Fast-growing health firms make list (The Tennesean)
Published: Sunday August 29, 2010
Categories: In the News
Commentary
By Randy McClain.
It should be no surprise when new companies pop up on a fast track in the health-care arena in Nashville.
It's a niche that has spawned international success stories when the right idea gets matched by healthy doses of capital and hard work from local entrepreneurs. Think HCA among for-profit hospital companies, or Franklin-based HealthSpring, a 10-year-old outfit that just made a $545 million acquisition of Baltimore-based Bravo Health, a national competitor that offers Medicare Advantage and drug plans to seniors in a number of states.
More evidence that Nashville hasn't lost its touch for spawning young, fast-growth health-care companies can be seen in Inc. magazine's September issue.
Each fall Inc. — a magazine that highlights entrepreneurs' success stories — unveils twin lists dubbed the Inc. 500and Inc. 5000. Both rank companies (large and small) based on three-year growth rates for revenue.
The biggest Nashville-area company ranked this year is Simplex HealthCare, which sells diabetes-testing kits and other supplies to about 220,000 active patients by mail from its offices in Cool Springs. Since getting started three years ago, Simplex has increased its customer count tenfold.
Smaller — but growing at a brisk clip as well — is Cumberland Consulting. Cumberland, which made the Inc. 5000, consults with health-care providers on how to use technology to improve medical care and efficiency.
With nearly $193 million in sales last year, Simplex is in a great spot to cash in as more Americans are diagnosed with diabetes A horrific truth is that doctors diagnose about 1.6 million new cases of diabetes per year in this country.
"That makes us bullish about future growth," said Craig Hartman, chief financial officer at Simplex, which sells supplies under the Diabetes Care Club brand. Hartman joined Simplex two years ago after 11 years with pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly in Indianapolis.
Cumberland and its 91 consultants tip the scales at just under $9 million a year in revenue, and the firm's managing partner, Jim Lewis, believes the new federal emphasis on building a stronger platform to share electronic health records will boost consulting sales.
"Things were moving relatively slowly through the end of last year, but in 2010 health-care providers have really started to pick up on the incentives being offered for e-medicine. Our workload looks really strong for the second half of the year," Lewis said.
At Simplex, Hartman has made a personal career shift to a Middle Tennessee company with 265 employees and less than $200 million in sales after working at Lilly, an international firm with nearly $22 billion in revenue last year.
Working "at a mega-cap company" like Lilly was a whole different culture than at lean, flexible Simplex, Hartman said. As an executive at Lilly, "your life was spent in meetings from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m."
It's a niche that has spawned international success stories when the right idea gets matched by healthy doses of capital and hard work from local entrepreneurs. Think HCA among for-profit hospital companies, or Franklin-based HealthSpring, a 10-year-old outfit that just made a $545 million acquisition of Baltimore-based Bravo Health, a national competitor that offers Medicare Advantage and drug plans to seniors in a number of states.
More evidence that Nashville hasn't lost its touch for spawning young, fast-growth health-care companies can be seen in Inc. magazine's September issue.
Each fall Inc. — a magazine that highlights entrepreneurs' success stories — unveils twin lists dubbed the Inc. 500and Inc. 5000. Both rank companies (large and small) based on three-year growth rates for revenue.
The biggest Nashville-area company ranked this year is Simplex HealthCare, which sells diabetes-testing kits and other supplies to about 220,000 active patients by mail from its offices in Cool Springs. Since getting started three years ago, Simplex has increased its customer count tenfold.
Smaller — but growing at a brisk clip as well — is Cumberland Consulting. Cumberland, which made the Inc. 5000, consults with health-care providers on how to use technology to improve medical care and efficiency.
With nearly $193 million in sales last year, Simplex is in a great spot to cash in as more Americans are diagnosed with diabetes A horrific truth is that doctors diagnose about 1.6 million new cases of diabetes per year in this country.
"That makes us bullish about future growth," said Craig Hartman, chief financial officer at Simplex, which sells supplies under the Diabetes Care Club brand. Hartman joined Simplex two years ago after 11 years with pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly in Indianapolis.
Cumberland and its 91 consultants tip the scales at just under $9 million a year in revenue, and the firm's managing partner, Jim Lewis, believes the new federal emphasis on building a stronger platform to share electronic health records will boost consulting sales.
"Things were moving relatively slowly through the end of last year, but in 2010 health-care providers have really started to pick up on the incentives being offered for e-medicine. Our workload looks really strong for the second half of the year," Lewis said.
At Simplex, Hartman has made a personal career shift to a Middle Tennessee company with 265 employees and less than $200 million in sales after working at Lilly, an international firm with nearly $22 billion in revenue last year.
Working "at a mega-cap company" like Lilly was a whole different culture than at lean, flexible Simplex, Hartman said. As an executive at Lilly, "your life was spent in meetings from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m."
At Simplex, Hartman literally works shoulder to shoulder with a small executive team in an open headquarters that doesn't allow top officers to have individual offices or silos.
"I sit next to (CEO Doug Hudson), and we talk and make big and little decisions all day. We're a small team here, and we communicate by walking around. Our entire company is compact, on three floors," Hartman said.
"Lilly was stimulating and filled with really smart people, and I enjoyed my time there, but at (Simplex) you know that everything you do has an impact. We make mistakes and try to learn from them. You can change something really quickly, grow something here," he said.
"I sit next to (CEO Doug Hudson), and we talk and make big and little decisions all day. We're a small team here, and we communicate by walking around. Our entire company is compact, on three floors," Hartman said.
"Lilly was stimulating and filled with really smart people, and I enjoyed my time there, but at (Simplex) you know that everything you do has an impact. We make mistakes and try to learn from them. You can change something really quickly, grow something here," he said.
And fast.
Inc. reports that Simplex's three-year growth rate topped 1,500 percent.
Others on the latest Inc. lists from Nashville are: Randa Solutions, a local firm with $4.7 million a year in revenue led by CEO Martin Reed that designs technology systems for educational testing and assessment; and Confirmation.com, a firm with $4.3 million a year in revenues that provides online audit confirmation and anti-fraud services for accounting firms.
Randy McClain is business editor of The
Tennessean. Reach him at 615-259-8882 or
ramcclain@tennessean.com.
Inc. reports that Simplex's three-year growth rate topped 1,500 percent.
Others on the latest Inc. lists from Nashville are: Randa Solutions, a local firm with $4.7 million a year in revenue led by CEO Martin Reed that designs technology systems for educational testing and assessment; and Confirmation.com, a firm with $4.3 million a year in revenues that provides online audit confirmation and anti-fraud services for accounting firms.
Randy McClain is business editor of The
Tennessean. Reach him at 615-259-8882 or
ramcclain@tennessean.com.
