We integrate all clinical, financial and operational data regardless of source or format: Stratus Interoperable, Inc

Usually, you think looking for a new software involves just that – evaluating different software products to find the one that best fits your needs. While that is true, you have to realize that you are also selecting a vendor and you need to be sure they also fit your needs. The product and vendor come as a "package."

To find a trustworthy vendor is problematic, why worry when Stratus Interoperable is with you? It is committed to building an all-in-one tool to deliver the data access, analysis and distribution capabilities needed by healthcare organizations to continually improve patient outcomes, reduce costs and compete in the “fee-for- value” future. The company was founded by healthcare data and technology leaders in the year 2014.

To learn more about the company we conversed with Fred Zolla, Executive Chairman

Could you reveal about your company’s genesis?

We originally focused on solving the issues surrounding Interoperability. We realized that true interoperability was near impossible, not from a technical point of view, but from a business perspective. It is not good business, from the vendor position, to make data placed in their system available, even to clients paying licensing fees for their own use. Rescuing data being held hostage by vendors became our mission. We quickly found that even by releasing data from vendor control you needed to have the ability to do something with it. Stratus Interoperable, through its StratusLink Platform, evolved into a data management and advanced healthcare analytics company.

What was your initial product release and how successful was it?

Our first and only platform was and still is StratusLink which focused on Aggregating data, Integrating Data, Normalizing and refactoring data in-order to apply advanced healthcare analytics. We targeted Long Term Post-Acute Care initially. We recently moved into ACO’s, Acute Care Hospitals and IPA’s with several “Early Adopter” projects.

Our first project took almost two years to complete. We worked as development partners with LA Jewish Homes. The long development cycle was due to the continued expansion of the features and functions that resulted in the mature platform we currently are deploying to the healthcare community.

What vexation had you faced in your initial stage?

Being a small early stage company made our initial launch difficult. It took longer than expected and cost far more than projected, especially as we continued to develop and respond to client requirements. We decided to institute an Early Adopter program which helped attract a small group of forward-thinking CEO’s who took the leap of faith with us. That was the key to gaining traction.

What are your company’s success factors?

People, Healthcare data experience, Technical expertise, deep understanding of healthcare data requirements, deep understanding of reporting requirements driven by CMS, insurance companies, and other payers.

What is the rationale behind?

Your product popularity – Now that the transition from a paper to electronic health record system has reached critical mass, and end users are more comfortable and less fearful of the new technology, the realization has set in that so much more can be done with electronically based data. The challenge is the vendors. We have overcome that challenge and provide true value to end users by applying analytics to a common language longitudinal record data base.

Your consistence growth as an organization- As more facilities and organization hear about us and we can point to the early adopter users our sales and marketing efforts are beginning to blossom.

What is your organization structure?

We have an executive team of six people. Department heads for technology, integration, implementation and data management. We employ developers on a project by project basis to supplement full-time staffers. We have six sales people throughout the country.

What learnings helped you to set this company up?

Over 20 years of Healthcare IT and a vision that we could do a world of good focused on increasing the quality of healthcare and decreasing cost through a clear line of sight to patient data.

Meet the virtuoso

Fred Zolla brings more than 15 years’ leadership experience in Healthcare and more than 25 years’ experience in interactive technologies to Stratus Interoperable where his overall vision of solving the interoperability problem throughout Healthcare is the basis for the company.

In addition to product and service development, he has a comprehensive background in communication networks, patient records transport, interoperability, education technology and distance learning. He has taught and lectured throughout Europe and the United States. Fred was CEO and Chairman of the Board of Salutopia, Inc., founder of IMedicor, Chief Operating Office of Educational Video Conferencing and President of Distance Learning Associations.

He served on the White House Committee for technology in education chaired by then vice-president Al Gore and more recently on the Healthcare Advisory Committee that developed recommendations for “Meaningful Use” regulations. He has presented the Stratus Interoperable vision to a joint Senate / House of Representatives Congressional Briefing, The Senate Health and Labor Committees, The Doctor Caucus in the House of Representatives, The White House Healthcare Committee and the President’s top healthcare advisors. Fred earned an MBA from Trinity University.

“Our team is committed to delivering the highest level of professionalism, business and personal ethics and customer satisfaction.”