How ProtoHIT Was Started

The original ProtoHIT system was developed by Dr. Phillip Wagner, who ran an occupational clinic with three other doctors in northern California. He quickly saw how difficult it was using paper to quantify treatment improvements. So he began tracking patient outcomes against various treatments with a system developed by the American Academy of Orthopedic Physicians. After a couple of years, he developed his own software to share information simultaneously with everybody involved—employers, insurance adjusters, risk managers at companies, and the patients themselves.

Four years later, Dr. Wagner was able to develop best-practice protocols for occupational injuries based on 12,000 cases and 50,000 patient encounters. With his system, he was able to:

• Improve patient care
• Reduce number of visits per patient (13 to 6 average)
• Increase the number of patients each doctor in his clinic could treat every day by three
• Identify high-cost cases early so more resources could be given to these patients

The system offered standardized treatment for most injuries, based on these best practices. Dr. Wagner found that by setting clear protocols for injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome, patients were guided into established therapies that improved outcomes and reduced costs. And, by sharing information through a centralized data base, they saw administrative overhead cut for all parties.

Because of his work, Dr. Wagner was asked to write the ACOEM occupational injury treatment guidelines for the State of California.

A few years later, Dr. Wagner became an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico, School of Medicine. Because his self-designed management software was so successful at his own clinic that he decided to commercialize it through UNM’s Science & Technology Corp (STC).

Bruce Fryer began working with STC in 2009, evaluating their portfolio of technologies as a potential for creating another start-up technology company. When he came across the system developed by Dr. Wagner, he saw huge potential, not only to create a new technology firm, but a chance to change an entire industry.

Bruce licensed the technology from STC and began the work to update the software for general release. The company introduced its first commercial product in 2010—designed for cloud computing. Initial investors are New Mexico Community Capital and Kickstart Seed Fund.