“You cannot expect to be at the helm of a successful mid-sized corporation without having spent a few years working in the galley” said Annapolitan, Randy Boldyga, President, CEO and Founder of RxNT. Mr. Boldyga continued by briefly describing the progression of the company and the years he has spent forging his company’s growth. He began by describing the first few years, working with a handful of employees in the basement of his home and saving enough money for a deposit on the purchase of an office building. “It wasn’t easy running the company out of my home but made sense and allowed us to keep the cost of our product low. A product that was less expensive than our competitors was the only reason why clients purchased our product over another in the early years so we had to do it to build market share and brand awareness” said Mr. Boldyga.
Eighteen years later, the company boosts more than 55 employees on two continents supporting a suite of products developed specifically for the ambulatory healthcare sector including Electronic Medical Records (EMR), ePrescribing, and Practice Management solutions. “Our products are now nationally recognized as best-in-breed solutions and it is because of the hard work and dedication of our entire team”, says Randy.
Motive behind RxNT
RxNT was founded with the sole intent of improving patient safety and physician efficiency during the prescription writing process in America. In 1999, Mr. Boldyga was inspired by the news about an unfortunate death of an infant that was administered an overdose due to illegible prescription. When he delved deeper into the issue, he learned this was not an isolated circumstance and learned the national numbers were much higher than he would have expected. As we began talking to industry stakeholders such as pharmacies, physicians, insurance payers, and PBMs, we learned all the parties were interested in helping to change the healthcare industry to electronic prescribing. “The stars aligned for RxNT. We were in the right place at the right time and quickly capitalized on the opportunity” said Mr. Boldyga.
As electronic prescribing evolved so too did the federal and state laws allowing for true e-prescribing wherein a medication could flow electronically from a physician’s office to a pharmacy using industry standard secure transmission protocols. More recently the DEA passed a law allowing electronic prescribing of controlled medications and states like New York have now begun mandating e-prescribing for all medications.
Many prescribers view the New York State E-Prescribing Mandate as unnecessary and do not understand how the New York Government could pass such legislation. The legislation calls for all prescriptions of non-controlled and controlled substances to be transmitted to pharmacies electronically. This means, all prescribing physicians, including those who are retired, need to have an e-Prescribing solution in place and be registered with the Health Commerce System (HCS) if they plan on writing compliant prescriptions. What these prescribers don’t see are the undeniable benefits of e-Prescribing and how they are improving medical care.
Even though New York is the first state to require e-Prescribing, thousands of prescribers across the United States have already begun utilizing electronic prescribing and many states are beginning to pursue the same legislation as New York.
The U.S Department of Health and Human Services spelled out the top four clear benefits of e-Prescribing in the article, ‘What Are Some of the Benefits of E-Prescribing?’ RxNT finds its customers to experience these same benefits. Here are the top four:
Improves patient safety and quality of care. It is no secret to anyone that doctors do not have the most legible handwriting, so it makes sense that pharmacists may not always read the correct medication or dosage. With RxNT|eRx, prescribers are required to enter in the medication, quantity and units. This eliminates the pharmacists having to decode a prescriber’s script.
Reduces time on phone calls to and from pharmacies. There is no question that pharmacists must reach out to practices to confirm scripts and responding to outstanding prescription requests takes time. The MGMA discovered that these phone calls total about $20,000 annually per office. The solution to not losing money every year on phone calls? Electronic Prescribing.
Increase patient convenience and medication compliance. Have you recently received a phone call from your pharmacy after you have refilled a prescription? Imagine receiving a notice from the pharmacy that your prescription is ready for pick-up and you didn’t have to submit a request for a refill from your doctor. Well, that is what e-Prescribing can do. RxNT|eRx has a “Refills” option directly on their prescription request screen. Pharmacies send doctors in their network refill requests and doctors accept, modify or deny each refill request and electronically send the responses back to the pharmacies.
Improves formulary adherence permits lower cost drug substitutions. Medications can be expensive, and some insurance companies do not cover certain meds. RxNT|eRx database has the ability to look up a patient, see what medications are covered by their insurance company, and if there is a generic version that they can prescribe. In a matter of seconds, physicians know if the medications they are prescribing(for their patient) are covered by their insurance company. This leaves no need for pharmacy-to-physician call-backs related to less expensive medications.
Randy’s Unparalleled Teamwork and Hard work
Very inspiring lines by Randy, “I believe that employees will follow by example and so I try to set the example by doing whatever it takes; there’s no job too big or too small for me (as the President/CEO). This teamwork and hard work mentality is contagious and others follow.”
RxNT has positioned themselves to deliver high quality solutions at a very competitive price. Their objective is to stay competitive by delivering the latest technology in an easy-to-use solution that is cost competitive in the ambulatory health care market. The company focuses on what it can do to better a customer’s experience and use of its product. “We maintain a simple and easy to use system that still delivers a high-quality product at a great price point. In addition to our products, we offer unlimited training and support at no additional cost,” added Randy.
RxNT’s clientele is spread across all specialties of the ambulatory healthcare market including primary care, family care, internal medicine, orthopedics, oncology, hospice, psychiatry, and cardiology.
An Advice to be followed: Take up the Practicality
“I feel like I could write a book on lessons learned so I’m not sure there’s any one lesson that I can pass along to my fellow entrepreneurs. Having said that, knowing you are street smart and the kind-a person who makes good day-to-day life decisions is a contributing factor to being a successful entrepreneur. Don’t get me wrong, being book smart is helpful but I have met a lot of really smart people who have failed miserably at business.
Surround yourself with smart people and listen to those who you have hired and don’t always try to be the individual who has all the answers to all the questions. Stay humble and work honestly. Honesty and integrity are characteristics that are too often under-rated these days,”advices Randy to every entrepreneur.
Spend each Penny valuably, that’s what a Starter need to do
Randy’s golden words to every startup,“Work hard. Be very conscious of corporate expenses and only purchase what is necessary and the company can afford. Do not sell ownership (to raise capital) or take on corporate debt unless absolutely necessary. Be creative in your financing methods. This will ensure that every decision (right or wrong) is yours AND outside influences will be minimized.”