A merger helps a local company expand its services and add local employees.

By Don Shilling

A merger helps a local company expand its services and add local employees.

BOARDMAN — Ajit Kumar thought his expansion problems were solved in 2005 when his company moved into a new building.

Microsys Computing’s 40 employees filled just half of the space.

Three years later, he knows that he didn’t dream big enough.

The rapidly expanding company — now known as Henry Schein Medical Systems — is up to 60 employees and Kumar is looking to hire more. He figures he will have 75 to 80 workers within 18 months, and the 20,000-square-foot building on Boardman-Canfield Road will be full.

When the building went up, about 7,000 doctors in 36 states were using the company’s MicroMD software system, which handles billing, scheduling and other practice management needs.

Today, MicroMD is used by 13,000 doctors in nearly every state.

Growth exploded after Kumar merged his company into Henry Schein, a medical supplier based in Melville, N.Y., which has $6 billion in annual sales.

Schein, which is the largest distributor of health care products in North America and Europe, proposed the merger because it wanted to add the practice management system.

Kumar said he had rejected other suitors before, but he was intrigued by Schein’s offer.

The industry was moving to keeping medical records on computer files instead of paper charts, and his company didn’t offer an electronic records product.

Schein had recently acquired an Israeli company that provided that service and was looking for someone to run the business.

After a year of discussions, Kumar accepted Schein’s offer and folded both MicroMD and the electronic records product into a new company.

The deal allowed Kumar to keep an ownership interest and remain president and chief executive.

Plus, the company’s headquarters would stay in Boardman.

“It’s like having a big brother not interfering with your operation but being there when you need help,” Kumar said.

MicroMD continues to be at the heart of the company’s success.

It was ranked as the second-best practice management system for small practices last year by KLAS, a health-care research company. MicroMD has been ranked in the top five in this category in eight of the past nine years and also ranks highly for large and midsized practices.

The local company also builds computers for doctor’s offices so it can control the quality of the whole system.

About 80 percent of the company’s customers in this region use its computers, but it doesn’t sell computers outside the region because it wouldn’t be able to service them, Kumar said.

He expects future growth to come mostly from the electronics record product.

Doctors have been adopting the technology slowly, with about 10 percent of his accounts using both the practice management and electronic records.

Kumar thinks this percentage will grow as doctors see the advantages of electronic records.

They eliminate the need to flip through papers to check past treatments and medications.

A patient’s prescription history, for example, can be accessed with just a few key strokes either in the office or at a computer at the doctor’s home.

When Henry Schein Medical Systems was created, it inherited two offices that handled electronic records.

A 12-person office in Israel has been retained, but a former office in Salt Lake City was consolidated into the Boardman headquarters.

New employees who will be needed include telephone support workers, programmers, sales representatives and quality control workers, Kumar said.

The growth led him to restructure the company recently. Pradeep Bansal, who had been chief financial officer, became chief operations officer.

Paul Hido was hired to replace him as CFO. Don Quakenbush was hired for a new position, director of implementation.

Kumar said he isn’t sure yet how the company will handle the expected need for more space. But he is confident the company will retain its focus on continually improving its products and serving its customers.

“Quality is what drives this company. I preach everyday that our clients come first,” he said.

Kumar understands what it takes to keep customers happy. He founded the company in his basement in 1982 and for a long time was its only employee, handling programming, sales support and marketing.

What he likes most about the deal with Schein is that it provides him the independence to run the business as he sees fit.

“It’s really a passion,” he said. “Sometimes it’s stressful. But if you enjoy something, stress becomes secondary. This is my baby. This is what I’ve done for the last 25 years.”

shilling@vindy.com