An interview with Medical Web Experts CEO John Deutsch

John Deutsch, CEO of Medical Web Experts, has been a vital component in the exponential growth of numerous healthcare IT and Internet companies over the last ten years. He deems the emerging field of healthcare technology a significant opportunity to advance today’s healthcare.
Dedicated to delivering solutions to physicians that translate into a greater overall efficiency and a higher level of care, John has worked in the development of four Electronic Medical Record/Patient Portal software solutions and was the co-founder of EMR Experts, an EMR software consulting firm which has helped hundreds of healthcare practices convert to an EMR solution.
John has benefited immensely from a unique mix of professional experiences, boasting a strong background in both marketing and technology. He recently took time out to discuss his views on healthcare IT, and where he sees the direction of both it and his company going in the coming years.
What do you understand about your business that other companies in your space just don’t get?
Most of our competitors, especially new companies entering the healthcare IT space think that its easy to develop solutions for healthcare. What they don’t understand is that healthcare is one of the most technologically inefficient industries for a reason. It’s full of challenges. New companies enter in all the time funded with high VC budgets but very few turn a profit. In order for one to succeed in this industry one must truly understand the challenges that both the patient and physician are faced with. The patient, who is most cases does not put their health first and the physician, who doesn’t have a whole lot of time to learn new technologies.
What keeps you up at night?
Coming up with ideas for our patient portal that naturally work, not things that require us to push upstream. As a new business owner many other things keep me up, such as staff issues, cash flow and company organization – but that comes with the territory.
What is your long-term strategy? What needs to happen in the next 3 years for you to feel happy with your progress?
I want to develop a solution that actually works and that grows by word of mouth in the patient and physician community. I want to see our patient portal achieve a point where patients can securely communicate with a physician via their smart phone, while other devices monitor vital signs. For example, a scale in the patient’s bathroom automatically updates the portal, a blood pressure cuff does the same, then the patient could be at work and does a quick video chat consultation with their physician. All the vital signs are available for the physician to see. Its a concept of being part of a patient’s lifestyle, not crunched into an office appointment every 6 months. This extends to multiple people being involved in a patients care, including other providers (dietician, nurse, health advocate, etc.) and a patient’s loved ones or caretaker.
Describe any other team members and advisors.
I’ve received a lot of influence from Dr. Steven Schnur, a successful cardiologist and entrepreneur in Miami, FL. I’ve also, as of late, begun the seek more advice from experienced lawyers and accountants in an effort to better organize the company for efficiency and lower risk exposure.
Why are you the right person or team to start this business?
I started in the healthcare IT industry when I was 19 years old. This has given me 11 years of experience in business, healthcare and technology.
Why are you passionate about building a health and wellness company?
Like most, I think we all look at this industry and say, “Why is it so far behind everything else while being so incredibly important. Something must be done!”