Microsys enters joint venture

Boardman will be the headquarters for the new operation.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
BOARDMAN -- A Boardman software company has joined forces with a Fortune 500 company to form a new organization.
Microsys Computing, which provides practice management software for doctors, has become Henry Schein Medical Systems.
Ajit Kumar, founder of Microsys, is a partner in the new venture with Henry Schein Inc., a Long Island, N.Y., company that had 4.6 billion in sales last year.
Kumar said Henry Schein Medical Systems is based in Microsys' former offices on Boardman-Canfield Road. It also has offices in Salt Lake City and Jerusalem, which employ a total of 30. Those offices are former Henry Schein locations that develop new technology.
Kumar, besides being part-owner, is general manager of the new venture.
Kumar said all 45 Microsys workers have been retained, and he expects more employees to be added as the sales grow.
"This whole thing is good for us and good for Youngstown," he said.
Complementary products
The partnership makes sense because the two companies had complementary products, he said.
Microsys has been successful in selling its practice management product, MicroMD, to more than 7,000 doctors in 36 states. Practice management software handles billing, scheduling and other office needs. Microsys didn't have a product for electronic medical records and decided it didn't have the expertise to compete in that field, Kumar said.
Henry Schein offered electronic medical records and had been looking to enter the practice management field, Kumar said.
The new organization is offering integrated versions of both products under the MicroMD name.
Kumar said he is excited about working with Henry Schein because of its international reputation. The company employs 11,000 people in 19 countries.
Henry Schein bills itself as the largest distributor of health-care products and services to medical, dental and veterinary offices in the combined North American and European markets.
Kumar founded Microsys in his basement in 1983. He later moved his offices to Boardman-Canfield Road and completed an expansion of the building in January 2005.