#StartupsEverywhere Profile: Joshua Denhardt, CEO, Global Response Systems
This profile is part of #StartupsEverywhere, an ongoing series highlighting startup leaders in ecosystems across the country. This interview has been edited for length, content, and clarity.
More Efficient Communications Between Health Care Providers
Global Response Systems ("GRS") provides physicians, dentists, chiropractors, and urgent care clinics with HIPPA-compliant communications tools such as messaging solutions and secure file sharing. We sat down with CEO Joshua Denhardt to get a sense of current interoperability between electronic medical record systems, his experience building a company headquartered in rural Wyoming, and the importance of net neutrality for startups.
Tell us about your background. What led you to Global Response Systems?
I previously lived in Los Angeles, where I began my career as a producer. We were pitching a reality TV show to the major networks where volunteer fire departments from across the country would compete in real-world emergency scenarios for the equipment and apparatus they needed for their stations. As we put together a short preview of the show for executives, we received comments that volunteer firefighters are slow to leave their stations. This is because they are volunteers who are waiting to see if anyone else is showing up to the station before they take off. As a former firefighter, I thought, "That is an issue I can fix."
I got together with a few engineers from private defense contracting firms and built out a quick response platform for volunteer firefighters. It went well until a large competitor reached out to the counties using our platform and told them they were in violation of their contracts, so we looked to pivot. We took the underlying idea of our response platform for firefighters and developed something for hospital emergency departments that allowed them to coordinate the entirety of emergency care team responses in seconds. When we presented our system to hospitals, they loved the product, but none of them would commit to using it because we didn't have a certain number of customers, and they did not want to take a chance. So we pivoted again towards secure messaging and Managed File Transfers (MFT) to help medical personnel communicate compliantly, boost efficiencies, enhance experiences, and improve outcomes. Our customers are now coast-to-coast across the contiguous U.S., and though we are looking to branch out, our focus is on improving rural health outcomes.
What is the work you all are doing at Global Response Systems?
GRS understands that transferring a patient's medical data can have a tremendous impact on outcomes, especially for those living in rural areas. Here in Wyoming, our most acute cases are sent to tertiary care centers in metro areas like Denver and Salt Lake.
Transfer patients represent 29 percent of deaths despite accounting for only 10 percent of admissions. While some of that has to do with the severity of their illness or injury and the time it takes to transport them, it is also because the receiving facility is trying to make its own diagnosis due to poor methods of patient record transfer. Suppose they're receiving faxes and disks because of poor interoperability between Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems. In that case, they can spend valuable time searching through data, looking for the information they need to begin their assessment and treatment.
Our primary goal in architecting GRS software platforms is to communicate more information, in less time, with less device interaction. We design our user interfaces to ensure that medical professionals do not have to search for compartmentalized data. Instead, it is a quick interaction with the software, and then they're back, focused on their mission - providing the best patient care possible.
As a rural founder, what has been your experience building your business?
While I have lived in bigger cities, most of my entrepreneurial experiences have been here, in a rural setting, and it has been great. Wyoming is building a fantastic ecosystem and is making a significant effort to foster startup activity.
GRS has had tremendous support; we have received a grant from The Bootstrap Collaborative, which provides office space in an atWork facility. The University of Wyoming's Impact307 has provided advisors, and I get a lot of engagement from incubators locally and nationally who are looking to help. We recently participated in Gener8tor's nationally recognized accelerator gBeta Wyoming program, where they brought in a wealth of talented advisors from across the country. It was a great opportunity, which led to an engagement of advisors from Innosphere Ventures out of Colorado.
As a rural founder, there are hardships. However, there are individuals, programs, and other opportunities that focus on extending support to startups like ours - outside of big cities - working to help us thrive to a point where we can make an impact on a larger scale.
Given all of the data you work with, how have privacy laws that differ state-to-state impacted your work overall?
They can make trying to build our business difficult. As a small company, it would be nice if we could adhere to one set of rules that satisfy requirements everywhere. Right now, we are HIPAA compliant, but we still have to work to meet various standards that can differ in each state. That can be tough when you're expanding services to customers in multiple geographical areas. However, we are moving in a direction where it is easier to keep track of the industries in which you can function compliantly.
Are there any other startup issues that you think should receive more attention from policymakers?
I'm a huge advocate for net neutrality, and its future is something I am very concerned about. A small company like ours would be adversely affected if favoritism is allowed and broadband providers throttle certain companies' ability to deliver content or services.
What are your goals for Global Response Systems moving forward?
In the short term, I would love to put our solution through different trials and partnerships to see if we can significantly improve patient outcomes by ameliorating patient record access across different health systems. We want admitting physicians to access data quickly and easily. Everyone should have quality access to health care and equal opportunities for better health outcomes. I'd like to see GRS positively affect transfer patients' health outcomes and minimize some of the adverse impacts that living in a rural area can present. So, suppose I'm a rural hospital that cannot afford PACS systems or EMR add-ons to send patient data securely and discreetly. In that case, I'd want a solution where I can send or receive that data to give patients the best opportunity to survive whatever they are going through. That is where our solutions shine, providing an agnostic solution that bridges the gap between disparate systems.
All of the information in this profile was accurate at the date and time of publication.
Engine works to ensure that policymakers look for insight from the startup ecosystem when they are considering programs and legislation that affect entrepreneurs. Together, our voice is louder and more effective. Many of our lawmakers do not have first-hand experience with the country's thriving startup ecosystem, so it’s our job to amplify that perspective. To nominate a person, company, or organization to be featured in our #StartupsEverywhere series, email advocacy@engine.is.
