DeVenture Health Partners: The Information Adventure - Health Executive - RedCoat Publishing - Inside Healthcare

Some might say DeVenture Health Partners was asking for trouble when it got started in January 2004. A medical transcription service organization (MTSO), the small start up was going head to head with companies that had 10,000-plus employees and years of experience. But CEO Michael DeVille said the company had a vision of how it could provide services better than the giants, and after less than five years, its growing pool of clients is inclined to agree.

DeVenture entered the marketplace after DeVenture Health Partners bought an existing company with hospital clients. DeVille said the company was looking for an acquisition with solid relationships with hospitals but not necessarily a strong management team. The idea was to bring in a high level of business management expertise coupled with skilled transcription experts to create a high level service.

Michael DeVille, CEO

“We strive to recruit the right people to manage the organization. We find the best technical experts in transcription, like our quality assurance managers, our director of transcription, and our trainers,” said DeVille. “But we look outside the industry to bring business expertise to transcription.”

Business process development was one of the highest priorities. This focus helped the company capture experienced people early on, both through the initial acquisition and development of the management team. Thanks to a happy marriage between the transcription professionals and business experts, DeVenture is now in position to successfully compete against much larger companies.

Tackling competition
DeVille said the company is up against two kinds of competitors: other MTSOs and hospitals handling the service inhouse. There are different selling points depending on the scenario, but DeVenture’s strength is demonstrating capacity.

For hospitals running inhouse programs, the company puts together return on investment (ROI) spreadsheets and sits down with potential clients to analyze costs. It details what the DeVenture technology can deliver and how the service saves the client money. If the hospital has medical transcriptionists (MTs) on staff, DeVenture is interested in hiring them directly and helping them become more productive as employees of the DeVenture team.

“There is a lot of ambiguity in how other companies do sales and ROI analysis, but we’re very open in our process,” DeVille said. “We share our spreadsheet with the client, we make sure we agree on the numbers, we show them what their internal costs are, and we show them where the cost savings are.”

DeVille also said many hospitals have been frustrated by past dealings with other MTSOs. When competitors failed to meet contractual standards, it became difficult for the hospital to resolve problems. In contrast, DeVenture takes a customer service account management approach to operations.

Depending on the contractual arrangement, DeVenture will send an account management summary to its clients either quarterly or monthly. This objective, internal report card grades DeVenture’s service performance, grading itself both graphically and in language on turnaround time, quality, and customer support. It includes details like how many calls came in for critical or general issues, how they were broken down, how they were resolved, and what DeVenture and the client can learn from the experience.

“We are very open about this, and we don’t make excuses. Either we say we’re doing a good job, or we say we need to improve and detail the areas where improvement is needed,” DeVille said. “This provides the hospital’s health information manager something to give to the CEO or CFO to keep him/her apprised of how things are going.”

DeVenture also offers choices when it comes to service selection. While it sells transcription services through its own secure health information network enterprise software (SHINE) to small and medium-sized hospitals, it also sells voice recognition editing (VRE) services as part of a business relationship with eScription. DeVille says the company only offers VRE services on the eScription platform because the company feels it is the best platform on the market.

The eScription relationship also benefits DeVenture’s sales efforts. With the SHINE product, most sales are done through direct selling and leads generated from trade shows, as well as word of mouth from satisfied clients. eScription provides a channel networking relationship, funneling opportunities through the eScription pipeline, buoyed by DeVenture’s successful performance history for existing eScription accounts.

Learning and development
Going forward, staffing remains one of DeVille’s biggest challenges. It is fair to ask why medical transcriptionists would want to work for a smaller company, but DeVille said many MTs don’t like the disconnect they feel when working for larger organizations. Many are based at home and end up feeling like an independent worker. DeVenture doesn’t want to operate like that.

“Even though our MTs are based in 25 different states, we want them to feel like part of a team, not like just another transcriptionist out there typing away,” said DeVille. “We try to bring them together for regular meetings to improve communication between management and staff.”

Unlike larger MTSOs, DeVenture is in a growth mode and can give people opportunities for advancement. The best MTs can move up to become team leads or quality assurance administrators and managers. The company is also careful when it comes to demand planning and tries to accurately forecast how much work is out there and match it with worker supply. This guarantees job security in addition to the opportunity for career development.

With growth continuing across the US, DeVenture recently opened a second location in Berkeley, Calif. to complement efforts in its Canton, Ohio office. The company will be making some minor enhancements to its Shine software to help improve worker productivity. But the primary focus this year will be on continual process improvement, especially with its training efforts. With an expanding workforce, DeVenture is using the University of Phoenix distance-learning model to get its curriculum to people across the US.

“We’re developing training videos we can post on our secure Web site. It is a module approach with training tips, information on account set up, and information on ways MTs can improve productivity and better understand their accounts and team members,” said DeVille. “It doesn’t substitute for human interaction, but we don’t have the luxury of pulling MTs into a central office for training, so we’re taking successful models for distance learning and incorporating that into our organization.”

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