Toronto’s PointClickCare is a market leader in providing on-demand software for the Long Term Care industry.

PointClickCare’s clients, which include Americare and Extendicare, rely on the company to manage the reams of clinical and financial information essential to the care of elderly patients.

Dave Wessinger, Co-Founder and CTO, PointClickCare

Co-Founder Dave Wessinger, who was raised in Milton, graduated from the University of Western Ontario in 1993 with a Bsc. in Computer Science. After school, Wessinger immediately went to work in the long term care industry, eventually landing a role as IT Director for Responsive Health Management. Wessinger co-founded PointClickCare with his brother, Mike, in 1999.

Wessinger talked to RedCanary about his roots in the industry, hiring problem-solvers, and the complex nature of the long term care industry.

Let’s have your founder’s story
“The unique thing is where we started. [My] brother Mike and I are partners, he’s the CEO and I’m the CTO. When we graduated (in ‘93 and ‘94 respectively), he went off to be a sales rep for a software company and I went to work with our mom, who happened to be with a group that ran a bunch of nursing homes. So that was my introduction to the industry.

After I got out into the real world, I was an IT director with Responsive Health Management (a nursing home chain in Toronto). I worked in a nursing unit building with an assisted living wing. I think because of that I got to really understand the long term care business and what my real opportunity was to get involved.”

We’ve really used the mafia theory to hire: somebody needs to vouch for you to get in to PointClickCare, and then they’re responsible for you doing well. That’s not a policy, but we joke about it all the time.

“In 1995, [my] brother was a reseller of software in the industry. Unfortunately, the software that was available at the time was crap, there was just nothing out there. We got together in ‘97 and said “You know what? We can do better.” Initially, we rounded out the solution Mike had been representing with some value-added products. After a while, we decided to sign a non-compete and get out there. So family is really where PointClickCare came from, and I think that’s stayed with us.”

What’s your management style?
“It starts with ensuring that we solve our customer’s problems. As a manager, I go out of the mould a bit and get really passionate and upset if we’re not doing the things that we need to meet that goal. Outside of that, I’m generally a lot of fun, but very focused.”

What kind of people do you like to surround yourself with?

In our space, no-one else has ever been able to deliver on a tool that lets the HCR Manorcares of the world with 300-plus facilities manage all their clinical records and still get all their billing out and done by the first of every month. We do that.

“Basically people that give a shit. If you don’t care, don’t pop up on my steps. That’s the only thing that matters. Long term care is basically a bunch of volunteers serving the elderly. You truly need to care to be in it, and care both about customers and the residents, which are mostly our mothers and grandmothers.

“We’ve really used the mafia theory to hire: somebody needs to vouch for you to get in to PointClickCare, and then they’re responsible for you doing well. That’s not a policy, but we joke about it all the time. “If they don’t work out, I’m gonna show up at your door with a bag of quarters.” We went away from it for a little while and it affected our culture. Our turnover the last three years is about 25 per cent and maybe 80 per cent of that was from staff we brought in outside the mafia model.”

Are there any particular software languages you’re looking for, or a an ideal candidate profile that you work off to do your hiring?
“I think Jack Welch said it best: it’s really about getting the right people on the bus and you find a seat for them later. The kids come out of school today saying “Where the hell are we going to start? Give me an opportunity, I need experience.” We do some profiling and generally we try to align people’s passion with what they like to do.

If you’re hiring somebody for a language they code or speak, you’re going down the wrong path. Hire somebody who can solve a problem for you and they’ll learn the language. It’s about getting people that are smart enough and passionate about solving problems. And if they’re not, get the hell off the bus.”

What’s PointClickCare’s key value proposition to the long term care market?
“[Long Term Care Organizations] are required to fill out complex patient assessment forms and send [them] off to payer sources – in Canada, there’s two, in the U.S., there’s thousands. Our product simplifies that problem by streamlining their process. We [put] their focus on working with residents or family members versus constantly monitoring some complex administrative process. And interoperability is changing the game all over again. That’s what’s driving more and more customers to market.

The long term care industry is actually more regulated than nuclear power, but most organizations spend less than one-half of one percent on technology.

“The reason they buy is because they have regulatory and legislative compliance issues they need to deal with. There are complexities by state, by surveyor, by compliance office . . . you name it. If those issues weren’t there, people would be still be using paper systems today. That’s the bizarre nature of the long term care market

The thing about long term care, everybody knows what everybody else is doing. It’s like a game of Boggle. There’s a shake-up every couple of years and all the players land somewhere else. It’s a very, very small world.”

Your clients are some of the biggest care companies in the world. How advanced is their understanding and utilization of technology?
“I work [closely] with our customers. Generally, their take is that we suck less (laughs). They like our honesty, they like our perception of things . . . I think what that really means is our stuff works and it’s easy and for users to adopt, which is key with any software system. So, we solve problems at a lower threshold than our competitors. That helps our customer retention rate, which is about 99 per cent.

Honestly, PointClickCare is here and doing what we’re doing because we can help solve problems, and let long term care staff and volunteers concentrate on delivering a really great quality of care.”