Dennis Murphy is a New Jersey native who studied there and went to work as vice president of Goldman Sachs. He later worked in a couple of tech companies, including his most recent stop at Nexistant Inc., based in California. 

Much of his recent work has involved software designed to make life easier for people interacting with professionals in the medical arena, and helping physicians track their work to avoid legal troubles. 

In July, Murphy became chief operations officer and senior vice president of West Des Moines-based Rational Surgical Solutions — a startup whose software makes it easier for patients and their families to navigate office visits and surgery preparation meetings. That helps the doctors avoid malpractice lawsuits, he noted. 

Murphy previously worked as vice president of business development for Nexistant, a software company that uses video-conferencing to pool labor in health care, education, finance and consumer products.

Rational Surgical Solutions was founded by Dr. Jonathan Fialkov, who worked as a urologist for the Iowa Clinic for 14 years. The native of South Africa saw many patients struggle to understand what was happening, which led to confusion and worse in the medical field. 

We asked Murphy about his new position. 

What appeals to you about this job?
Well, it’s in the health care space, which I think is terrific. I think it’s a market that is going to be ever-expanding.

What does your company do? 
Ours is a product (Rati-Fi) that helps patients and their families garner a better understanding of issues around specific health care situations, particularly preparing for surgery. Our focus is on informed consent, which is  a mandatory step in the care process.

The whole idea is how do you do that in a logical, consistent, secure and private fashion that enlightens the patient and allows him or her to make their own decisions around what steps to take. Should I have the surgery? Is there something else I could do? Because we are cloud-based and, we use Microsoft Azure and we (meet federal privacy regulations). 

You go in and see the doctor, and they decide they need to run some tests. They come back and say, “There are some things of concern and would you like you to come back in to talk about that?” They will sign you up for our stuff online so you can immediately start to understand what they are concerned about. (The company posts informational videos on a secured site for each client.) If you wish, you can share that information. The online videos can be shared with a loved one. The objective is to share information that can improve your health. You can use your smartphone or tablet to do this. 

You then come into the office. We offer a quiz on the videos to define your level of understanding. Basically what happens is when the quiz is completed, the nurse’s smartphone will be buzzed. They will come in, get the iPad from you, then the doctor will break this down further. If you got a question wrong, they will spend some time on that information. They will talk about (recovery). They will ask if it’s OK to record the session. You can ask questions. Everyone you choose gets to see the complete consultation. 

The doctor asks you if you’d be willing to sign the informed consent agreement, and if so, calls it up on the computer. 

You mentioned the system helps doctors, too. How so? 
We can send the consent document to the medical record companies. Miscommunications also can lead to malpractice situations. We have recorded the information. We can say you were in and watched the video. It’s auditable. 

Is this a subscription service?
Yes. Software as a service (SaaS). It’s an annualized contract that could be paid in monthly increments. We aren’t a hardware company, so the doctor’s office can provide the iPad. The information is erased from the iPad when it goes to the cloud, for privacy reasons. 

Any feedback on the early rollout? 
In the most recent quarter, our largest client had 300 patients using our stuff. I mentioned the videos and the quiz. On the survey, one of the things we ask is: Do you have a smartphone? And, how was this for you? Did this add value? Of the 300, 96 percent checked off a 9 or 10 (on a scale of 10, with 10 being most effective). 

Where are you now on your business plan?
We are talking with people nationally and internationally. We are at the early stages of a growing cycle that we think is going to be very strong.