Embark's History
“I need an EMR that offers the functionality I need to run my business without costing a fortune.
And it has to be easy to use so I can start utilizing it today.”
– Said every practitioner, everywhere
Our journey
We understand you, because we are you! We are a husband and wife team.
I (Shelby) am a speech therapist in private practice. When I first started out, my partner (also a speech therapist) and I did everything on a shoestring budget. As we grew, we knew our paper and pencil systems couldn’t sustain us so we jumped into using an EMR, hoping it would help us grow as a practice. Between the subscription costs, credit card fees, and “hidden” fees, we were spending more than $17,000 every year for an EMR that offered more features than we’d ever need to use (or have time to learn). And as a small practice, we could no longer justify the high cost. Enter, Cory.
I (Cory) am an innovative engineer with a history of applying creative solutions to challenging problems. So I stepped in to create something designed for solo and group practitioners who couldn’t justify purchasing an EMR but needed to leverage its ability to improve patient outcomes and give practitioners the ability to step away from the office.
Great to meet you!
Autistic Owned Small Business
Shaping a solution
What do people need?
When we built Embark EMR, we challenged every cost to extend savings directly to practitioners. We challenged every cost to develop and operate Embark EMR to extend savings directly to practitioners. This means Shelby and I paid close attention to the specific needs necessary to operate and grow a practice, while minimizing complexity and cost by identifying what you don’t need.
We talked through every feature. Belabored over the essential tasks needed. We added things. We removed things. We spent 100s of hours refining Embark EMR.
Why does this matter?
Embarking on a mission
An electronic medical record (EMR) is the second-highest cost for solo and small group practices. A 9-person private practice typically pays $14,000 per year for an EMR (between $95 to $130/month/user).
Embark EMR is setting a new precedent in EMR functionality and affordability by offering a simpler and more cost-effective solution at $20/month/user. That’s a savings of $11,800 per year.
Define and build
Practitioners need help, let’s be there
Through our innovative approach – using cloud technology, creativity, and customer-centric features – we could offer a more simplified platform on the backend to save on costs while simultaneously providing practitioners with a better user experience.
Leveraging design thinking (Cory is an engineer after all!), we defined core jobs-to-be-done through 57 interviews with prospective customers and 100s of hours of screen recordings of day-to-day task demonstrations.
This allowed us to clearly define what features practitioners used, what they didn’t use, and what features were missing.
