When Hoosier entrepreneur Scott Law founded Zotec Partners in 1998, he certainly wasn’t thinking about a global pandemic or what impacts that might have on his home state.

He merely wanted to find a way to take the (mostly) paper-based health care record-keeping methods into the digital world. That task alone was Herculean.

Before the mid- to late 1980s, it was rare to see a computer used at all in private practice, let alone for storing electronic medical records, electronic health information and sensitive personal information.

Even though portable record-keeping systems had become far more commonplace by the late 1990s, records were still largely paper, which meant health records had to be physically stored and moved. When Zotec was formed, many medical practices were still using fax machines to interact with patients, insurance companies and other health care facilities.

Dealing with the pandemic – and all that comes with it – certainly would have been more difficult before the digital age swept through the medical industry. It also would have been more challenging for the state to manage testing, contact tracing and vaccine administration if it didn’t have private partners like Carmel-based Zotec, which specializes in building systems to digitally track and maintain medical records.

August is National Immunization Awareness Month so it seems like a good time to look at Zotec’s role in facilitating pandemic solutions and how the company is continuing to empower vaccinations for Hoosiers through technology solutions.

Zotec, which has 350 employees in Indiana and 1,700 total, has adapted its technology solutions to support the state, made enhancements along the way and pivoted to meet changing needs, according to Law, the firm’s CEO.

In the past 18 months, the company has facilitated more than five million immunizations for the state and that initiative is still going strong. Zotec adjusted its platform as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and state have added additional approved vaccines as well as age groups (now six months and up). Additionally, Zotec has worked with Indiana State Health Department on facilitating flu vaccinations and will be ready for additional assistance as needed.

Zotec started its business focusing on practice management, essentially transferring the business of a medical practice from paper to digital.

“We no longer focus on clinical records,” Law explains. “We don’t generate electronic medical records like we used to. Now it’s all revenue cycle and patient experience.”

Zotec’s platform helps medical practices with scheduling appointments, checking in patients, handling insurance information, setting up payment plans and helping patients understand their bills.

Coincidentally, and luckily for the state, Zotec had signed a deal with Walmart shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The deal included setting up service for WalmartHealth.com.

“The Walmart deal allowed us to have a retail presence with front-end registration and a process where patients can pick a location and time of service and handle consent forms. It also dealt with reporting to the CDC behind the scenes.”

So when the state needed a partner to help set up a system to facilitate COVID testing and later vaccines, Zotec had a solution.

“It’s a huge logistical issue we helped the state solve,” Law emphasizes.

Zotec was involved in helping set up various testing and vaccination sites, including the massive operation at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Early on, Zotec developed a smart phone app to track Hoosiers’ symptoms to assure they were getting the right test.

Zotec’s back-end system also helped hospitals, doctor’s offices and other medical facilities collect appropriate federal dollars for the services they provided. “Hospitals and other medical facilities were consumed with COVID,” Law stresses. “That federal money helped them stay in practice.”

After establishing itself during testing, Zotec was called on by Governor Eric Holcomb to help with vaccination sites. Zotec developed a scheduling and administration system for vaccines, which resulted in Indiana being in the top five in the nation for vaccine administration efficiency.

“We knew where to position people to logistically (and geographically) get most people vaccinated as soon as possible, but also have vaccines available statewide,” Law offers. “We didn’t want to have long lines where people were waiting and not knowing if they would get the vaccine. We wanted a more precise system with as little waste as possible.”

In 2021, Zotec was a finalist for two Mira Awards; for Tech Product of the Year, which recognizes ground-breaking technology with major milestones in 2020 and Pandemic Pivot of the Year, honoring organizations that responded in remarkable ways to serve societal or customer needs amidst pandemic-induced challenges. The Mira Awards, conducted by TechPoint, are the longest-running and biggest awards program for the state’s tech industry. This year, the firm was a finalist in the Service Partner of the Year category for its continuing work with COVID testing and vaccines.

State officials were so impressed with the Zotec’s pandemic-related services, they called on the firm to help with flu vaccine administration for the first time.

“We’ve done this for clients before, but this is the first time we’ve been involved in public dosing of the actual vaccine and scheduling,” Law explains.

Law says the COVID-related work the company did was “more of a public service” than a money maker for Zotec. The lessons learned during the last three years, however, are priceless, he adds.

“During this pandemic, we got to see the compassionate side of health care,” Law stresses. “We’ve applied Google Analytics to everything we did in an effort to determine what worked and what didn’t. We want to really bring a caring side to the billing cycle. In the last three years, we learned more about being more compassionate bill collectors than we ever have. That’s something we’re definitely going to use to help our clients and health care patients.”

Anthony Schoettle is the director of communications for the Indiana Chamber. He started with the Chamber in 2021 after a long career in journalism. He’s won multiple awards for his storytelling ability on a wide range of business topics.