Making his hospital a lab: Quietly, Ridgeview Medical Center in Carver County has developed a reputation for being entrepreneur-friendly. [Star Tribune, Minneapolis]

Mar. 29--When a little Minneapolis start-up named Definity Health introduced health savings accounts a decade ago, it quickly signed up a credible first client: Ridgeview Medical Center in Waconia.

When Carol.com launched a website for people to shop for medical care, Ridgeview was among the first to list its services.

When BioDrain Medical came up with a new way to dispose of bodily fluids from operating rooms, it found a willing host site: Ridgeview Medical Center.

Once a sleepy, city-owned hospital in Carver County, Ridgeview has turned into an unlikely test bed for health care ideas of all stripes. In the past decade, spurred by CEO Bob Stevens, it has quietly supported new companies that it thinks may become the next big thing -- not as an investor, but as a client or real-life laboratory.

Not all the ideas have worked, or worked to the extent of their promise, but it's not for lack of trying.

Stevens thinks change usually comes from outside the risk-averse health industry, so when he sees a good idea, he wants Ridgeview to get in early.

"Our philosophy," he said in a recent interview, "is to disrupt the status quo."

Maverick

Ridgeview is one of a handful of independent hospital systems in Minnesota that hasn't been swallowed by giant groups such as Allina or Fairview.

Stevens, who is 54, joined Ridgeview in 1996 after 17 years with Allina, most recently as chief executive of Allina's New Ulm hospital. "I love Allina," he said. "I hated their bureaucracy."

When he joined, Ridgeview was owned by the city of Waconia and had 600 employees and revenue of $40 million. Today, as a private nonprofit, it employs 1,500 people and generates revenue of $125 million.

Over the years, Ridgeview has quietly fortified its market in Carver County, partnering with area physician groups and adding specialty services. Physicians from the Minneapolis Heart Institute and Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota come out to see patients at Ridgeview.

Ridgeview is now building a $6.5 million freestanding emergency department and urgent care clinic in Chaska off U.S. Hwy. 212, opening next February. Stevens calls the facility a response to MinuteClinics -- "who are eating our lunch."

His Twin Cities peers are taking notice.

"Bob Stevens is an unusual hospital executive, set apart by his innate creativity and entrepreneurial spirit," said Ken Paulus, chief executive of Allina. "He plays big-market ball with small-market revenue ... and keeps us all on our toes."

First customer

For Twin Cities start-ups taking their ideas to market, Ridgeview is big enough to be an attractive partner yet small enough to make quick decisions.

Stevens doesn't say yes to everybody. He's not interested in companies that are purely looking for investment, and he is partial to companies from Minnesota. But if he likes an idea, local entrepreneurs say, he'll usually offer a useful critique and if he really likes it, he'll sign up as a client.

"That first customer is the hardest to get," said Abir Sen, chief executive of Bloom Health, a Minneapolis start-up. "Given [Stevens'] intellectual capacity and stature, to get a sign-off from him counts for a lot in the local business community."

Sen should know. He's co-founded three companies that counted Ridgeview as an early client. The first, Definity, was sold to UnitedHealth Group for $300 million. Bloom Health, founded last year, will soon start managing certain employee health insurance benefits for Ridgeview.

Stevens credits the hospital's board members for their openness, even as some of his ideas have caused consternation.

"I will admit that some of those were a little bit of a stretch for us initially," said board chair Mike Werner, a special ed teacher at Waconia High School. "But they've worked out OK and some of those that haven't worked out the way we hoped, they haven't cost us money."

The board now has a standing rule where "we need to see things three times before we decide," Werner said. "That may have frustrated him a little .... There's some tension, but I think we have a lot of confidence in Bob."

Software pilot

After years of being a lab for others, Ridgeview has also launched its own start-up. In 2007, the board agreed to invest $1 million into its own for-profit venture called CreateHealth. Stevens became the CEO and hired Mark Prondzinski, a former intern, fresh out of college to help run the show.

After batting around different ideas, they settled on developing software to match patients and doctors, called Wellclicks. Patients can search for doctors by geography, specialty, languages spoken, whether a doctor sees children or offers evening appointments and even whether they might share a passion such as running.

A Wellclicks pilot in the southwest metro last year didn't end up bringing in new business for the providers, but the experience nonetheless allowed Wellclicks to snag a major new investor: Allina.

Allina's Paulus says Wellclicks will develop for Allina a "consumer-friendly vehicle to access and exchange information for and with patients."

Paulus rejects the notion that big players don't innovate, but he respects his smaller competitor.

"Allina and Ridgeview share DNA with our commitment to innovation," he said. "While Allina is hunting elephants, Ridgeview is tracking small game. Both are important to the new health care world order."

Chen May Yee --612 673-7434

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