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Todd Watts said PatientFi LLC has had its fair share of challenges.
It faced close calls in the pandemic when doctors’ offices shut down and bank lending paused, affecting the amount of demand for its payment platform to pay for elective procedures.
“We mapped out on a whiteboard, ‘Okay, these 10 things need to go right over the next six months, and if they don’t, we’re done,’” Watts told the Business Journal.
Since that close encounter, the company has come out the other side stronger than ever, Watts said.
It now operates in all 50 states with a customer network of 5,000 medical providers and works closely with some of the world’s biggest medical device companies such as Abbvie Inc.’s Allergan Aesthetics and Galderma.
The company’s point of sale (POS) technology platform has helped 320,000 patients qualify for over $3 billion in out-of-pocket healthcare expenses to date. The POS system offers patients monthly payment plans, making elective procedures more affordable.
Last year, PatientFi, founded in 2017, ranked as the 54th fastest growing company in North America on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 list, reporting a more than 2,000% increase in sales over three years.
Watts was recognized for his leadership in navigating the company through those difficult years at the Business Journal’s Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award on March 20.
Making the Jump
Watts was born and raised in Southern California with a brief stint in New York.
He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California and his MBA from Yale University.
Early in his career, Watts got the opportunity to work on Wall Street at J.P. Morgan for three years, where he worked in mergers and acquisitions in the healthcare and consumer goods industries.
In 2012, he returned home to California to be senior vice president and head of operations at Newport beach-based Alphaeon Credit, which provides credit to finance health procedures.
Watts stayed at Alphaeon for five years before he co-founded PatientFi with fellow Alphaeon colleague Scott Jorgensen.
“Like anybody else who wants to do something that’s going to really make a big impact, you have to make a big jump,” Watts said.
That’s just what they did.
Watts said that they “crammed in a couple people” in a small office in Irvine in the beginning. Their first hire was Derrick Hoag, who is now chief product officer. Today, the company has 130 employees.
Fateful Encounter in NYC
Watts credits his wife, Stephanie Watts, as the person who has most supported him through his entrepreneurial journey.
“Her patience and support is equally as important as hiring the right executive team because if you don’t have someone who’s fully behind you as a partner, you might as well go work for somebody else because it’s a lonely journey,” Watts said.
The two attended USC but didn’t actually meet until later in New York City while he was in graduate school at Yale. He said that they were introduced through a group of mutual friends from USC.
“So that USC network did pay off for something,” Watts said.
Stephanie, who was working in real estate at the time, helped him find a condo to live in during his summer internship at J.P. Morgan. As a thank you, he took her out to dinner and “the rest is history,” Watts said.
Expansion into New Specialty Markets
Watts anticipates 2025 being PatientFi’s best year yet “based on how things are going so far.”
The company has expanded into new specialty markets not typically covered by insurance such as fertility, dentistry and ophthalmology.
“The market for cash pay healthcare is $300 billion, so we’re just scratching the surface,” Watts said.
Last October, PatientFi announced a partnership with EngagedMD to educate patients on financing options for fertility care. Through the collaboration, patients can fill out an application for instant approval of up to $50,000.
This year, the company’s gearing up to announce several more partnerships with healthcare practices and banking institutions.
PatientFi has raised close to $90 million to date, including an oversubscribed $25 million Series B round that closed last February.
“Right now, it’s all about reinvesting in the business and growing,” Watts said.