Most healthcare vendors are focused these days on improving the physician-patient relationship. API Healthcare finds its niche in looking in the other direction.
The Hartford, Wis.-based company, which recently changed its name from API Software, debuted its new platform this week at HIMSS09 in Chicago. The company has combined its human capital management offerings into one platform to help hospitals and healthcare providers improve their workforce.
'It's our new focus," said J.P. Fingado, the company's president and CEO, who proudly notes that his company deals only in the healthcare sector. "Everything is on a single platform."
Given that 60 percent of the cost in a hospital is tied to labor, he said, providers are looking for ways to make sure their resources are being used correctly. That means assigning the right nurses to the right patients, making sure overtime costs are kept down and providing an easier platform for nurses and their supervisors to fill shifts.
Founded in 1982, API has succeeded as a vendor of independent solutions focused on time and attendance, staffing and scheduling, patient classification and payroll and human resources to more than 600 healthcare organizations. The company was acquired by Francisco Partners, a San Francisco-based private equity fund, last November, and announced its name change in March.
Fingado and Christine Foxworth, the company's vice president of marketing, say API's focus now is on offering one complete platform to providers looking to cut costs and improve efficiency in these tough times. To that end, API will be rolling out a number of new products this year, including a patient classification system that allows hospitals to match nurses with patients who need more directed care, a business intelligence platform and a payroll management solution.
"If it touches the employee, it's something we're going to be bringing to the table," said Fingado. "What we're telling them is we're not just going into an institution - we're also touching all of their employees wherever they are."
Given the status of the economy, providers are looking for ways to cut costs without negatively affecting patient care. A software product that promises to improve workforce management, streamlining the behind-the-scenes work, will get some attention in the marketplace. Add to that the time-honored saying that if the employees are happy, the company is efficient, and the output is improved.
"The economic stimulus has created a huge demand for business," said Fingado. "Healthcare providers are looking for quick wins. The challenge then becomes, how do they want to affect their processes."