Sippy Downs start-up Medmin secures more than $32m revenue increase for hospitals

As many hospitals struggle to secure sufficient government investment a Sunshine Coast start-up’s digital platform may have struck the solution to bridging funding gaps.

A Sippy Downs start-up’s digital platform enabling hospitals to secure more funding by capturing detailed data on healthcare quality may be the solution to addressing their financial shortfalls.

Medmin was founded by Dr David Quigley in 2002 and has since gone on to secure more than $32m in state and federal government financing for private Queensland hospitals.

Money is allocated to hospitals based on the level of information they record about the efficiency of their services and patient results.

The med-tech company’s cloud-based software targets the optimal clinical records to review to ensure accuracy and better funding while speeding up an otherwise clunky process.

Dr Quigley said improving funding for hospitals was crucial as many run on narrow revenue margins.

Medmin founder and director Dr David Quigley

“Hospitals are a high stress environment and when they’re short of cash it becomes even greater which has flow-on effects for the staff and patients,” Dr Quigley said.

“The national activity-based funding model we have is good in terms of improving quality and efficiency around information but it’s not perfect, there’s a lot of flaws in it and a lot of those flaws is what drives my business and although they’re threats to hospitals we can turn them into opportunities.”

Medmin has carried out more than 40,000 clinical reviews and estimates its platform can improve private hospital revenue by $4000 a bed annually.

The company also forecasts the information it captures for facilities with at least 400 beds can increase their funding in excess of $1.6m yearly.

Based on 2020 figures, they have generated more than $32m for hospitals across the state, providing them with a 600 per cent return on investment in the private system alone.

The start-up has worked with ten Queensland hospitals and is in discussions with five others including interstate organisations interested in using the system.

Medmin estimates its platform can improve hospital revenue by $4000 per bed annually. Picture Lachie Millard

Along with generating more revenue, the depth of data Medmin provides also enables management teams to see areas in their services they can improve to achieve better healthcare results for patients.

Dr Quigley said hospitals he has worked with have seen reductions in return to theatre and pressure sore rates as well as post-operative infections, bleeding, and other health areas.

“What I am interested in is improving quality of healthcare and data so with our cloud-based system its both financially targeted but it also provides feedback in terms of quality assurance and benchmarking,” Dr Quigley said.

“I think when the financial holes are plugged there will be more interest in the quality assurance and benchmarking system because it’s something that a lot of hospitals need to have, current systems are very slow and not particularly accurate.

“The main thing we want to do is get a larger sample and focus more on quality assurance, I think that’s the most exciting part for me.”