Seeley Medical: 'We need to reinvent ourselves'

ANDOVER, Ohio - Seeley Medical is taking the whole idea of diversification to new heights in 2011.

The HME provider has invested in Azork Technologies, a company that has developed a “cloud computing” platform called Drund (www.drund.com). Azork launched the platform, which allows users to access tools and applications through a web browser rather than through their own computer or server, in January.

“What we've done for the first time is taken a step out of health care and into the mainstream with the web and IT,” said Joe Petrolla, president of Seeley Medical. “We know that as long as the HME industry is going the way it's going, we need to continue to try to reinvent ourselves.”

Despite being awarded seven contracts in the Cleveland and Pittsburgh competitive bidding areas (CBAs) and three in the Cincinnati CBA, Seeley Medical has made diversification a priority.

When Azork launches Drund, it will target small- to medium-sized businesses. The platform allows these businesses and their employees to do things like share, edit and store documents, all in one place online, keeping their hardware, software and IT personnel costs to a minimum.

“For the HME industry, going through the changes it's going through, a lot of providers are going to be looking at ways to reduce costs and our platform will help them along that path,” said Lee Yi, the founder of Azork. “It's a pretty important thing for them to increase their access to technology but reduce how much they need to rely on physical technology and personnel.”

Azork is working with Shift Communications, a marketing and PR firm that specializes in the technology space, to promote Drund. Among the platform's selling points: it's free on a trial basis, and all of its tools and applications are “dummied down” so they're point and click, Petrolla said.

“We're excited about it because we think this is where computing is going,” he said. “This is something the industry is going to hear about eventually.”