Celebrating 20 years and prepared for the future

The healthcare landscape was very different when Sean Volkaert and Jeff Guerin started Ortech in 2002, in London, Ontario. The two individuals worked with orthopedic surgeons at University Hospital, London Health Sciences Centre where they had a vision to automate areas of the orthopedic surgery process that were manual and required time that surgeons or the hospitals didn’t have available. Sean and Jeff developed a technology platform to automate the operative notes that were tedious and time-consuming for surgeons, as well as the ability to access relevant patient information for informed decisions such as expediting revisions when necessary or helping surgeons locate implant details to enhance the partnership between health-care facilities and device manufacturers.

One of their first customers was The Hospital for Special Surgery located in New York City. The facility, recently recognized by the US News ranking as the #1 facility for orthopedics, saw the opportunity to automate areas of the orthopedic process so high-performing surgeons could focus on their areas of expertise. Ortech saw an opportunity to provide customized dashboards for surgeons, service-line managers, quality and researchers so they had access to relevant and timely information for effective decisions. Ortech is grateful for the early adopters of 20 years ago who saw the benefits right away as well as the long list of customers.

The Future

Ortech just completed their customer feedback survey and healthcare providers gave them a 5-star rating. “Ortech is a customer-centric company; we are delighted to have such a loyal following of brand ambassadors who provided a glowing customer scorecard that tech companies aspire to achieve,” said Michael Barr, VP, Sales & Marketing.

Their immediate focus is on the orthopedics community as Ortech has innovated to provide customized dashboards to save time for surgeons, executives, service-line managers, quality and researchers. Ortech’s customers have valued their expertise in orthopedics and patient reported outcomes – metrics that are important for funding and support as well as patient selection of facilities in areas where patients are consumers.

At a time of increased pressure on health-care providers to do more with less, and intense competition for funding and proof of surgical outcomes, Ortech is innovating and working closely with customers to serve their needs. They are 20 years young with a track record for being the real deal – they value the feedback from their customers and continue to innovate to help make life a little easier for this overworked population.