What attracted you to Discovery Health Partners?
A number of factors influenced my decision to join Discovery Health Partners. Initially, I was attracted by the opportunity Discovery has to improve the healthcare payment integrity space, which is a large market that continues to be a pain point for payers and providers. Healthcare spending continues to increase annually and today consumes about 17% of GDP, and anywhere between 3-10% of that spending is waste or inefficient. Discovery’s solutions reduce waste, fraud, and inefficiency in the healthcare sector and that is very attractive from a mission and impact standpoint. As reimbursement gets more complex and government programs—which are a focus of ours—continue to grow and expand, the market opportunity will only become greater.
Discovery has a large installed customer base in a growing market. As I thought about this and the potential impact Discovery would have if we continue to get it right, I became increasingly excited about the opportunity. The great culture fit, which was evident once I got to know the team at Carrick and Discovery, made it that much more appealing.
How are you applying your background in the payer and provider sides and your experience scaling high-growth technology and tech-enabled services companies?
I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the healthcare tech space across providers and payers. That gave me a good 360-degree view of the ecosystem. A lot of the issues around the administration of healthcare are opposite sides of the same coin. There is a lot of complexity, but my experience allows me to see from different perspectives and helps me to understand the problems and formulate the right road maps.
As I think of where Discovery is and where we need to grow, there are experiences in my background that are relevant and will be helpful to our growth. I’ve spent a lot of time in my career on strategy development and I have a lot of experience launching new solutions. Discovery has a large, loyal base of clients, and we need to continue earning that loyalty by providing them with valuable solutions. Further, one of our aspirations is making strategic acquisitions to add to our solutions. I’ve spent 20 years doing Mergers & Acquisitions in various capacities and hope to leverage that capability for Discovery. Lastly, my hybrid experience with venture-backed and public companies has given me a good sense for what that journey looks like and the muscle we need in order to build and scale effectively.
What are some of the specific challenges you have successfully overcome during your career and how will those experiences inform your approach to leading Discovery Health Partners?
I have a lot of experience launching new products and finding product market fit. I have had many successful experiences, but also failures. I have a perspective on what works, what doesn’t, and what mistakes to avoid. One take-away I have is that not every product launch is successful, so in those instances when you can’t be successful, figure out how to fail fast, as cheaply as possible, and recover quickly. I think having the experience and knowing how to build the muscle and the right infrastructure are the most important components to a company’s success in developing, launching, and delivering innovative and commercially viable products.
What impact does Discovery Health Partners have on the industry as you deliver greater payment integrity, reduced cost and waste, and increased revenue to a growing client base?
We are looking to continue to innovate in the industry. We’ve been fortunate in introducing new solutions to the market that solve problems clients weren’t able to overcome.
Building on that, we have a new suite of solutions that helps clients solve problems that aren’t being adequately addressed by other venders. We bring scale and expertise to our customers’ internal capabilities. We also pride ourselves on leveraging new technologies, like machine learning and AI, to solve traditional payment integrity problems in new innovative ways.
What are the benefits of working with a group like Carrick Capital Partners and how, if at all, did they influence your decision to join Discovery Health Partners?
They absolutely influenced my decision to join Discovery Health Partners. I got to know the Carrick team during the interview process. They bring a lot to the table. They offer a good mix of finance and operations, without being strictly investor- or finance-driven. The combination of capabilities across the firm in both operations and finance translates into a great knowledge base and experience set to tap into.
Carrick has connected us with great advisors and have a very strong network for sourcing talent, connecting with clients, and introducing new business opportunities. They are also very helpful on the capital front. Beyond providing their own, they helped with other sources of capital and helped us to secure terms and rates that would not have been available to us as a standalone company.
Personally, it is great fit. The members of their team possess the traits I value in people I work with; they are good people who are helpful, easy to get along with, and don’t have big egos.
What’s your advice for other businesses considering private equity?
The first thing I would suggest is make sure that the group you are considering have people you can truly work with. It’s a little like getting married. You want to make sure it’s a good fit. You also want to make sure you are getting more than just dollars. Money is a commodity and there is a lot of it floating around right now. For a private-equity partnership to work well, you want to be sure you are gaining access to networks, expertise, and business-building experience.
Finally, don’t assume you are aligned on how to create value. Firms approach value creation differently. Some take a cost-cutting approach, where others want it to come more from growth. Make sure you are aligned on strategy and how you will approach value creation with any PE firm you are considering.
What are your goals for Discovery Health Partners over the next five years in terms of both growth and also measureable impact on improving healthcare and helping health plans and healthcare organizations?
We plan to double the size of the business over the next three to five years. Our primary focus is on solutions: developing, launching, and also acquiring new solutions. We want a broader portfolio of solutions so we can solve more client problems and have a bigger impact on reducing waste and inefficiency across the healthcare system.
What are you most excited about at Discovery Health Partners?
I’m most excited about building a winning team and making a positive impact on the healthcare system. We are building a great culture and the right team. I believe that by helping our team grow and develop, we will create opportunities for employees to become the best versions of themselves. We also expect that our work helping clients solve meaningful problems will have a significant, macro impact on the healthcare system. It’s a very exciting position to be in, and the next 3-5 years are going to be particularly fun.
