Brand new leadership and a companywide turnaround: Looking back on SourceMed's big year

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"When a customer thinks, 'I need a solution,' I want them to think about SourceMed first," says Jamie Coffin, PhD, CEO of Birmingham, Ala.-based SourceMed.

Without this sense of drive and passion, SourceMed — a healthcare IT company focused in the outpatient space — would not be what it is today. In December 2014, Dr. Coffin joined the SourceMed team as CEO. One month later, Kareem Saad became the company's executive vice president of strategy and business development. Their arrival, coupled with the addition of various other leaders, was the beginning of a series of epic changes for SourceMed, a software company that provides information solutions and revenue cycle management services for ASCs, surgical hospitals and rehabilitation clinics.

Before Dr. Coffin, Mr. Saad and their team arrived at SourceMed, the company was surviving instead of thriving. Although it owned a bulk of market share in the ASC space, its clients weren't thrilled. "Our customers were here and working with us, but they weren't ecstatic," says Dr. Coffin. SourceMed was also in need of a marketing facelift and rebranding.

But in 2015, everything changed. How did Dr. Coffin, Mr. Saad and their team strategically align SourceMed with the changing landscape of the healthcare and outpatient space? We asked them just that.

A team of competent leaders
SourceMed's success is due in part to its team members. Dr. Coffin and Mr. Saad worked together for over 15 years at various companies, including Dell and IBM.

After arriving at SourceMed, they brought in more than 12 executives, all of whom were well-equipped with industry experience. Verna Grayce Chao, who also worked with Dr. Coffin and Mr. Saad at IBM and Dell, joined the company as executive vice president of the therapy division and senior vice president of marketing. Various other big names in the industry — including Jonathan Isaacs, Walter Groszewski and Dennis Martineau — also joined SourceMed's team.

The new team brought knowledge and a proven track record in healthcare to the table. Together, many of them worked to take Dell Healthcare Life Sciences' annual sales from $750 million to $3 billion and IBM Life Sciences' annual sales from $30 million to $2.1 billion. Their relationships and healthcare experience has helped set SourceMed up as a leader in the outpatient space.

Reevaluating the market space
"One of the first things we did when we came in was help the company better understand the market landscape we're operating in," says Mr. Saad. By honing in on the industry's wants and requirements, the SourceMed team "recognized a huge need for enterprise technology to help manage the patient life cycle more efficiently," according to Mr. Saad.

After recognizing this need, SourceMed began expanding its footprint in the outpatient sector. The company partnered with numerous organizations and renowned individuals such as Deborah M. Gage, president and CEO of Wayne, Pa.-based Medecision, a leader in population health management solutions for risk-bearing entities like provider- and payer-sponsored ACOs, hospitals, IDNs and health plans.  "There are luminaries in healthcare who are coming and working with us, because they've worked with us before and they know we bring a huge amount of value to the healthcare industry," says Dr. Coffin. Acquisitions are also setting the company up for success. In the third quarter of 2015, SourceMed acquired Johnstown, Colo.-based LaClaro.

SourceMed has now come to claim the majority of market share in the ASC space. It has between 35 and 40 percent of the market share, while its closest competitor owns 5 percent. "We are making these changes to position SourceMed as the leading technology and services solution provider in the entire outpatient continuum. The goal is to create an open environment that encourages innovation and integration of best of breed technologies," says Ms. Chao.

A cultural fix
Upon joining SourceMed, Dr. Coffin and Mr. Saad immediately began targeting ways to improve the company culture. "We're trying to foster a culture of innovation, customer quality and industry leadership from a thought leadership standpoint."

The charitable giving program SourceCares is one way they boosted company culture and engaged employees. Since 2015, SourceMed employees have given their time and monetary donations to Birmingham-based Alabama Children's Hospital, Brooke's Blossoming Hope for Childhood Cancer Foundation and the Neuroblastoma and Medulloblastoma Translational Research Consortium. SourceMed's giving campaigns have been an ideal way to "change culture, really change employees and get the hearts and minds of [the] team focused on changing healthcare," according to Dr. Coffin.

Customer-centered passion
In a similar vein, SouceMed's success is derived from its team members' passion for helping customers. "We're building solutions that actually solve customer problems," says Dr. Coffin. "We look to build solutions that change the game."

Ms. Chao agrees. "The rebranding taking place is really built around the measurable customer outcomes that we are focusing our people and offerings on delivering," she says. The company recently rebranded as SourceMed — rather than its previous name, SourceMedical — and is currently working on improving its website to be customer-friendly.

Above all, SourceMed employees share a passion for improving healthcare. "We're not here because we want to run a company. We're here because we want to change the healthcare industry," says Dr. Coffin.

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