Digital Patient Check-in Created Our Company Culture

Brian Stone, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder at Clearwave

I don’t know if it’s wise to say that a successful product came from frustration, but I guess it largely depends on what you did with that frustration.

Seventeen years ago, we knew that we could improve the patient experience.

I had worked in healthcare technology for most of my career. Like everyone else, I was tired of getting a clipboard full of forms each time I visited a new doctor's office. I don't know anyone who's ever reacted positively to getting that clipboard. There's no User Experience aspect to the process. The forms always seem to come from a different source, are photocopied at a slightly different angle and ask for the same information. While you fill out forms, other people are getting called into exam rooms and you're just trying to get through page four.

We thought check-in could be as simple as an ATM. You get to an ATM, insert a card and the machine recognizes you.

Creating a Digital Patient Check-in Product

We focused on making check-in digital. We developed the product, and we grew our team. We'd bring people in for interviews and mention the word "clipboard," and interviewees would start nodding along. That point of clipboard frustration was such a common thread. We all experienced it, and no one liked it, but everyone's doctor did it.

Without realizing it, we were growing a company where everyone wanted to improve this shared experience.

Our development teams want to create a smarter product. Our implementation and support and customer success teams want to see a great fit and utilization. Our marketing team wants to tell you all about the "why" and "how" of healthcare technology tools.

Recognizing a Winning Pattern

A few years ago, we were looking for a partner to help us expand our digital scheduling offering. We came across a company in Tel Aviv.

At our first meeting, the founders said, "We were expecting a baby. Trying to book an appointment was so frustrating. So we built a solution." We knew it would be a perfect fit.

The Culture’s Common Thread

Our initial product is now a platform. We've worked closely with our customers to develop the capabilities that best support their work.

What’s happened is that regardless of where you look in the company, you'll find solution-oriented individuals. Each team applies its skills and talent to improving the patient experience. We also have built-in UX. Whenever a team member goes to a doctor's appointment and experiences frustration, they tell the practice about their work. We hear these stories again and again at morning stand-ups.

We're a company that wants to keep evolving and delivering a solid product. It turns out that the issue that we work to improve helps us to develop a dynamic environment. As a co-founder, this is something you hope for.

No one runs toward frustration. But I think it’s a powerful indicator. It can tell you, in the simplest of gut reactions, that something isn’t working. When you get to take that feeling and find different and sustainable ways of creating change, it becomes a springboard for great things.