Healthcare leaders aboard, Parental Health builds traction

By Milt Capps
Published Tuesday, February 22, 2011 7:23 am

Healthcare leaders aboard, Parental Health builds traction | Parental Health, Scotte Hudsmith, Rob Dublin, Darin Moore, healthcare, telemedicine, seed capital, HiMSS, HP, Hewlett Packard, accountable care organization, compliance, engagement, venture capital, Healthways, LifeWay, EDS, Johnson & Johnson, Allergan, LBMC, Passport Health Communications, Nashville Technology Council, Jim Lackey, Joe Cashia, Clayton McWhorter, Michael Burcham, Nashville Entrepreneur Center, HCA, Clayton Associates, Vivere Health, National Renal Alliance

Parental Health, the Franklin-based telemedicine startup, has attracted heavyweights to its board and a Fortune 100 technology partner.

According to a VNC source, the company's board includes Clayton Associates founder and former HCA President Clayton McWhorter; Passport Health Communications chairman and former CEO Jim Lackey; Nashville Entrepreneur Center CEO Michael Burcham; and, Joe Cashia, founder-CEO of Vivere Health and an earlier venture, National Renal Alliance. CEO Scotte Hudsmith declined to comment regarding the board when reached while he was attending the HiMSS trade show in Orlando.

Hudsmith

Earlier, Hudsmith confirmed the company's MISTY patient- and caregiver-engagement and accountability platform now has Hewlett-Packard(HP) brand muscle behind it. Parental Health subscribers and resellers ordering HP hardware can get MISTY software loaded aboard. Asked how big the deal is for his company, Hudsmith said "obviously, we hope it'll be very significant for them and for us."

Parental's Seed-stage capital raise, with investors and magnitude mostly undislosed, was completed within the past 90 days, Hudsmith said, adding the round included seven Angels from such diverse sectors as healthcare, construction and professional sports. Hudsmith confirmed that Nashville- and Bangalore-based eMids Technologies is an equity holder. Though another capital raise seems unnecessary at this time, said Hudsmith, the company is regularly approached by would-be investors.

The startup's advisors curent include Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz, for help in seeking Medicare-Medicaid CMS reimbursement qualification; and Bass Berry & Sims for corporate and financing matters, said Hudsmith. The company banks with US Bank, and is not ready to announce appointment of its accountants or members of its board of directors, he said.

Hudsmith, 46, is a one-time Deloitte accountant and was CFO for Sedgwick James and Sienna Imaging, in addition to other C-level roles with Passport Health Communications, LBMC Technologies and others. He earned his bachelor's in accounting and finance at the University of Memphis.

Parental now has four full-time employees and some paying customers, and will using its growing staff, the recent capital round and the HP alliance to push the company to scale, he said. Profitability in 2011 is possible, but not assured, Hudsmith noted.

In December, Darin Moore (left) joined Parent as chief technology officer, after nearly 24 years in IT, applications development and related leadership roles with Healthways, Aflac, LifeWay Christian Resources and EDS. Moore earned his CIS bachelor's at Murray State University in 1987.

Also in December, Rob Dublin (right) became Parental's SVP-Sales. Dublin previously led sales for Allergan, was an area business manager for Johnson & Johnson's long-term and elder-care division, and led his own startup, KLR Laboratory, serving the wellness and fitness sector. He earned a bachelor's in organizational management at Bethel College and a master's in Christian leadership at Liberty University. He served five years as a U.S. Air Force medical technician supporting personnel in combat units deployed in Operation Desert Storm.

Tonya Adams (left) became the company's fourth full-timer in December, and serves as g office manager. She had previously held similar duties in large units of Healthways and LifeWay, Hudsmith said.

The MISTY platform's features and offerings will gradually be broadened using the "appstore approach," and Parental Health will be extremely selective in allowing new features and applications to be introduced, Hudsmith continued. MISTY translates as "medical information systems to you."  (For more on MISTY, see VNC's earlier report.)

Oriented toward seniors who desire to "age in place," the hottest MISTY sales vertical is currently senior living facilities, with home health "starting to get interesting," he said. Rising interest in "accountable care" throughout the healthcare delivery system is likely to lead Parent Health into additional relationships with hospitals, physicians practices, pharmacies, employers and payers, he added.

The HP relationship grew from Hudsmith's conversation with an HP executive during a Nashville Technology Council event, said Hudsmith. Though Hudsmith said the HP agreement is not an exclusive arrangement, Hudsmith said he is not aware of directly competing offerings via HP. MISTY can be packed into HP's 9300-9100 TouchPad computers and the new HP tablet, he said.

HP announced yesterday its collaboration with Parental Health, as well as its telemedicine ties to Canvys patient-monitoring technology, MedWeb data storage and LifeBot EMS telemedicine. Parental is now an HP independent software vendor, and MISTY is being demonstrated in both Parental Health and HP booths during the HiMSS convention, now underway. VNC