After the pandemic nearly closed ShareableFORMS, an electronic medical records company in Bremen, founder and University of West Georgia alumnus Bobby Mehan ’09 took this as an opportunity to revamp and rebuild the company. He didn’t realize that help was closer than he thought.
First, Mehan hired Holly O’Hare, a registered nurse and former ShareableFORMS customer, as his new CEO. O’Hare then connected with the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center (UGA SBDC) at UWG to work through several projects.
Troy Vollenweider, area director at the UGA SBDC at UWG, worked with O’Hare to reconfigure the company’s organizational chart, redefine its job descriptions and roles, revamp the sales team and evaluate the product pricing. Since then, the business has come back from almost closing to seeing significant growth with a 137% increase in operating income from 2022-2023.
ShareableFORMS helps ambulatory surgery centers cut costs, reduce data entry error and streamline their workflow by converting paper forms to an electronic cloud-based option.
“We are a specialized electronic health care documentation system for surgery centers, independent practitioners and the office-based surgery space,” said O’Hare. “We fill in that niche where paper is still heavily present but gets lost in transit.”
Their scalable offerings allow small to mid-sized medical groups to take a step into electronic documentation without making a full leap into a major system.
ShareableFORMS was originally set up to bill clients by the case. When cases for elective surgeries shut down during the pandemic, the revenue stream nearly stopped.
O’Hare and Mehan decided to use the COVID-19 slow-down to closely examine the business and make necessary changes to ensure future growth. O’Hare and Vollenweider began evaluating the overall organization of the company, starting with the organizational chart.
“We are a company of remote employees, and we wanted to define what that meant,” said O’Hare. “We did an assessment of all our current employees and their job duties. We looked at pay scales and made sure we had the right people in the right roles and that our employees had what they needed.”
Vollenweider was able to provide ShareableFORMS with data and resources to make sure its pay was comparable to other businesses in that space.
“COVID changed things,” said Vollenweider. “Ensuring they had the right titles, salaries, the right function all the way around was needed.”
O’Hare and Vollenweider then shifted their focus to an assessment of the company’s product pricing. That meant looking at the services offered and at evaluations of previous price levels.
“They wanted to make sure their product was priced for growth, so I assisted them in finding that fine line between overpricing and underselling,” said Vollenweider.
What they learned was that the company needed to be flexible in its product offerings to accommodate the needs of its customer base.
“We know ShareableFORMS doesn’t offer a full solution for everyone,” said O’Hare. “That’s why the UGA SBDC makes a point for our products to be compatible with other vendors and processes. We’ve made an effort to fit our product to our customers’ goals and workflows.”
With all employees in the right place, and the product at the right price, O’Hare and Vollenweider did a financial analysis of the business.
“We looked at everything,” said O’Hare. “The balance sheets. Profit and loss statements. Evaluating our existing contracts.”
After a detailed review, ShareableFORMS was able to cut its costs by 15%. In addition, the work helped management determine where the company should be putting its money—trade shows, personnel, or product development—to get the best return on investment.
The results of ShareableFORMS’ work with the UGA SBDC are starting to show. The company experienced significant growth from 2022-2023, expanding into 43 new locations and increasing operating income 137%. In 2024, the company plans to focus on branding and product development to grow its integrations with other vendors.
Vollenweider appreciates the effort O’Hare made to learn from her work with the UGA SBDC.
“Holly is coachable and takes in all the information we gave her,” said Vollenweider. “I taught her the thought processes behind all the projects we were working on, and it helped her to think through the building of the business.”
O’Hare is grateful for her connection with the UGA SBDC and plans to continue working with them in the future.
“I’ve learned a great deal from Troy and the UGA SBDC,” said O’Hare. “I appreciate Troy’s feedback and support. We look forward to continuing our strategic initiatives alongside our customers and the ongoing support of those around us.”
