How We Started Our $100K/Month Medical Artificial Intelligence Software Company

James Bates

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Published: October 24th, 2020

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James Bates

Founder, AdviNow Medical

$200K

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

AdviNow Medical

advinow.com

from Scottsdale

started August 2016

$200,000

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

Discover what tools James recommends to grow your business!

financing

Expensify

social media

Twitter

payments

Bill.com

sales

Salesforce

Discover what books James recommends to grow your business!

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Other... Jim Collins

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Want more updates on AdviNow Medical? Check out these stories:

1. [Update] Our Medical Software Has Grown To $200K/Month And Works On 1,000 Clinics (2022) ➜

Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?

James Bates the CEO and Founder of AdviNOW Medical has been inventing cutting-edge technology for 20 years. AdviNOW Medical has become a leader in the health technology sector, pioneering a system that synergizes artificial intelligence and augmented reality to support existing healthcare infrastructure and services while enabling the future of low-touch no-touch medical visits. It’s a technology that seems obvious in hindsight, amending a serious problem with an elegant solution.

A doctor spends 2/3rds of their time with clerical work updating the patient electronic healthcare record while the remainder is spent with patients. AdviNow’s artificial intelligence automates the complete front office and back office of the clinic and scribes the patient documentation for the doctor.

Now the doctor can focus on the patients. The patients can see the doctor faster as they see more patients per day that of course leads to more revenue and profitability.

AdviNOW was founded with the vision of making healthcare available to everyone through technology. Applying automation to areas in a healthcare environment with more standardized and repetitive procedures is the key.

Healthcare automation has bigger benefits, including—but not limited to—labor savings, improved quality and consistency of care, reduced waste, lower physician burnout, and increased predictability of outcomes. In fact, practices that adopt AdviNOW see nearly a doubling of the patient throughput per provider. This obviously leads to lower wait times for patients and more profitability for the practice and enables future models within the value-based care vision.

how-we-started-our-100k-month-medical-artificial-intelligence-software-company

What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?

Before AdviNOW, James ran a $1 Billion business in self-driving vehicle technology. When that business was sold, James retired. He quickly realized that similar artificial intelligence and augmented reality technologies can automate around the doctor as they automated around the driver of a car.

Entrepreneurs need to be creative, be persistent, and work hard to find success.

As a seasoned veteran, James is acutely aware of the potential pitfalls of launching a new technology that utilizes artificial intelligence. More important than all of that, though, James has a history of being at the forefront of innovation, seeing a clear vision of the future, and making it a reality. To reduce the barrier to healthcare James started his company, AdviNow (Advise Now) Medical, a pioneer in the AI-driven medical world. James’ vision is propelling the medical world to a highly advanced future.

Take us through the process of designing, prototyping, and manufacturing your first product.

AdviNow Medical’s (ANM) revolutionary artificial intelligence (AI) based products are driven by three founding principles of the company.

The first principle is to optimize the patient-provider time for diagnosis and treatment while maintaining personal interaction. The providers are in short supply and are the most expensive part of the healthcare engagement. ANM maximizes automation of the symptom and vitals collection, EMR charting, provider note scribing and treatment, and order entry. This automation allows the provider to focus on the valuable diagnostic and treatment part of the patient interaction.

The second principle is the democratization of healthcare. All people need access to healthcare automation, regardless of medical training. By injecting AI and augmented reality (AR) into the patient-provider encounter, ANM helps guide a patient with limited formal education to collect all information needed by the provider to diagnose and treat effectively anywhere at any time.

The third principle is to improve patient outcomes and satisfaction. ANM prepares a complete workup of the patient and presents it to the provider in simple overview screens. This workup includes potential illnesses with measurements and other justifications followed by the most effective individualized and customized treatment. Consistency of care is accomplished across all providers that deliver the best evidence-based medicine at the lowest costs and shortest time. The ANM work-up allows all providers to achieve this consistency.

Describe the process of launching the business.

We launched the company by imagining what the true solution needs to be. The true solution to the healthcare crisis is to dramatically reduce barriers that prevent timely diagnosis, inhibit the patient’s ability for prompt care, and prevent the management of chronic issues proactively before any medical emergencies can arise. Politicians have attempted to solve this problem; however, the financial limitations and a shortage of providers make the formula impossible to solve within the current system. Now with artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and enabling automation, we can truly solve the healthcare crisis.

AdviNow Medical invented a patient engagement system that delivers healthcare technologies that provide diagnostic, monitoring, and treatment services to make primary care available for anyone at any time for a reasonable cost.

Our solution holds the key to minimizing costs and patient wait times while improving patient outcomes and overall population health. This innovation is not only time-efficient but remarkably cost-efficient.

Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?

Healthcare is a complex industry, but it still hasn’t shown significant growth in the field of automation and information technology. These four years have taught me a lot about how conservative healthcare really is!

Covid-19 has fundamentally changed the advanced technology adoption curve by 5 years at least. Pre-Covid, AdviNOW Medical had to convince clients to try something new with the tech-enabled visit. We stressed the efficiency gains and improved outcomes, but it was still a very long adoption cycle.

The sales pitch that technology plays a vital role in healthcare, making it more efficient, less expensive, and providing better care while keeping people safe was easily understood intellectually, but the movement of the healthcare establishment was slow. Now, all healthcare entities and patients have been forced to use telemedicine and it is being paid for! Now the leap to an artificial intelligence registration and predicted illnesses is not as far a leap as it was before. Customers are moving quickly and we are excited to be a part of it.

How are you doing today and what does the future look like?

AdviNOW has trials that lead to over 1000 medical locations adopting the automated medical visit. We are very excited to influence the world of healthcare.

In the long term, we see all patients using an AI to triage conditions and get labs and measurements before they go to the doctor and for most low acuity illnesses, the patient will never see a doctor unless they want to.

Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?

AdviNow believes that true innovation requires being proactive. AdviNow not only stays on top of current customer needs but always plans for future needs. They believe their customers are a huge part of the innovation process. Their culture is to have customer service at any time. AdviNow is committed to meeting their customer needs and constantly communicating with them to receive and act on feedback.

I would urge a clinician to choose a forward-thinking practice. Over the next five to 10 years, the healthcare sector is going to go through a dramatic change. No one will be doing the same job they're doing now. Even nurses and front desk staff will be doing different jobs.

I don’t see mass unemployment because there is enough work to go around today and that won't change in the future, but that doesn't mean there won’t be disruption. Everyone should choose a place that’s an early adopter of change. You don’t want to be in a situation where you are the last to adapt because that creates an environment that can be difficult to overcome for the business as well as the employee.

What platform/tools do you use for your business?

We use Bill.com for invoices, Expensify for reimbursements, and Salesforce for CRM.

What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?

A lot of my philosophy is based on classic business books like Good to Great from Jim Collins. It is hard to beat this look at great business and what makes them separate from the competition. Get the right people on the bus, then in the right seats, and get the flywheel moving!

Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting?

Entrepreneurs need to be creative, be persistent, and work hard to find success. For people who are looking for their next opportunities at healthcare facilities, would urge them to choose a forward-thinking practice.

Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?

AdviNOW is always looking for key employees who are committed to the vision of changing healthcare. We are in immediate need of Senior Python developers at this time. This person will lead the back end team.

Where can we go to learn more?

If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!