Electronic Health Reporter

High-demand healthcare providers have no good system in place to drive differentiating value at the time of patient scheduling. With an increase in demand and reduction of time, doctors need to be smarter about how they run their business. Some doctors need to prioritize based on completing a specific surgery. Others need to prioritize based on the greatest opportunity for high reimbursement. But through it all doctors need to maintain a full schedule and optimized revenue while keeping their patients happy and loyal.

Elevator pitch

Opargo delivers incremental revenue to healthcare providers through schedule optimization. Opargo helps healthcare providers optimize the value of time.

Product/service description

Healthcare providers have previously used a “first come first serve” or “look and book” calendar approaches to schedule patients. This is also how airlines booked passengers in the past. However, as airlines started to incorporate revenue management principles at the time of booking, they saw significant increases in revenue and long-term corporate value.

Opargo is a patent-pending solution that integrates reimbursement rates, reimbursement timing, referral sources, visit types, historical demand and more to determine the value of each visit for healthcare providers. High-value visits are given prioritization to ensure patients don’t look for other providers, as wait times greater than two weeks cause patients to “shop around.” By ensuring high value patients don’t leave, healthcare providers have seen up to a 20 percent increase in annual revenue.

However, there are benefits to the patients of healthcare providers using Opargo, too. First, all patients are seen and no one is denied medical care due to type of insurance. Opargo ensures all patients are seen at the right time. Second, Opargo leverages its proprietary algorithm to ensure patients are seen by the most qualified provider. This helps patients get the most optimal care from the optimal provider as soon as possible.

Bookings made in Opargo’s cloud-based application are automatically passed into practice management systems to ensure all down-line processes remain in-tact. Currently, Opargo integrates with GE Centricity practice solution, Greenway PrimeSuite and AthenaHealth.

Founders’ story

Opargo was born through an opportune conversation between a practicing pain management physician and travel technologist. The doctor was looking at ways to drive profitability in his practice by lowering costs. Upon closer inspection, they realized it wasn’t a cost problem. It was a revenue problem.

Could revenue optimization at time of scheduling, as the travel industry had done successfully for many years, provide a better path to revenue growth? Yes. Applying similar concepts to scheduling within the doctor’s practice proved these benefits could be replicated in a clinical setting, without impacting costs.

The result of this breakthrough is Opargo, the first revenue optimization solution that leverages historical data and reimbursement rates to manage service scheduling for healthcare practices. By blending real-time information, technology and market forces, Opargo maximizes busy healthcare providers’ time, allowing them to focus on what they do best.

Marketing/promotion strategy

Opargo markets the solution to healthcare providers through a direct sales force. Opargo also promotes the solution through practice management system partners to market Opargo to mutual customers.

Market opportunity (in your particular space—numbers, competitors, etc. are helpful)

Opargo’s primary market opportunity focuses on private practice healthcare providers. There are approximately 1.3 million practicing healthcare providers in the United States.  This group falls into physicians, physician assistants, dentists, podiatrists, chiropractors, physical therapists, surgery centers, etc. Opargo’s addressable market is around 515,000 healthcare providers as these are the ones who are part of a private practice and not a hospital group.

Opargo’s solution also works well for larger hospital systems that are trying to manage resourcing and staffing, as well as increasing value. Opargo ensures patients don’t get lost in the scheduling system of a large healthcare organization while driving still incremental revenue.

How your company differentiates itself from the competition

Opargo is different from other scheduling systems as it not a scheduling application but instead a healthcare value optimization solution. It takes into account visit value, based on what is important to the healthcare provider, at the time of booking. It then recommends the right times for the patient to be seen. Opargo is also different from the competition as it does not focus on merely generating more low value visits. Instead it focuses on driving value from all potential visits.

Business model (how the company makes money or plans to make money)

Opargo is free. With Opargo there are no implementation fees and no monthly maintenance fees. Instead, Opargo’s commercial model is a share of incremental revenue. As Opargo generates incremental revenue for healthcare providers, Opargo takes a percentage of the increase. This means that if Opargo does not provide value to a healthcare provider, the provider does not pay for Opargo’s services. Therefore, there is no risk to healthcare providers to use Opargo.

Healthcare providers have seen fantastic results with Opargo. Providers on average have seen 20 percent year over year revenue increases by ensuring they see the right patient at the right time.

Current needs

Opargo is in an exciting growth mode. Opargo is hiring for several key roles to grow our sales, account management and service functions. Opargo is currently funded through several strategic angel investors. However, Opargo is considering raising additional capital in late 2014/early 2015 to support the significant market response.

Opargo Overview Video

http://vimeo.com/90762815

When founded

2013

Number of full-time employees

14

Headquarters

Irving, Texas