October Startup Stories
2016-10-19 16:30 - 18:00 UTC | Greater Des Moines Partnership 700 Locust Street, Suite 100 Conference Center (street level) Des Moines, IA 50309
Fialkov to Share Rational Surgical Solutions Story

Entrepreneurial Urologist tells of the Upside to OCD

"When I see a problem I start thinking of solutions. In fact, I get a little OCD about it," explains Dr. Jonathan Fialkov, President & Founder of Rational Surgical Solutions LLC (RSS), and October guest at Square One DSM's Startup Stories. "During my 14 years as a practicing urologist, I saw ways to improve the quality of care and I pursued them. That's really the story of my startup." The episodes of OCD that led to Fialkov's entrepreneurial adventure were at the end of a long and somewhat circuitous journey, both professionally and physically.

Born in South Africa, Fialkov came to the United States at seven when his father, also a physician and an academic, began exposing a young Fialkov to some of the more prestigious American University venues, instilling in him an interest in both medicine and academic research.

"I've always had an interest in academics and research and served as a principal investigator on several dozen clinical trials at the Iowa Clinic," he recalls of the position he took after his residency at the University of Iowa specializing in Urology.

At his urology practice at the Iowa Clinic, Fialkov saw that patient-doctor communication was a recurring problem. This became the focus of his problem-solving obsession. "It's very difficult for patients to make informed choices about the pros and cons of treatment options," he said. "And physicians lack resources for educating patients."

Fialkov explains that multiple studies show that patients remember only 20-30% of what they are told minutes after informed consent is administered. This can result in confusion, poor patient satisfaction and, in some cases, open the door to malpractice suits.

His desire to improve the informed consent process led Fialkov to work on what is now the Rati-Fi Informed Consent System. The Rati-Fi app uses high-quality medical animations to educate and engage patients, evaluate patients' comprehension using a brief quiz, and then record the doctor-patient consult and the informed consent process. A copy of the video and a PDF of the signed file is stored securely in the cloud.

Working at the Iowa Clinic by day and working on his idea at night, Fialkov outsourced the coding to QCI and partnered with Boston-based PreOp.com to provide the educational video content. When the idea engendered great interest in both the medical and insurance industries, and when the 120-hour work weeks became too much, Fialkov left his position at the Iowa Clinic to focus on his newly incorporated RSS and its inaugural software product.

Along the way, he enlisted an all-star team of local advisors including JD Geneser, Sheldon Ohringer, Tej Dhawan and of course Mike Colwell who will serve as his questioner at Startup Stories.

During that questioning, Fialkov hopes to share several insights. "People need to know that the resources and support necessary for a successful startup are present in abundance in Des Moines," said Fialkov. "Especially for a medical start up, the proximity to great hospitals and university medical programs is essential."

Fiscal foresight is another topic he hopes to touch upon. "You absolutely have to make sure you have enough funds," he advised. "You can have a great idea, but you need to have enough money to execute it." Fialkov has recently completed a $1.4 million fund-raising round with angel investors, building on his own initial investment.

"I'd also like to shatter the misconception that startups are just for kids right out of college," he said. He believes that gravitas may be an underrated asset to the emerging entrepreneur. "I would not have been ready 14 years ago just coming out of my residency. It took some real world experience to understand the issues I'm now trying to solve."

For these and other insights, join Dr. Fialkov at the October Startup Stories.
