- October 15, 2024
- Modio in the Press
For the past 10 years, Modio Health has been at the forefront of provider credentialing, transforming an outdated and cumbersome process into one that is streamlined and efficient. Recently, we had the pleasure of speaking with co-founders Kirk Heath and John Bou to explore the inspiration behind the company’s founding and to discuss what’s next as Modio celebrates its 10-year milestone.
Modio Health: October marks 10 years since Modio was founded. This is a big anniversary. What inspired you to found the company? What was your vision?
Kirk: We started Modio to tackle the inefficiencies we were seeing in healthcare, specifically within credentialing — an important area that has largely been overlooked in terms of innovation. Despite the emergence of new software solutions, credentialing has remained stuck in the past for the most part. Back in the ’90s and early 2000s, you had a credentialing office somewhere in the back of the hospital, and the medical staff didn’t think much about it. Yet medical credentialers are the gatekeepers to medicine, playing a crucial role in keeping patients safe.
As much as we complain about having to fill out the forms and manage paperwork, it’s imperative that credentialing exists so providers can work and get paid and so patients can be seen by qualified clinicians. We just saw a better way to do that through technology, hence the start of Modio.
John: We started as a staffing company but quickly realized that the credentialing process was the major bottleneck — sometimes taking up to six months to get a provider ready to work. We saw an opportunity to get the data for our clients faster and saw that by streamlining the credentialing process, it significantly reduced the time to get a provider credentialed, enabling them to see patients much sooner.
As more clients began requesting the credentialing component, we pivoted pretty quickly to develop a dedicated credentialing software tool. The traditional methods — relying on fax machines, Excel spreadsheets, and paper documents — were outdated and cumbersome. Our solution transformed this difficult process, addressing a major pain point that had long been neglected.
Modio Health: You are also approaching the five-year anniversary of being brought under the CHG Healthcare umbrella. Can you talk more about this partnership and how things have evolved?
Kirk: We joined CHG in 2019, an organization widely recognized for its outstanding culture, benefits, and compensation — they genuinely care about their people. Of course, partnering with a company whose main focus is healthcare staffing, which significantly outweighs software in revenue, came with its own set of challenges. But it quickly became clear that our platform plays a crucial role in managing provider data across the company. Plus, we’ve continued to grow our external client base. With CHG’s backing, we’re investing more into our software each year and expanding our vision.
John: As Kirk mentioned, culture was a major factor in our decision to join CHG — our values aligned really well. If you look across the industry, it’s common for founders and leadership teams to leave within a year or two, but five years in, virtually all of Modio’s leadership and more than 90% of the team are still here. That says a lot about CHG’s culture and the mutual value of our partnership. Joining another company isn’t always easy, but for Modio, it’s been the best of both worlds. CHG has given us the freedom to operate independently while providing the support of a larger company. We can move quickly when needed and have access to resources that have strengthened our credentialing efforts.
Modio Health: What are some key challenges Modio addresses within the healthcare sector?
Kirk: One of the key challenges Modio addresses is the overwhelming redundancy in provider data management. As a practicing physician, I can have more than 30 data relationships across hospitals, surgery centers, and insurance payers, each requiring the same credentialing process with hundreds of data points and documents. About 25% of this information, like licenses, board certifications, and medical education, must be verified repeatedly. While there are reasons for these verifications, the process doesn’t have to be so inefficient.
We envision a system similar to patient medical records, where information is easily accessible across locations — like being able to pull up scans from a hospital or health system, even if it’s four hours away. Modio’s OneView aims to do the same for provider records by centralizing data so everyone can access and act on it quickly. Credentialing used to be an overlooked area, but technology is changing that. Instead of getting frustrated with repeated checks, Modio set out to make the process seamless and efficient — verifications at the push of a button, no matter where you practice.
John: If you take a step back, provider credentialing is pretty straightforward in terms of inputs and outputs, but the real challenge lies in the middle: Each hospital and organization handles the process differently due to their specific litigation concerns, bylaws, and practices. This makes it hard to create a one-size-fits-all system. With OneView, we focus on streamlining the collection of data, organizing outputs, and tracking the process without forcing every organization to change its methods.
The inputs and outputs of credentialing are generally standard, but the variations in how each organization manages them create major interoperability issues. Many hospitals stick to their traditional ways — “this is how we’ve always done it” — which makes it tough to standardize across the board. While standardization is a big challenge, I think it’s the direction the industry is gradually moving toward.
Modio Health: What are your insights on the future of credentialing? Are there any emerging trends or predictions you can share?
Kirk: There’s been tremendous growth of credentialing companies and data companies since we started Modio. Modio was among the first in this space. Looking ahead, the industry needs significant investment to keep pace, especially as part of larger staffing companies. The trend is moving toward a unified provider record, a concept we’ve championed since 2015. While ideas like blockchain and AI are often discussed, the reality is that we’re unlikely to get widespread agreement among health systems to trust each other’s verifications. The real game-changer will be finding ways to streamline data verification, automate processes, and rethink how we approach credentialing to boost efficiency.
John: We’ve seen the evolution of credentialing from manual processes — like paper, Excel documents, and sticky notes — to early digital platforms that were essentially static databases hosted on physical, onsite servers. For about 10 to 20 years, these platforms dominated until we entered the scene with Modio. We transformed the landscape with cloud-based solutions that made data integration and automation more dynamic and efficient. Our approach was unique, especially five years ago when cloud-based systems were still a novelty, and we pushed the boundaries of automating data sources, setting the stage for the next phase of advanced automation in credentialing.
I believe the future of credentialing will shift from focusing on workflows to simply “here’s the data required in the format you need.” Automation and machine learning will hopefully allow us to gather and verify data without having to track every single step, making the process faster and more efficient — providers can be greenlighted without the endless back-and-forth.
Modio Health: So with 10 years now in the rearview mirror, what does the future hold for Modio?
Kirk: We’re about five years into a successful acquisition with CHG, and it’s been a journey of balancing priorities and learning to work as a unified team. Now that we’ve found our rhythm, I’m excited about the future investments we’re making. The refreshed look, feel, and enhanced features are setting the stage for what’s next. From here, it’s all about new feature development, and I can’t wait to see where the next 24 to 48 months take us.
John: When we partnered with CHG, our initial focus was on integrating teams and creating stability. Those first few years were all about learning to work together and building a product that could support CHG’s strong operations. They’re already great at what they do, and adding the right tools only makes them better.
Looking ahead, we’ve got a solid road map for the next couple of years, with plans to advance credentialing and deliver on the promises we’ve made. We’re also starting to think further out, envisioning the next three to five years and positioning ourselves as leaders in the field. It’s going to be an exciting journey as we continue to evolve the platform.
Learn more about Modio Health today.