PARIS — A local entrepreneur pioneering how the health care industry analyzes data has been awarded a $343,299 loan to meet the growing demand for electronic medical reports.
South Paris-based Mingle Analytics was awarded the funding from the Maine Institute of Technology, a publicly-funded nonprofit seeding capital to emerging businesses.
Dr. Dan Mingle, the company’s founder and chief executive officer, said the money will be used to expand infrastructure in order to operate its information technology processes, which enable health care providers to make federally mandated Medicare reports, more efficiently.
More than just the money, Mingle said MTI provides his small business networking opportunities and technical support.
“Our company is right in their wheelhouse: it benefits the Maine community,” Mingle said Tuesday.
After applying for the funding in June, Mingle said MTI awarded their full request in September. The funds will be delivered in two installments.
The company’s loan represents a fraction of the $2.5 million awarded to growing businesses across the state from July to September. The loan is being matched with a $347,902 investment from the company, according to a news release.
At its core, Mingle said his company endeavors to bring the health care system “into the modern age.”
“Health care providers are trained to be doctors, but not necessarily electronic medical record specialists,” he said.
Mingle’s company outsources the task of reporting, streamlining the process and answering questions from small town, private practices to large medical centers with 1,000 or more providers.
Nearly two years ago, Mingle said he stumbled across a niche in the health care market created by a federal payment incentive to health care providers that filed quality-control reports on their Medicare patients.
When the incentive became a mandate, enforced by a fee, business took off. The company grew from four employees to 10 in a year, and is expected to top out at 14 at the end of this year. The loan from MTI could create 10 new positions, according to the release.
By Jan. 1, providers must submit Medicare information for federal reporting. The first phase will provide clients with a report card on their patients’ clinical claims and the providers’ performance — everything from when a patient was seen to when a flu shot or screening was scheduled.
While preparing reports on 2014 data, phase two will prepare the company to meet the constantly evolving reporting requirements for next year. When they do, the company has to retool, he said.
“We have far more going on than any new company should — so many balls in the air,” he said.
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