A bio box for Girish Navani
Updated: 6 hours ago
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The WBJ Hall of Fame
WBJ Hall of Fame: Navani has built a billion-dollar empire of innovation
Photo I Courtesy of Matt Wright
Girish Navani, CEO and co-founded of eClinicalWorks
When Girish Navani co-founded Westborough-based electronic health records company eClinicalWorks in 1999, his initial objective function was to be a successful software entrepreneur and create amazing products. But by 2004, the words of his father began to ring truer to him: to build something that lasts so long that it outlasts you.
And it’s safe to say Navani is well on his way to doing so.
Today, eClinicalWorks is a billion-dollar business, a financial benchmark far exceeding any milestone Navani had in mind when he founded the company.
“Now we want to just double it, grow it. But it's not the financial side that drives us as much as the impact side,” said Navani.
The surge of AI integration into health care has encouraged Navani to catapult eClinicalWorks into a whole new era.
On a Wednesday in early March, Navani stepped into eClinicalWorks’ weekly all hands meeting and announced the company would henceforth commit 40% of its research and development to building new products and including AI capabilities in existing products.
“Blanket statement: Go figure out and bring ideas. We like them. We'll approve them. You go do them,” he said.
Within six months, 13 projects had been approved and made into products.
eClinicalWorks has already implemented ambient listening into a suite of products, an AI technology that records doctors visits in real time, writing out notes and visit summaries for doctors in seconds. One of the company’s ambient listening products, Sunoh.ai has had more than 75,000 users sign up for the service within the last 12 months, a scale of growth the company has never experienced before, said Sameer Bhat, eClinicalWorks co-founder.
“Even though we are a billion-dollar company, we feel like we are operating in a startup because of that culture of innovation and not stopping,” said Bhat.
Navani’s constant push for innovation also helps the company stay agile and nimble in its approach to growth, Bhat said.
“There is no end to thinking about the potential of AI and how transformative it can and will be to traditional software. If we sleep on the wheel for a year, we may become the BlackBerry of the smartphone industry,” said Navani.
eClinicalWorks has had a footprint in hospitals in India for more than a decade, but the innovations in AI of the past year have compelled Navani to look for more opportunities outside the limits of the United States.
The company has already started to gain traction in its efforts to expand into Dubai. He wouldn’t be surprised if in six months the company will be sitting in Australia and New Zealand.
“He's not worried about taking [on] tough, tough problems, and he doesn't worry about failing as he takes on those challenges,” said Bhat. “That approach always helps him to build a team that eventually wins.”
While Navani pushes his team of more than 6,000 forward, his principle of responsible AI integration never loses its emphasis.
“I am 100% focused that the only thing we will ever build is to enhance the delivery of care for patients. Nothing else matters,” said Navani.
eClinicalWorks has an entire clinical risk management department made up of 30 clinicians including doctors, nurses, and pharmacists whose whole objective is to make sure the software being developed would never negatively impact patient care.
While eClinicalWorks works to advance AI integration, it looks to keep costs low for providers: a signature passion of Navani’s.
“We’re building state-of-the-art software technology, yet we want to offer it at price points that any one of them can absorb without having to worry about the affordability of technology,” he said.
Next up, the company is creating a product named healow Genie: an AI-Powered contact center solution looking to surpass automated voice menus used in doctors offices.
“There is a certain aspect to tech innovation that just never becomes old. Every day is a new day. Every day you can do something quite different, quite unique, to make yourself better,” he said.
Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare and diversity, equity, and inclusion industries.
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