eCMN pioneer charts new business course

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. - eCMN pioneer Jeff Frankel has a new gig, one with "a very wild and bright future in home health and HME." In June, Frankel and two partners acquired a document imaging and storage company, DocStar, and a computer software company, CPI, from Authentidate for $7.3 million. The partners named their new company Astria Solutions Group. "Document management can drive 5% to 8% to your bottom line," Frankel said. "We eliminate unnecessary processes that are brutally manual today. You are never going to get away from the fact that IT (information technology) is here, and if you are not focused on IT as part of your overall scope of doing business you should be." For example, by scanning documents and storing them digitally, employees spend more time at their desk and less time storing and retrieving paperwork, he said. Frankel launched eCMN vendor Trac Medical in 2000. In 2003, he sold it to Authentidate, which he joined as Trac Medical's president. DocStar aligns with the eCMN and other technology designed to help companies do more with less. It's also highly compatible with business software programs now serving the HME industry, Frankel said. DocStar allows companies to scan and store documents (on site or on a remote network) and serves home care/HME, as well as other industries. Some high-profile clients include Wendy's, the Cleveland Indians and Harley Davidson. Shortly after acquiring DocStar, Astria teamed up with Alpharetta, Ga.-based Equisys, which offers Zetafax, a fax-server software application that works hand-in-hand with DocStar's document management system. By using Zetafax and DocStar together, providers can automate faxing and receiving CMNs, DME information forms (DIFs), written orders and other medical documentation. This eliminates a "significant" amount of manual labor for the provider without changing the workflow in the physician's office, Frankel said. "I see a very wild and bright future for DocStar in home health and the HME space," Frankel said. "Right now the industry has to be looking for efficiencies, given the backdrop of competitive bidding and shrinking margins."