It Started With a Grant
Ross Seymour found grant money that could help doctors upgrade the technology in their offices. It was meant for practices that serve Medicare and Medicaid patients. Then he went looking for the software those offices could spend it on, and he could not find it.
Nothing on the market was built around the rules those practices live under while also giving them tools that make the day easier. So Ross built it. That company is EHR1, a practice management platform for the offices that serve underserved communities. He describes it as low cost, built to meet the compliance rules, and made to save the practice time and money.
The Hardest Part Nobody Sees
Ask Ross about the hardest stretch and he does not talk about sales or money. He talks about certification. To be a certified EHR, the software has to pass a process set by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, the ONC. For EHR1 that took about two years.
Two years of work just to be allowed in the room. Most people never see that part. It is also why Ross built the platform the way he did. He calls it compliance forward. A lot of platforms bolt compliance on after the product ships. EHR1 started with it.
"Our product is compliance forward."
Why We Put Ross on the Podcast
We started Smoke & Receipts to take the hype people hear about a trade and hold it up to the truth. The hype we checked with Ross is one you hear in small doctor's and dentist's offices everywhere. We are too small to go paperless. Leave the software to the big hospitals.
Ross has the receipts against that. He has taken practices that were still on paper charts and moved them to e-prescribing, electronic charting and a patient portal, with very little effort on their end. He says it has been gratifying to watch them make the switch. The verdict was smoke. If a small office can do it, yours can too.
Ask Who Is Behind the Platform
Ross's advice for any office shopping for an EHR is simple. Before you sign, find out who is behind the platform and what their goals are. Some companies want to attach themselves to your practice and your patients. Ross says his goal is to give the practice useful tools that make it easier to run.
That is good advice for any software you let into your business, not just this one. And for anyone thinking about starting a company like his, Ross kept it short. Get ready. It is going to be tough, it is going to be long, and it is going to be hard.
What We Do With Ross
We build and run Free Dentist Office, a free directory of 164,748 dental offices in all 50 states and DC. It marks the health centers that charge on a sliding scale and says what Medicaid covers in each state. You can read how we grew it in our indexing case study. We are also rebuilding the EHR1 website.
Ross recorded his answers from his phone on a private link we sent him. No mic, no studio and no travel. He heard the episode before it went live and signed off on it. The player is at the top of this page. If you have a business and you would like to be on the show, reach out and we will send you a link.
Ross says EHR1 has new AI tools on the way for doctors, including transcription. If you need a free or low cost dentist, start at Free Dentist Office.
