2008 Dynamic Dozen, No. 11: Healthcarefirst Inc.

Clients of Ozark-based Healthcarefirst don’t need to worry about the threat of natural disasters to company information stored on servers.

That’s because Healthcarefirst maintains servers for its more than 300 clients in 40 states, and all the clients have to do to access their information is log on to the Internet.

“Any time there are changes, we keep current,” said CEO Bobby Robertson, noting that in many cases, Healthcarefirst functions as its clients’ information technology department.

Healthcarefirst provides Web-based software and services primarily for small- and medium-sized home health care and hospice agencies.

Though Healthcarefirst does have a few large clients, the company’s business model works particularly well for smaller companies.

Instead of large up-front fees or long-term contracts, clients can pay monthly for services.

And because Healthcarefirst maintains the servers – and thus has access to client data – it can provide other services, such as billing, Robertson said.

When it comes to natural disasters, Healthcarefirst can offer real-life examples of protecting customer data.

During Hurricane Katrina, 30 of the company’s clients were affected, but because their data was stored on Healthcarefirst servers maintained at Springfield Underground, they didn’t lose information, Robertson said.

One client in business for less than six months was able to immediately resume operations as soon as she was allowed to return after the storm.

Accessing that level of protection through Springfield Underground is what drew Robertson and his father, company president Bob, to the Ozarks.

Healthcarefirst was founded in the early 1990s in Texas by Ron Stringer and John Singer, two certified public accountants who started a simple billing system to track information required by the government for Medicare cost reports, Bobby Robertson said.

At that time, the Robertsons did marketing for the company.

In 1998, when Stringer decided to leave the business, the Robertsons bought him out. Singer is still a silent partner in Healthcarefirst.

As Healthcarefirst branched out, it found developers in Springfield who were beta testing a new Microsoft technology. Healthcarefirst hired them and set up an office that “took on a life of its own,” Robertson said.

In 2005, the company moved its headquarters to Springfield, and in August 2006, it moved to Ozark.

“It’s been a wonderful move. Never expected to end up in Missouri, but … we’ve been very happy with it,” Robertson said. “This is home.”

Last year’s revenues of $4.7 million weren’t as high as Robertson had planned, but he attributes that to the introduction of new products and the slowdown in advertising and marketing. He plans to expand services in such areas as billing, coding, benchmarking and decision-support tools.

Mike Mattson, chief lending officer and executive vice president at Guaranty Bank, anticipates continued growth for Healthcarefirst.

“They’re very well-managed,” said Mattson, who has worked with Healthcarefirst for several years.

“Bobby understands the technical side of what he does, but he also understands the human side.”

Healthcarefirst – which had revenues of $2.2 million in 2005 and $2.7 million in 2006 – has managed growth well and is well-capitalized, Mattson said.

“Obviously, as you get older it becomes difficult to triple your growth, but I expect double digits,” Mattson said of Healthcarefirst’s growth potential.

Information accurate at the time of the honor.