Can a Lynnwood entrepreneur make it big in the world of medical records software?
Jeff Cox is betting that he can.
His iDocLocker software allows medical clinics and hospitals to track their medical records securely online.
An updated version of his product will roll out this summer at a national sleep medicine convention.
Already, the product Cox introduced in 2004 is in use by Overlake Medical Center, Swedish Hospital and others.
“I’m not aware of there being anything out there that does the same thing,” he said.
To date, Cox, a medical product saleseman turned information technology expert, has focused his sales efforts on sleep centers, a sector of the medical speciality arena that has been growing steadily.
His long term goal, he said, is to get iDocLocker into the hands — and offices — of any single specialty clinic with outdated paper filing systems.
Cox said sleep centers are a niche that other companies offering similar products have not ventured into. What’s different about iDocLocker, he said, is that it offers a subscription service in a hosted, online package.
Cox said medical records have undergone a significant change over the past 20 years. While medical centers switched to computerized billing systems in the 1980s, many small medical offices still rely on paper filing systems.
But another fundamental shift is taking place, he said.
One of the provisions of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) of 1996 was a move to streamline the widespread use of electronic data into the health care system.
“The idea in Americans’ minds 10 years ago was that your medical records belonged to your doctor,” he said. “The change that’s going on now is the medical records belong to you. The doctor cannot hide those records from you.”
Privacy advocates might say there’s a danger in digitizing medical records because it makes access to lots of information so much faster and easier.
Cox knows that’s a concern but says the pros outweigh the cons.
“I think what it’s going to do over the next 20 years is give people the ability to have their documents very quickly shared,” he said.
Cox runs his company from his Lynnwood home and contracts out some labor. He never got venture funding.
“I’m the typical small company that’s taken out mortgages,” he said. “By and large, we’ve been profitable.”
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