Albert Santalo, founder, president and CEO of CareCloud, a provider of cloud-based practice management, electronic health record and medical billing software and services for medical groups, was invited to the White House on Thursday for President Obama’s signing of the Jumpstart Our Business Start-ups bill, or JOBS Act.
The JOBS Act aims to increase access to capital for young companies like Miami-based CareCloud, and reduces certain regulatory barriers that restrict the growth of startups and small businesses. It aims to make it easier for private companies to raise capital and shorten the cost and time associated with an IPO, with the understanding that these companies will likely expand and create new jobs. Albert answered some questions about the potential impact of the JOBS Act on his fast-growing technology company and on South Florida.
Q.With the passing of JOBS Act, what are CareCloud’s plans for raising additional capital? Is an IPO in the future?
A. CareCloud has emerged as a truly disruptive player in the healthcare technology space. We have already raised over $24 million in venture capital from angel investors and leading firms like Norwest Venture Partners and Intel, so we are very well capitalized and growing more quickly than most companies in our sector. Our vision is to create healthcare’s first fully integrated digital ecosystem to enable doctors, patients, and other key stakeholders to better connect via our cloud-based platform, which will ultimately drive down cost of care and improve quality.
That said, The JOBS Act now designates a new category of “emerging growth” companies that could conduct initial public offerings of stock while being exempt from certain financial disclosure and governance requirements for up to five years. We certainly look at an IPO as a realistic possibility for CareCloud. This new legislation would allow us to do it sooner, without the massive distractions to a business that naturally come with going public. That way, we could stay focused on the growth of our platform and the creation of new jobs in the South Florida region and beyond.
Q. With the passing of passing of the ARRA in 2009 and the HITECH Act to accelerate adoption of electronic health records, what are your thoughts on the administration's efforts to follow through on stimulating economic growth and technology adoption in healthcare? Could smaller companies now emerge like CareCloud has to spur greater IT adoption in healthcare while creating new jobs?
A: The Obama Administration has been very active in its efforts to drive adoption of technologies like ours in doctors’ offices, mainly through the passing of the HITECH Act, which grants Medicare-eligible doctors $44,000 dollars over four years for demonstrating meaningful use of an electronic health record system. This has spurred growth across our sector and created the opportunity for CareCloud to enter the market with a next-generation, cloud-based platform and create hundreds of new jobs in South Florida.
I couldn’t be more excited about the prospects for CareCloud and feel that this new legislation is an ideal way to allow new entrants into the market to disrupt the legacy-based IT vendors in healthcare -- something that very much needs to happen for the industry to move forward.
Q. What does the signing of the JOBS Act mean for the South Florida start-up community?
A: Over the past few years we have seen more and more start-ups emerge in South Florida in all sectors, but especially in healthcare. In fact, IBM announced this week it will hold its IBM KickStart Miami Competition in May of 2012. As part of the event, IBM will look to team up with healthcare technology start-ups as they present their business models to a live audience and get the chance to network with world-class venture capitalists, investors, angels and healthcare industry experts. CareCloud was honored to win the IBM SmartCamp Silicon Valley Competition in 2010 and we are excited to work with them on this year’s event. The growing interest from large technology players like IBM in South Florida, coupled with legislation like the JOBS Act, means more companies have greater access to capital, which ultimately means more jobs and opportunities in the region.
See an earlier Starting Gate post about Albert and the South Florida tech community here.
Read a recent Miami Herald story about CareCloud here.