Keeping in tune with the times, their offerings have also gone mobile, and their secure services are accessible from any device, anywhere.

eClinicalWorks charges a monthly subscription fee for their services. Basic cloud-based packages begin at $375 a month per provider. Additional features are available in premium packages, which range from $449 per month to 2.9% of practice collections. These packages come with features such as 24/7 support, private cloud hosting, and billing services.

The company realizes the importance of delivering strong products. They recently announced plans to invest $25 million over the course of the year toward development of patient engagement tools. Their product line will include a free mobile app for patients that will be available for both iOS and Android based devices. The tool will directly connect patients to their own and family electronic health records so that they can have quick access and faster two-way communication with providers.

Today, eClinicalWorks boasts of a network of more than 70,000 physicians and 410,000-plus medical professionals as their customers spread across the country. They have received several recognitions within the industry and were ranked in the Leader Quadrant by IDC Health Insights. They do not publish their financials, but have claimed that revenues for 2011 grew more than 35% over the year to over $200 million. And,unlike some other new age players, eClinicalWorks has been delivering profits, keeping operations closely held between the founders, and managing to stay cash positive and debt free.

Where most other players chose to go public, eClinicalWorks has remained privately held and does not have immediate plans of an IPO. In fact, in an interview published a few years ago, Navani talked of his desire not to public as it would “kill my freedom to be shackled by reporting to Wall Street every quarter.”

We hear this sentiment from an increasing number of entrepreneurs!