The Inc. 5000 list of the nation’s fastest growing small businesses might be considered the Gold Standard for measuring and comparing the growth of a privately held company. Inc. magazine just released the 2013 list, which contains 46 Oklahoma small businesses.
One of those recognized this year is Oklahoma City-based PatientLink Enterprises, which has been a recent client of the Oklahoma SBIR Collaborative Resources program. The OSCR program is managed by i2E and the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology.
PatientLink had 3-year growth of 159 percent, which placed it 19th among Oklahoma companies recognized and 2,293 overall. PatientLink has created an innovative software product that allows medical clinics and physicians to capture patient information filled out in paper form and automatically populate appropriate fields in the patient’s electronic medical record.
“I think much of our growth can be attributed to the need by clinics to capture discrete information for all the new government-required measures,” said Debi Willis, PatientLink founder and CEO. “The doctors can’t just dictate information into an electronic medical record now. Very specific information has to be placed in specific fields within the EMR. With all the new requirements, it has become too burdensome for clinics to keep up. They have to find a way to manage the data entry and still take good care of their patients. That is where we come in.”
PatientLink was founded in 1999, but has shown remarkable growth in the past three years, climbing from less than a million dollars in revenue in 2009 to $2.6 million in 2012. It employs 13 people. PatientLink’s software can capture data on paper or information entered via a computer kiosk or tablet.
“We have been doing this for over a decade, quietly helping clinics who find out about us,” Willis said. “Many clinics are coming to us once they realize we really do have the best way to get the data they need and the fact that we have two patents on the very easiest and fastest way to capture that information.”
“It really makes us happy to see their mouths drop open and hear them say ‘Wow!’ when we show them our product.”
Another former i2E client, Norman-based Weather Decision Technologies, also was included on the Inc. 5000 list with 87 percent growth and $13.1 million revenue for 2012. WDT has earned the Inc. 5000 “honor roll” recognition as a six-time member of the list. It was ranked No. 35 among Oklahoma companies on the 2013 list.
Click here to see the entire list of Oklahoma companies included on the 2013 Inc. 5000 list.
