The healthcare industry is in a period of transition both domestically and globally. This is driven by a host of factors from legislation and regulation to the growth of populations with chronic health conditions such as diabetes. The search for adaptive solutions is intense, and the pressure on companies and organizations to innovate and bring new, high-quality solutions to market quickly is strong.
One of the key challenges for healthcare solutions providers, is to develop products and programs that help address the growing demand for chronic disease management in a way that increases efficiency, lowers costs, and increases patient satisfaction. PTS Diagnostics, a provider of state-of-the-art point-of-care testing solutions is rising to the challenge.
Through the company’s commitment to customer focus, innovative technology, and adherence to robust quality standards, they have established themselves as a leader in the manufacture of fast, accurate, and portable point-of-care testing devices. And, they have recently begun building more on that strong foundation with PreVantageTM, a suite of products, strategies, and partnerships aimed at helping healthcare providers thrive in a rapidly changing industry.
Humble Roots
Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, with major operation centers in Sunnyvale, California, PTS Diagnostics was founded in 1992 by an individual who had been affected by diabetes. As a patient, he saw how small, portable glucose meters could quickly and conveniently measure blood glucose levels. He soon realized that there was an unmet market need for a similar device that could that could measure a number of additional chronic disease risk indicators, such as blood cholesterol and ketone levels.
In its early days, PTS Diagnostics was a one-man shop, run out of the founder’s home. Within a couple of years, enough angel funding was raised to move to a business building and hire additional people. In 1997, the company moved to its current location, where more office and lab space was gradually added over the next 25 years as the company grew.
In 2013, PTS Diagnostics acquired A1CNow® from Bayer. In 2016, it was acquired by its current parent company, Sinocare.
The company has now expanded to such an extent that it has outgrown its current location, and will move into a brand new, 145,000 square-foot facility in the Spring of 2019.
Over the years, the company placed a great deal of focus on growth and profitability, while holding on to its identity and its reputation for quality service. It fought against all odds to find its place in the market, and managed to get where it is now through perseverance and angel investments.
“I’m immensely proud of this,” asserts CEO Robert Huffstodt.
Passionate Leadership
PTS Diagnostics is led by President and CEO Robert Huffstodt, he is a Notre Dame graduate with a background in finance.
He considers himself very lucky to have had the opportunity to lead a number of organizations early in his career. Being assigned the task of conducting financial audits for startups and smaller companies helped him gain a thorough understanding of what made these organizations tick.
“When I moved out of public accounting and into the private world, I again found myself at a startup. It was here where a mentor gave me the opportunity to dip my toe into every discipline, from sales calls to factory management,” he says. This gave him a flavor of what it was like to run a whole business from top to bottom and has directly contributed to his success with PTS Diagnostics.
Huffstodt has also always had an affinity for international business. This has served him well as the receptivity to PTS Diagnostics’ products in dozens of markets around the world has continued to grow.
On the personal side, Huffstodt has a passion for music, art, and architecture. These interests have inspired him to create an environment within the company’s new global headquarters that is conducive to creativity and innovation.
People, Technology, and Service
The company’s name represents the three pillars upon which it has built its long-term success: People, Technology, and Service.
‘People’ starts in-house with the skills, talents, and energy of PTS Diagnostics’ global employees and partners. It extends to its strongly-held value of providing high-quality service, person to person. That’s why the company intends to always have real humans answering its calls. “It sends the signal that we’re approachable and are about people,” says Huffstodt.
‘Technology’ points to the company’s innovative products and solutions. PTS Diagnostics integrates old technology and new technology to develop products that are accurate, reliable, and easy to use. Huffstodt says, “We’re not trying to release new updates just because we can. Pairing well-tested elements with modern updates that we believe in allows us to have the best of both worlds. Since PTS Diagnostics has been focused on perfecting its craft instead of always rushing to the newest thing, many of its technologies and products have stood the test of time.”
‘Service’ also has a dual meaning. Internally, the company prizes excellent service provided among departments and employees, but it takes particular pride in the level it service it strives to provide to the customer, which ranges from training to logistics and other elements of its business. As the company moves beyond its products, and towards more comprehensive services and solutions with PreVantage, service will take on yet another level of significance.
Flagship Products
PTS Diagnostics’ signature products include the CardioChek® analyzer and the A1CNow® test system. Both products stand out in the market by being incredibly portable, efficient, and accurate. They also recently launched PreVantage which aims to enhance those products with added convenience, connectivity, and extended service features.
With PreVantage, CardioChek and A1CNow are not mere devices—they are part of a solutions package that links to Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems, which are the backbone of many of todays’ healthcare organizations. The bundled PreVantage product and connectivity offerings are intended to help healthcare organizations transition from Fee for Service payment models to Value-Based Payment models.
Other products
The company also offers the PTS DetectTM cotinine system, PTS CollectTM capillary tubes, and PTS ConnectTM solutions. PTS Detect cotinine is the first and only quantitative tobacco-detection system that can measure exact cotinine levels from a simple fingerstick. PTS Collect capillary tubes brought new new technology and innovation to blood collection. And, PTSConnect ProLink and PTSConnect ScreenPro simplify point-of-care health data collection and transfer for health and wellness companies, retail clinics, and urgent care centers.
What Sets PTS Diagnostics Apart
The creative business approaches and the collaborative spirit behind PTS Diagnostics are what allows it to work with partners all over the world and continue to grow year after year.
The company is also unusual in that it has succeeded largely on its own, without venture capital or a large benefactor. It has bootstrapped itself on angel money, survived, and thrived. The history and background of the company has placed it in a unique position to serve new healthcare delivery and payment systems. PTS Diagnostics envisions becoming a global leader in providing innovative, point-of-care products and services that aid healthcare providers in their preventative healthcare and chronic disease management efforts.
Other factors that set PTS Diagnostics apart from its competitors are its size, its promptness, and its resourcefulness. As a company, PTS is the right size to provide customers with flexibility and personalized service. “We’re not so big as to be rigid, ponderous, and slow to react, on the other hand, we’re not so small as to have too limited of resources” Huffstodt says. “Service and going the extra mile make us stand out.”
An Insight into ‘Product Training’
PTS has a multitude of tools that enhance its training process for both professional and home users “We have a range of options available and we don’t pigeonhole customers into methods that are unconducive to their learning style or schedule,” says Huffstodt. He continues, “For us as a company, the realization of how important that was a watershed moment.”
Notable Awards & Accreditations
In addition to its numerous product accreditations, PTS Diagnostics has earned recognition for its unique product offerings and continued success. In addition to being listed as one of Inc. Magazine’s 5,000 Fastest Growing Companies six times, the company has also been featured on the Today Show, Doctor Oz, and other similar programs abroad.
Disrupting the Point-of-Care Solution Industry
One of the biggest disruptions to the healthcare industry in recent years has been the shift in reimbursement models in the United States, specifically the moving away from fee-for-service models toward value-based models that pay based on the efficiency and effectiveness of care. PTS Diagnostics has recognized that outcomes are the new income™ and has the right products mix of product offerings and industry partners to help healthcare organizations make a positive impact on value-based payment objectives.
The portability and ease-of-use of PTS Diagnostics’ products also position them well to help retail pharmacies, urgent care centers, and community health centers offer lipid panel and A1C wellness testing in a way that often more convenient for patients.
Future of PTS Diagnostics
The company is currently in a period of multiple simultaneous transitions. The first is the building of a new headquarters which will be completed in the second quarter of 2019. The launch of PreVantage solutions is also underway and is continuing to grow and evolve as a product offering and business model. And, new technological innovations are also in the pipeline.
“We certainly believe that we’ll see double digit growth for the foreseeable future,” asserts Huffstodt
