Dr. Pearce McCarty III was fed up with problems in the operating room.
He’s an orthopedic surgeon who saw tons of supplies wasted or he didn’t have the tools he needed when he needed them. He tried addressing the problem internally to no avail.
He founded Minneapolis DOCSI, — short for "doctors surgical instructions" — with the goal of making processes more efficient for surgeons. The company just signed a multiyear deal with Allina Health, a move expected to send the startup's growth skyrocketing about a year-and-a-half after it released abare-bones version of its platform.
Allina wrote in a case study that DOCSI executed a small-scale implementation of its Mobile Preference Dashboard, leading to more than $250,000 of direct expense reduction for the health care system. It also led to more than 11,500 fewer surgical items picked and restocked annually.
“DOCSI is an incredibly easy way for me to get insight into my procedure costs and preference cards,” Dr. Chris Macomber, a general surgeon, wrote in the case study. “It provides an efficient way to eliminate excess costs I wasn’t aware of and intuitively track my annual savings.”
CEO Andrew DeLeeuw noted the benefits to clinical staff beyond cost savings – DOCSI’s platform helps foster an efficient operating room, fast changeover times and it comes with no surprises. Clinical staff doesn’t waste time getting its needed supplies.
“Nurses are so overworked, it's absolutely ridiculous right now,” DeLeeuw said. “So taking any responsibilities off of their plate is very beneficial.”
DOCSI is already partnered with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Opportunity to be one of the first startups to take advantage of its Growth Loan Fund, which gives startups a loan equal to 20% of its raised equity in a funding round. That means DOCSI doesn’t have to dilute the company to get more capital in the early stages.
It’s a team of four full-time staff members and an intern, and DOCSI is hiring. With the Allina deal in place, DOCSI is focusing on “rock solid” implementation and continued growth, DeLeeuw said.
He said the deal was momentus for DOCSI. Now the company has found there’s a market fit and it’s off to the races on finding other partners. DeLeeuw said dozens of health systems and surgery centers are interested in DOCSI and currently working toward procurement.
