Peter Orr and Tom May, co-founders of MedHub, Inc. (Photo credit: Ann Arbor Business Review/ AnnArbor.com)

In 2002, representatives from the University of Michigan Health Center’s Department of Surgery asked IT entrepreneur Peter Orr and mechanical engineer Tom May to develop a web-based call schedule for 200+ surgery residents in 11 residency and fellowship programs. The goal was to create a scheduling engine that could meet the increasingly rigorous documentation requirements of the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).

More Challenges, More Capabilities

Over a period of two years, as regulatory demands increased, other departments became involved and additional projects were launched. As Orr recalls, “What began as a system intended to document and manage residency program data for one department and grew to become an enterprise-wide solution for coordinating and managing 89 residency and fellowship programs.”

In 2003, Orr and May deployed an enterprise-wide residency management program that integrated every critical function within the U-M Health System-from physician training and accreditation-related activities to affiliated institutional billing, Medicare reimbursement, auditing, and reporting. That same year, they launched MedHub, Inc. to market the technology to other large teaching hospitals across the country.

A Unique Approach

Unlike its competitors, who focus on individual residency programs, MedHub takes an institutional approach: analyzing the needs and interactions of every key department, then implementing a solution across the entire organization. This intelligent workflow design improves efficiency and makes the system both customizable and user friendly.

“MedHub’s biggest strength is its ability to unify the many ad hoc aspects of physician training, Medicare reimbursement, and regulatory requirements into a single, collaborative platform,” says Orr. “With our best-in-class system, thousands of users can easily communicate, retrieve and exchange real-time data for a common purpose. As a result, clients report dramatic reductions in redundancy and staff time paired with significant improvements in documentation and audit response.”

A Growing Future

MedHub doubled the size of its staff in 2009, and that fast-track growth shows no signs of abating. Large institutions that were once using competitors systems have been switching to MedHub. Systems are currently in place at the Cleveland Clinic, Stanford University Hospitals and Clinics, Carolinas Health System, the University of Washington, Indiana University School of Medicine, The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and other major teaching hospitals. Interest is now coming from teaching hospitals outside North America.

“Our initial two-year project at the University of Michigan was an excellent proving ground that led us to develop a highly practical, real-world technology,” says Tom May. “Building on that foundation, we continue to find ways of adding value and expanding vertically within the organizations we now serve.” MedHub has expanded its core Graduate Medical Education functions to include Medical Schools and Allied Health trainee programs.

Click here to view the 2009 Annual Report on Technology Transfer, Industry Research and Economic Development in its entirety.

S2 Yachts / Energtex Composites

The Slikkers family has been making waves in the boating world for more than half a century-first with superbly crafted wooden boats and more recently with innovative composite materials. In 1955 Leon Slikkers founded the Slickcraft boat company, producing wooden runabouts, and concurrently started experimentation in fiberglass hull construction. By 1961, all Slickcraft models were fiberglass. Continuing their pioneering work in fiberglass construction, the Slikkers family started S2 Yachts in 1974 to produce sailboats, and the subsequent family of brands including Tiara luxury fishing and cruising yachts, and Pursuit Fishing boats. The company’s headquarters is in Holland, Michigan.

In 2007, the S2 management team made a strategic decision to diversify beyond marine products. And thus was born Energetx Composites. We’re still a boat manufacturer and intend to remain so for a long time to come,” says S2 Product Design Manager Richard Eggerding. “But we’re also a composites company, and our design, engineering and assembly capabilities are especially applicable to the renewable energy industry.”

A Productive Partnership

S2 Yachts has a longstanding relationship with the University of Michigan, both as a recruiter of naval architects and mechanical engineers, and as a corporate partner. It’s a relationship that continues to evolve. And, Energetx is following suit. Currently, Energetx is engaged in projects with two U-M spinoffs: FlexSys, Inc., which produces adaptive wing segments and wind turbine blades, and Michigan Aerospace Corporation, a developer of high-performance systems for atmospheric measurement.

Bruce Bultman of the Michigan company S2 Yachts looks on as an environmental monitoring buoy is launched in Grand Traverse Bay on a test run.

S2 Yachts has also licensed TIDAS smart buoy technology developed by Engineering Professor Guy Meadows, director of the University of Michigan Marine-Hydrodynamics Laboratory. in response to new wave measurement standards established by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Through a partnership agreement with U-M, these environmental monitoring buoys produced by S2 are being deployed as part of the Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS), a component of NOAA’s integrated ocean observing system. “This is exciting because we’re taking advanced technology and transitioning it to a Michigan company,” Meadows says. “And S2 can build a better product than we can here in the lab.”

Future Plans

In addition to branching out into buoys, S2 is expanding its project portfolio to include offshore wind farm development, components for aerospace and defense, and monitoring technologies for pleasure craft and other marine applications.

Based on its strong growth trajectory, the company expects to generate more than 1,000 jobs over the next few years in fields such as robotics, quality engineering, and manufacturing engineering. According to Eggerding, “Job creation is one of our major goals. But we also want to focus national attention on Michigan’s engineering horsepower and the resources that exist here in the western part of the state for rebuilding the U.S. economy.”

Click here to view the 2009 Annual Report on Technology Transfer, Industry Research and Economic Development in its entirety.